the name of a dynasty which reigned in Persia from A. D. 226 to A. D. 651.
1. ARDISHIR or ARDSHIR, the ARTAXERXES (Ἀρταξέρξης) of the Romans and Greeks, the founder of the dynasty of the Sassanidae, reigned from A. D. 226-240. He was a son of one Babek, an inferior officer, who was the son of Sassan, perhaps a person of some consequence, since his royal descendants chose to call themselves after him. The Persian Zínut-al-Tuarikh makes Sassan a descendant from Bahman, who was in his turn descended from one Isfendear, who lived many centuries before Ardishir; but these statements cannot be regarded as historical. Some assign a very low origin to Ardishir, but it seems that his family was rather above than below the middle classes. They were natives of, and settled in the province of Fars, or Persia Proper, and they professed the ancient faith of Zoroaster and his priests, the Magi. These circumstances are of great importance in the life of Ardishir, as will be seen hereafter. Ardishir served with distinction in the army of Artabanus, the king of Parthia, was rewarded with ingratitude, and took revenge in revolt. He obtained assistance from several grandees, and having met with success, claimed the throne on the plea of being descended from the ancient kings of Persia, the progeny of the great Cyrus. His lofty scheme became popular, and deserved to be so. During the long rule of the Arsacidae, and in consequence of their intimate connections with the West, Greek customs, principles, arts, literature, and fashions, in short a Greek civilisation had gradually spread over the Persian, or, as it was then called from the ruling tribe, the Parthian empire. This new spirit introduced itself even into the religion, for although the Arsacidae of Parthia publicly confessed the creed of Zoroaster, their faith, and that of the court party was mixed up with the principles of the Greek religion and philosophy. The people, however, were still firm adherents of the faith, the laws, and the customs of their forefathers, and the new spirit which came from the West was looked upon by them with the same dislike and hatred as, in modern times, European civilisation is detested and despised by the modern Orientals. Ardishir appealed to the sympathy of the people, and he gained his great object. It seems that he spent many years in warlike efforts against Artabanus, till at last his progress became so alarming that the king took the field against him with all his forces. In A. D. 226 Artabanus was defeated, in a decisive battle, in the plain of Hormuz, not far from the Persian Gulf; and Ardishir thereupon assumed the pompous, but national title of Shahinshah, or "King of Kings." That year is consequently considered as the beginning of the new Sassanian dynasty. Defeated in two other battles, Artabanus surrendered to his rival, and was put to death; whereupon the authority of Ardishir was acknowledged throughout the whole extent of the Parthian, now again the Persian, empire. One of his first legislative acts was the restoration of the pure religion of Zoroaster and the worship of fire, in consequence of which the numerous Christians in Persia had to suffer many vexations, but the real persecutions against them began only at a later period. The reigning branch of the Parthian Arsacidae was exterminated, but some collateral branches were suffered to live and to enjoy the privileges of Persian grandees, who, along with the Magi, formed a sort of senate; and the Arsacidae who ruled in Bactria and Armenia remained for some time in the undisturbed possession of their sovereign power. Ardishir having thus succeeded in establishing his authority at home, turned his views abroad, and began with a display of overbearing insolence almost unparalleled in history. He sent a menacing embassy to Constantinople, demanding from the emperor Alexander Severus the immediate cession of all those portions of the Roman empire that had belonged to Persia in the time of Cyrus and Xerxes, that is, the whole of the Roman possessions in Asia, as well as Egypt. Modesty, perhaps, prevented him from claiming the plain of Marathon and the sea of Salamis also. This absurd demand is remarkable, in so far as it showed the national pride of the Persians, and the power of their historical recollections. An immediate war between the two empires was the direct consequence. As the leading events of this war are related in the life of Alexander Severus [SEVERUS] we need only mention here that, notwithstanding an army composed, in addition to infantry, of 170,000 horsemen, clad in armour, 700 elephants, with towers and archers, and 1800 war-chariots, bristling with scythes, the great king was unable to subdue the Romans; nor could Alexander Severus do more than preserve his own dominions. After a severe contest and much bloodshed and devastation, peace was restored, shortly after the murder of Alexander in 237, each nation retaining the possessions which they held before the breaking out of the war. However, the war against king Chosroes of Armenia, the ally of the Romans, was carried on as before, till the death of Ardishir in 240. Eastern and Western writers coincide in stating that Ardishir was an extraordinary man, and much could be said of his wisdom and kingly qualities, were it consistent with the plan of this work to give more than condensed sketches of the lives of the Persian kings. His reign, however, offers so many subjects for reflection, and is so startling an event in the history of Roman and Greek influence in the East, as to deserve the particular attention of the student, who must henceforth be prepared to witness the decline of that refined and beautiful spirit whose progress beyond the Euphrates he has followed with delight ever since the conquest of Alexander the Great. To sum up the leading facts of this decline, the writer quotes the observations which he has made in another work. (Biograph. Diction. of the U K. S. s. v. Arsaces, xxviii.)
"The accession of Artaxerxes forms a new aera in the history of Persia. During the long reign of the Arsacidae the influence of Greek civilisation which was introduced by Alexander and his successors,
2. SHAPUR or SAPOR I. (Σαπώρης or Σαβώρης), the son and successor of Ardishir I., reigned from A. D. 240-273. Soon after his succession a war broke out with the Romans, which was occasioned by the hostile conduct of Shapur against Armenia. The Romans, commanded by the emperor Gordian, were at first successful, but afterwards suffered some defeats, and the murder of Gordian, in 244, put a check to their further progress. On the other hand the Persians were unable to subdue Armenia, which was nobly defended by king Chosroes, who, however, was assassinated after a resistance of nearly thirty years. Shapur had contrived this murder. His son, Tiridates, being an infant, the Armenians implored the assistance of the emperor Valerian; but before the Romans appeared in the field, Armenia was subdued, and Shapur conquered Mesopotamia (258). Upon this Valerian put himself at the head of his army, He met Sapor near Edessa, on the Euphrates, and a pitched battle was fought, in which, owing to the perfidy or incapacity of the Roman minister Macrianus, the Persians carried the day. Valerian sought refuge within his fortified camp, but was finally obliged to surrender with his army, Shapur having refused to accept the enormous ransom offered to him (260). The conduct of Shapur against Valerian, who died in captivity, is not to be discussed here; but his political conduct offers a bold stroke of policy. He caused one Cyriades, a miserable fugitive of Antioch, to be proclaimed Roman emperor, and acknowledged him as such, for the purpose, as it seems, of having a proper person to sign a treaty of peace, through which he hoped to gain legal possession of the provinces beyond the Taurus. He consequently pushed on to obtain possession of them, destroyed Antioch, conquered Syria, and Shaving made himself master of the passes in the Taurus, laid Tarsus in ashes, and took Caesareia in Cappadocia through the treachery of a physician, and after a long and gallant resistance from its commander, the brave Demosthenes, who succeeded in cutting his way through the enemy. But Shapur did not keep his conquests long. A hero and a heroine, Odenathus and Zenobia, arose in the very desert, drove the king back beyond the Euphrates, and founded a new empire, over which they ruled at Palmyra. Rome was thus saved; and the last years of the reign of Shapur offer nothing of importance for Roman history. An event, however, took place in Persia at this period which must not be passed over in silence here. We allude to the new doctrine of the celebrated Mani, who, endeavouring to amalgamate the Christian and Zoroastrian religions, gave rise to the famous sect of the Manichaeans, who spread over the whole East, exposing themselves to most sanguinary persecutions from both Christians and fire-worshippers. Shapur I. died in 273.
3. HORMUZ or HORMISDAS I. (Ὁρμίσδας or Ὁρμίσδης), the son of the preceding, an excellent man, reigned only one year, and died in A. D. 274.
4. BAHRAM or BAHARAM, VARANES or VARARANES I. (Οὐαράνης or Οὐραράνης), the son of Hormuz I., reigned from A. D. 274-277. He carried on unprofitable wars against Zenobia, and, after her captivity, was involved in a contest with the victorious emperor Aurelian, which, however, was not attended with any serious results on account of the sudden death of Aurelian in 275. Under him the celebrated Mani (who, be it said here, was also a distinguished painter) was put to death, and both Manichaeans and Christians were cruelly persecuted. He was succeeded by his son
5. BAHRAM or VARANES II., who reigned A. D. 277-294. Bahram was engaged in a war with his turbulent neighbours in the north-east, towards the sources of the Indus, when he was called to the west by a formidable invasion of the emperor Carus. It was near the river Euphrates that the old hero received a Persian embassy, to whom he gave audience whilst sitting on the turf and dressed in the garb of a common soldier. His language, however, soon convinced the luxurious Orientals that this mean-looking person, who was making his dinner upon some pease and a piece of bacon, was a monarch of no less power than their own Shahinshah. He told them that if the king did not recognise the superiority of the Roman empire, he would make Persia as naked of trees as his own head was destitute of hair; and the Persians being little inclined to make peace on such conditions, he began in earnest to show the goodness of his word. Seleucia and Ctesiphon both yielded to him, and Bahram being compelled to keep most of his troops on the Indian frontier was only saved by the sudden death of Carus (283). The sons and successors of Carus, Carinus and Numerianus, retreated in consternation, and Diocletian, who soon wrested the power from them, was too busily engaged in the north to follow up the success of Carus. Bahram II. died in 294.
6. BAHRAM or VARANES III., the elder son and successor of the preceding, died after a reign of eight months only, A. D. 294, and was succeeded by his younger brother.
7. NARSI or NARSES (Νάρσης), who reigned from A. D. 294-303. He carried on a formidable war against the emperor Diocletian, which arose out of the state of Armenian affairs. As early as
8. HORMUZ or HORMISDAS II., the son of Narses, reigned from A. D. 303-310. During his reign nothing of importance happened regarding Rome. His successor was his son
9. SHAPUR or SAPOR II. POSTUMUS, who reigned from A. D. 310-381, and was crowned in his mother's womb. His father dying without issue, but leaving his queen pregnant, the princes of the collateral branches of the royal house were elated with hopes of the succession. The Magi, however, discovered by means only known to them, that the queen was pregnant with a male child, and they prevailed upon the grandees to acknowledge the unborn child as their lawful sovereign, and the diadem destined to adorn the future king was placed with great solemnity upon the body of his mother. This is a strange story, yet we cannot but admit it as an historical fact. Agathias, the only Western historian who mentions it (iv. p. 135, ed. Paris), took it from Eastern sources; and those Persian historians who are known to us, relate the story with all its details (see Malcolm, quoted below). Zosimus (ii. p. 100, &c. ed. Oxon, 1679) does not mention the coronation of an unborn child, but only of a younger son of Hormuz, the elder, who bore his father's name Hormuz, or Hormisdas, having been excluded from the succession. Now this Hormuz is again a well-known historical person, but we must presume that he was a prince of royal blood, and not the elder brother of the infant Shapur. Hormisdas was one of the causes of the great struggle that took place afterwards between Sapor and the emperor Constantius, and the matter came to pass in the following way. Zosimus is here a valuable source, and he is corroborated by the Persian historians. Once, long before the birth of Sapor, and during the reign of Hormisdas II., Prince Hormisdas, then heir-apparent as it seems, spoke of some grandees in a very contemptuous manner, menacing them with the fate of Marsyas when he should be their king. Unacquainted with Greek mythology, the nobles inquired who Marsyas was, and were greatly alarmed when they heard that they might expect to be flayed alive, a punishment which was sometimes inflicted in the administration of the criminal law in Persia. This explains the election of an unborn baby, and also the fate of Prince Hormisdas, who was thrown into a dungeon as soon as King Hormisdas was dead. After a captivity of many years, lie gained his liberty through a stratagem of his wife, who sent him a fish in which she had hidden a file, the most welcome present to any prisoner who finds nothing between himself and liberty but a couple of iron bars. Hormisdas accordingly escaped and fled to the court of the emperor Constans, whither young Sapor generously sent his wife after him. Constans received him well, and he afterwards appears as an important person on the stage of events. (Suidas, s. v. Μαρσύας, relates the same story, and speaks of it as a well-known fact: ἡ ἱστορία δήλη.) The minority of Sapor passed without any remarkable event regarding Rome. We must presume that the Persian aristocracy employed their time well in augmenting their power during that minority. In this time also falls the pretended conquest of Ctesiphon by Thair, an Arabic or Himyaritic king of Yemen; and the minister of Sapor issued cruel edicts against the Christians, who, tired of the state of oppression in which they lived, sought for an amelioration of their condition by addressing themselves to Constantius. For this step they were punished by Sapor, who, however, contented himself with imposing a heavy tax upon them. Symeon, bishop of Seleucia, complained of this additional burthen in so haughty and offensive a manner as to arouse the king's anger, and orders were accordingly given to shut up the Christian churches, confiscate the ecclesiastical property, and put the priest to death. Some years afterwards. in 344, the choice was left to the Christians between fire worship and death, and during fifty years the cross lay prostrate in blood and ashes till it was once more erected by the Nestorians. After the death of King Tiridates and the conquest of his kingdom by Sapor in 342, the same cruelties
In 358, Constantius sued for peace, but was startled when the Persian ambassador, Narses, delivered in Constantinople the conditions of Sapor, who demanded only Mesopotamia, Armenia, and the five provinces beyond the Tigris, although as the legitimate successor of Cyrus, he said that he had a right to all Asia and Europe as far as the river Strymon in Macedonia. Constantius endeavoured to obtain better terms; but the negotiations of his ambassadors in Persia were frustrated through intrigue and perfidy; and the war was continued as before, and with the same disadvantage to the Romans. In 359, Sapor took Amida by storm, and Singara, Berabde, and other places yielded to him in the following year. The death of Constantius and the accession of Julian made no change. The fate of Julian is known. He might have avoided it by accepting the proposals of peace which Sapor made him immediately after his accession, but he nobly rejected them, and caused his ruin although he did not deserve it. Jovian, to secure his own accession, made that famous treaty with Sapor for which he has been blamed so much, and ceded to him the five provinces beyond the Tigris, and the fortresses of Nisibis, Singara, &c. Iberia and Armenia were left to their fate ; and were completely reduced by Sapor in 365, and the following year. A war with the Caucasian nations, occasioned through the subjugation of Armenia, and another with the Arsacidae in distant Bactria, which might have had its cause in the same circumstance, filled the latter years of the reign of Sapor, who died in 381. Sapor has been surnamed the Great, and no Persian king had ever caused such terror to Rome as this monarch.
10. ARDISHIR or ARTAXERXES II., the successor of Sapor the Great, reigned from A. D. 381-385. He was a prince of royal blood, but his descent is doubtful, and he was decidedly no son of Sapor. The peace of 363 being strictly kept by the Romans, he had no pretext for making war upon them, if he felt inclined to do so, and we pass on to
11. SHAPUR or SAPOR III., who reigned from A. D. 385-390. According to Agathias (iv. p. 136, ed. Paris) he was the son of Sapor the Great; but according to the Persian historians, who, in matters of genealogy, deserve full credit, he was the son of one Shapur Zulaktaf, a royal prince. Shapur was anxious to be on good terms with the emperor Theodosius the Great, and sent a solemn embassy with splendid presents to him at Constantinople, which was returned by a Greek embassy headed by Stilicho going to Persia. Owing to these diplomatic transactions, an arrangement was made in 384, according to which Armenia and Iberia recovered their independence.
12. BAHRAM or VARANES IV., reigned from A. D. 390-404, or perhaps not so long. He was the brother of Sapor III., and founded Kermanshah, still a flourishing town. This is recorded in an inscription on a monument near Kermanshah, which has been copied by European travellers, and translated by Silvestre de Sacy.
13. YEZDIJIRD, or JESDIGERD I. (Ἰσδιγέρδης), surnamed ULATHIM, or the SINNER, the son or brother of the preceding, reigned from A. D. 404, or earlier, to 420 or 421. He is commonly called Yesdigerd. He stood on friendly terms with the emperor Arcadius, who, it is said, appointed him the guardian of his infant son and successor, Theodosius the Younger. We refer to the life of Arcadius for more information respecting this strange story. Yesdigerd is described by the Eastern writers as a cruel and extravagant man, whose death was hailed by his subjects as a blessing, but the Western writers speak of him as a model of wisdom and moderation. If the latter are right, they had perhaps in view the peace of a hundred years, which, through the instrumentality of the empress Pulcheria, Arcadius is said to have concluded with him. But if we admit the correctness of the former opinion, we are at a loss to explain it, unless we presume that the Persian fireworshippers cast disgrace upon the name of their sovereign because he showed himself cruel against the Christians, and this we can hardly admit. It is more probable that he was represented as a tyrant, in consequence of having dealt severely with the powerful aristocratic party. As to the Christians, he was for several years their decided friend, till Abdas, bishop of Susa, wantonly destroyed a firetemple, and haughtily refused to rebuild it when the king ordered him to do so. His punishment was death, and one or two (Sozom. 9.4) persecutions ensued against the Christians.
14. BAHRAM or VARANES V., surnamed GOUR, or the " WILD ASS," on account of his passion for the chase of that animal, reigned from A. D. 420 or 421 till 440. He was the eldest son of Yesdigerd I., and inherited from him the hatred of the aristocracy, who tried, but in vain, to fix the diadem on the head of Chosroes or Khosrew, a royal prince. In their civil contest Bahram was victorious. The persecutions against the Christians were continued by him to such an extent, that thousands of his subjects took refuge within the Roman dominions. He showed the same intolerant and fanatical spirit towards the Arsacid Ardishir or Artaxerxes, whom he had put on the throne of Armenia, and whom he endeavoured to convert by compulsion. Seeing his dominions depopulated by a constant tide of emigration, he claimed his fugitive subjects back from Constantinople, a demand which Theodosius nobly declined to comply with. The consequence was a war, which broke out in 421, or at least shortly after
15. YEZDIJIRD II., the son of the preceding, reigned from A. D. 448 till 458. He was surnamed " SIPAHDOST," or " The Soldier's Friend." The persecutions against the Christians were renewed by him with unheard of cruelty, especially in Persarmenia, where 700 Magi discharged the duties of missionaries with sword in hand. The Armenians nevertheless resisted bravely, and Christianity, though persecuted, was never rooted out. His relations with Rome were peaceful.
16. HORMUZ, or HORMISDAS III., and 17. FIROES, or PEROSES (Περόξης, Περόσης, or Περοσίτης), sons of the preceding, claimed the succession, and rose in arms against each other. Peroses gained the throne by the assistance of the White Huns, against whom he turned his sword in after years. He perished in a great battle with them in 484, or as late as 488, together with all of his sons except Kobad, or, perhaps, only some of them. Peroses was accompanied on this expedition by an ambassador of the emperor Zeno. (Procop. Bell. Pers. 1.3-6.)
18. PALASH or PALLAS (Πάλλας), who reigned from A. D. 484 till 488, was, according to the Eastern writers, a son of Peroses, and had to contest the throne with Cobades, who was a son of Peroses, according to both Eastern and Western sources. Terrible internal revolutions took place during his short reign. The Christians were no longer persecuted because they were not fire-worshippers. However, the Nestorians only were protected, and the other Christians were compelled to become Nestorians if they would live in peace. Pallas perished in a battle with his brother Cobades in 488.
19. KOBAD, or COBADES (Κοβάδης), reigned from A. D. 488 to 498, and again from 501 or 502 till 531. The years from 498 till 502 were filled up by the short reign of, 20. JAMASPES or ZAMES. According to the Eastern authorities, he was the brother of Cobades, whom he dethroned, and compelled to fly to the Huns, with whose assistance Cobades recovered his throne about 502. Cobades divided his kingdom in four great divisions: an eastern, a western, a northern, and a southern, and made many wise regulations. Under him rose the religio-political sect of the Mazdakites, so named from Mazdar, their founder, and whom we may compare to the modern Communists, or Socialists. Their principles were democratical, and their rise may be considered as a re-action against the overwhelming influence of the aristocracy. Cobades was for some time an adherent of Mazdak, but he afterwards turned against him, in order to gain the aristocratical party. The Mazdakites accordingly rose in arms, and offered the diadem to Phtasurus, a son of Cobades, but the king seized their leaders by a stratagem, and great numbers of the sectarians were massacred. Procopius (Bell. Pers. 1.11) says, that Cobades entreated the emperor Justin to adopt his son Khosrew or Chosroes, afterwards Nushirwan, in order thus to secure the succession to him through the assistance of the Romans. But this smacks very much of the tale of Arcadius having appointed king Yesdigerd the guardian of his son Theodosius. The same author relates that Cobades had four sons, Cuases, Zames, Chosroes, and Phtasurus, whence it would seem as if the above Jamaspes or Zames had rebelled against his father, and not against his brother. But as Cobades reigned forty-three years, it seems incredible that he should have had an adult son at the beginning of his reign, and this is an additional reason to put greater confidence in the Eastern writers in matters of genealogy. We now proceed to the great war between Cobades and the emperor Anastasius. It appears that according to the terms of the peace of one hundred years concluded between Theodosius the Younger and Bahram V., the Romans were obliged to pay annually a certain sum of money to the Persian king, and Cobades having sent in his request for the purpose, was answered by Anastasius, that he would lend him money, but would not pay any. Cobades declared war, and his arms were victorious. The Roman generals Hypacius and Patricius Phrygius were defeated, the fortified towns in Mesopotamia were conquered by the Persians, and even the great fortress of Amida was carried by storm, its inhabitants becoming the victims to the fury of the besiegers. Arabic and Hunnic hordes served under the Persian banner. The Huns, however, turned against Cobades, and made so powerful a diversion in the North, that he listened to the proposals of Anastasius, to whom he granted peace in 505, on receiving 11,000 pounds of gold as an indemnity. He also restored Mesopotamia and his other conquests to the Romans, being unable to maintain his authority there on account of the protracted war with the Huns. About this time the Romans constructed the fortress of Dara, the strongest bulwark against Persia, and situated in the very face of Ctesiphon, on the spot where the traveller descends from the mountainous portion of Mesopotamia into the plains of the South. Cobades in
21. KHOSRU, or KHOSREW I., called CHOSROES I. (Χοσρόης) by the Greeks, surnamed ANUSHIRWAN (Nushirwan), or "the generous mind," one of the greatest monarchs of Persia, reigned from A. D. 531 till 579. He inherited the war against the Greeks. We have spoken above of the strange story that Khosrew was to be adopted by Justin. He was already on his way to Constantinople, when he was informed that the quaestor Proclus had raised objections of so grave a nature against the adoption that the ceremony could not take place, Khosrew consequently returned, and it is said that he felt the insult so deeply as to seek revenge in carrying destruction over the Roman empire. The first war was finished in 532 or 533, Justinian having purchased peace by an annual tribute of 440,000 pieces of gold. One of the conditions of Khosrew was, that seven Greek, but Pagan, sages or philosophers who had stayed some time at the Persian court, should be allowed to live in the Roman empire without being subject to the imperial laws against Pagans. This reflects great credit upon the king. The conquests of Belisarius excited the jealousy of Khosrew, and although he received a considerable portion of the treasures which the Greek found at Carthage, he thought it prudent to draw the Greek arms into a field where laurels were not so easily gained as in Africa. To this effect he roused the Arab Almondar, king of Hira, to make an inroad into the empire, and as he supported him, hostilities soon broke out between Constantinople and Ctesiphon also. The details of this war, which lasted from 540 to 561, have been given in the life of Justinian I. The emperor promised an annual tribute of 40,000 pieces of gold, and received the cession of the Persian claims upon Colchis and Lazica. The third war arose out of the conquest of Yemen and other parts of Arabia, from which country the Persians drove out an Abyssinian usurper, and placed a king of the ancient royal family on the Homeritic throne, who remained consequently a vassal of Khosrew. The power of the Persian king was already sufficiently great to inspire fear to the emperor Justin II., and as the conquest of Arabia afforded Khosrew an opportunity of continually annoying Syria and Mesopotamia by means of the roving tribes on the northern borders of Arabia, the emperor resolved upon war. Turks of Central Asia, and Abyssinians from the sources of the Nile, were his allies. At the same time (569) the Persarmenians drove their Persian governors out, and put themselves under the authority of the emperor, so that Khosrew also had a fair pretext for war. This war, of which Khosrew did not see the end, broke out in 571, and as its details are given in the lives of the emperors Justin II., Tiberius II., Mauritius, and of Justinian, the second son of Germanus, we shall not dwell further upon these topics.
We must consider Khosrew as one of the greatest kings of Persia. In his protracted wars with the Romans he disputed the field with the conquerors of Africa and Italy, and with those very generals, Tiberius and Mauritius, who brought Persia to the brink of ruin but a few years after his death. His empire extended from the Indus to the Red Sea, and large tracts in Central Asia, perhaps a portion of eastern Europe, recognised him for a time as their sovereign. He received embassies and presents from the remotest kings of Asia and Africa. His internal government was despotic and cruel, but of that firm description which pleases Orientals, so that he still lives in the memory of the Persians as a model of justice. The communist Mazdak was put to death by his order, after his doctrines had caused a dangerous revolution in the habits and minds of the people, as is shown by the fact that his doctrine of community of women, so utterly adverse to the views of the Oriental nations, had taken a firm root among the Persians. His heart bled when Nushirad, his son by a Christian woman, and a Christian himself, rose in arms against him, but he quelled the rebellion vigorously, and Nushirad perished.
The administration of Khosrew provided for all the wants of his subjects; and agriculture, trade, and learning were equally protected by him. He bestowed the greatest care upon re-populating ravaged provinces, and rebuilding destroyed cities and villages ; so that every body could be happy in Persia, provided he obeyed the king's will without opposition. At Gondi Sapor, near Susa, he founded an academy apparently on the model of the Greek schools at Athens, Alexandria, &c. He caused the best Greek, Latin, and Indian works to be translated into Persian; and had he been an Arsacid instead of a Sassanid, Persia might have become under him an Eastern Greece.
22. HORMUZ or HORMISDAS IV., the son of Khosrew, reigned from A. D. 579 till 590. He carried on his father's war with the Greeks, to the disadvantage, though not to the disgrace, of Persia. Some time before Khosrew died, the general Justinian had advanced as far as the Caspian, which he explored by means of a Greek navy, the first that was seen on those waters since the time of Seleucus Nicator and Antiochus I. Soter, kings of Syria, whose admiral Patrocles first displayed the Greek flag on the Caspian. Seventy thousand prisoners were sent by Justinian to Cyprus, where they settled. Upon this Justinian penetrated into Assyria. In consequence of a defeat sustained by the Persian Tamchosroes, Justinian was recalled, and replaced by Mauritius, who soon retrieved the fortune of the Greek arms, and in the very year when Chosroes died (579) he took up his winter-quarters in Mesopotamia, from whence, in the following year, he penetrated into lower Mesopotamia and routed a Persian army. He gained another victory in 581, and Tamchosroes perished in the battle. But Maurice having succeeded the emperor Tiberius in that year, his general in the East,
23. BAHRAM or VARANES VI. SHUBIN, a royal prince, reigned from A. D. 590 till 591. This is the great general mentioned in the preceding article. Unable to maintain the throne against Khosrew, who was supported by the emperor Mauricius, he fled to the Turks, once his enemies, by whom he was well received and raised to the highest dignities. It is said that he was poisoned (by the Persian king ?). Bahram was one of the greatest heroes of Persia, and his life is very interesting.
24. KHOSREW or CHOSROES II. PURWIZ, reigned from A. D. 590 or 591 till 628, and was the son of HORMUZ IV. It has been related in the preceding article how he ascended the throne, lost it against Bahram, and recovered it with the assistance of the emperor Mauricius. In this expedition the Greek army was commanded by Narses, a general scarcely less eminent than the great eunuch, and who destroyed the hopes of the usurper Bahram in two great battles on the river Zab. The adherents of Bahram were severely punished by Chosroes, who continued to live in peace with Constantinople as long as Mauricius lived, and even kept a Greek body guard, so that Persia was entirely under Greek influence. But when the murderer and successor of Mauricius, the tyrant Phocas, announced his accession to Chosroes by Lilius, the same person who had spilt the blood of Mauricius, the Persian king, threw the ambassador into a dungeon and declared war to avenge the death of his benefactor (603). Owing to the prowess of the Persians, and the bad choice Phocas made of his generals after he had removed Narses from the command, the arms of Chosroes met with extraordinary success. He conquered Mesopotamia and its great bulwarks Dara, Amida, Edessa, and overran all Asia Minor, making the inhabitants of Constantinople tremble for their safety. Nor was his progress checked through the accession of Heraclius, in 610, who sued in vain for peace. Syria yielded to Chosroes in 611, Palestine in 614, Egypt in 616, and in the same year Asia Minor was completely conquered, a Persian camp being pitched at Chalcedon, opposite Constantinople, where the Persians maintained themselves during ten years. It was not before 621 that Heraclius showed himself that extraordinary man he really was, and saved the Eastern empire from the brink of ruin. The history of his splendid campaigns has been given in his life with sufficient details to make its repetition here superfluous. Borne down by a series of unparalleled misfortunes, and worn out by age and fatigue, Chosroes resolved, in 628, to abdicate in favour of his son Merdaza, but Shirweh, or Siroes, his eldest, anticipated his design, and at the head of a band of noble conspirators seized upon the person of his father, deposed him on the 25th of February, 628, and put him to death on the 28th following.
The Orientals say that Chosroes reigned six years too long; and it is rather remarkable that his great antagonist Heraclius also outlived his glory. No Persian king lived in such splendour as Chosroes; and however fabulous the Eastern accounts respecting his magnificence may be, they are true in the main, as is attested by the Western writers. Chosroes was summoned by Mohammed to embrace the new doctrine, but replied with contempt to the messenger of a " lizard eater," as the Persians used to call the wandering tribes of the Arabs. His successors held a different language.
25. SHIRWEH or SIROES (Σιρόης), reigned only eight months, and died probably an unnatural death, after having murdered Merdaza and several others of his brothers. In the month of March, 628, he concluded peace with the emperor Heraclius. The numerous captives were restored on both sides, and hundreds of thousands of Greek subjects were thus given back to their families and their country. Siroes also restored the holy cross which had been taken at the conquest of Jerusalem.
26. ARDISHIR or ARTAXERXES, the infant son of Siroes, was murdered a few days after the death of his father. He was the last male Sassanid. After him the throne was disputed by a host of candidates of both sexes and doubtful descent, who had no sooner ascended the throne than they were hurried from it into death or captivity. They were according to the Eastern sources--
27. PURAN-DOKHT, a daughter of Khosrew Purwiz, and a sister of Siroes.
28. SHAH-SHENANDAH, her cousin and lover.
29. ARZEM-DOKHT, a daughter of Khosrew Purwiz.
30. KESRA, said to be a royal prince, put to death.
31. FEROKHZAD, said to be a son of Khosrew Purwiz. put to death.
32. YESDIJIRD or JESDIGERD III., the last king, and said to be a grandson of Chosroes, reigned from A. D. 632 till 651. Having declined to adopt the Mohammedan religion, as he was summoned to do by the khalif Abu-Bekr, his kingdom was invaded by the Arabic general Kaleb. In the battle of Cadesia (636), and other engagements, the Persians were worsted; their fortified towns and royal cities were taken one after the other; and, in 651, Jesdigerd was an abandoned fugitive in the tract watered by the Oxus and the Jaxartes, whence he solicited and, perhaps, obtained the assistance of Tait-Song, emperor of China. He was thus enabled to raise an army of Turks, with whom he marched against the Arabs; but he was betrayed by his allies, by whom he was cut to pieces on his flight from them to the north. He left a son, Firuz, or Peroses, who entered the service of the Chinese emperor; and his son, the last of the Sassanidae, was raised by the same to the rank of a vassal king of Bokhara. A daughter of Jesdigerd married Hassan, the son of Ali; and another married Mohammed, the son of Abu-Bekr; important events for the later history of Persia, which was henceforth a Mohammedan country.
We observe here that the Persian historians are respectable sources for the history of the Sassanidae, and that their chronology differs but little from that of the Western writers.
(The Greek and Roman writers, who speak of the Sassanidae, are referred to in the lives of the contemporary emperors; comp. Malcom, History of Persia, vol. i.; Richter, Hist. kritischer Versuch über die Arsaciden und Sassaniden-Dynastie, Leipzig, 1804.)