Hosta

Peroz I (Middle Persian: 𐭯𐭩𐭫𐭥𐭰; New Persian: پیروز Pirouz, lit. "the Victor") was the eighteenth king (shah) of the Sasanian Empire from 459 to 484. He was the son of Yazdegerd II (r. 438–457) and brother of Hormizd III (r. 457–459). Peroz seized the throne from his older brother Hormizd III, whose reign lasted just two years. During his reign, he successfully quelled a rebellion in Caucasian Albania in the west, and put an end to the Kidarites in the east. He was, however, less successful in handling the Hephthalites, who had taken the Kidarites' place. This eventually resulted in a disastrous defeat at the battle of Herat, where Peroz was killed. The magnates—most notably Sukhra and Shapur Mihran—elected Peroz's brother, Balash, as the new shah.

Etymology

"Peroz" is a Middle Persian name, meaning "victorious".^[2] The name had already been in use by members of the Sasanian family a few centuries before, namely by the Kushano-Sasanians.^[2]

Rise to power

When Peroz's father Yazdegerd II died in 457, the elder brother and heir Hormizd ascended the throne at Ray. Peroz, with the support of the powerful Mihranid magnate Raham Mihran, fled to the northeastern part of the empire and began raising an army in order to claim the throne for himself.^[3][4] The empire thus fell into a dynastic struggle and became divided; the mother of the two brothers, Denag temporarily ruled as regent of the empire from its capital, Ctesiphon.^[3] According to eastern sources, Peroz was more worthy for the throne than Hormizd, who is called unfair.^[5] Only the anonymous source known as the Codex Sprenger 30 describes Hormizd as the "braver and better", whilst describing Peroz as "more learned in religion".^[5]

Peroz later went to the domains of the Hephthalite monarch Khushnavaz, who agreed to him support with soldiers in his struggle for the throne.^[5] In 459, Peroz, with Hephthalite and Mihranid assistance, led an army against Hormizd and defeated him.^[5] According to some sources, Hormizd was pardoned and spared by his brother.^[5] However, this is most likely a legend, which is disproved by other sources, that states Peroz had Hormizd and three members of his family killed.^[5] He then ceded Taliqan to Khushnavaz.^[6]

Reign

War with the Kidarites

The Kidarites, who had established themselves in parts of Transoxiana during the reign of the Sasanian king Shapur II, and had a long history of conflicts with the Sasanians, stopped paying tributes to them in the early 460s, thus starting a new war between these two states. During the start of the war, however, Peroz did not have enough manpower to fight them, and therefore asked for financial aid by the Byzantine Empire, who declined his request.^[6] Peroz then offered peace to the leader of the Kidarites, Kunkhas, and offered him his sister in marriage. However, Peroz tried to trick Kunkhas, and sent a woman of low status instead.^[6]

After some time Kunkhas found about Peroz's false promise, and then in turn tried to trick him, by requesting him to send military experts to strengthen his army. However, when a group of 300 military experts arrived to the court of Kunkhas at Balaam (either the same city as Balkh or a city in Sogdia), they were either killed or disfigured and sent back to Iran, with the information that Kunkhas did this due to Peroz's false promise.^[6] What happened after remains obscure, it is only known that by 467, Peroz, with Hephthalite aid, managed to capture Balaam and put an end to Kidarite rule in Transoxiana once and for all.^[6] Although the Kidarites still controlled some places such as Gandhara, they would never bother the Sasanians again.^[6]

War with the Hephthalites and death

The 6th-century historian Pseudo-Joshua, who portrays Peroz in a hostile manner, proposed that Peroz may have been able to get out of the trench, but what remains to him afterwards remains unknown; he either died of hunger in a cleft in the mountain or was killed and eaten by wild animals in a jungle.^[7]

In Persian literature

Peroz is included in a legendary romantic story narrated by 13th-century Iranian historian Ibn Isfandiyar. The story begins with Peroz dreaming about a beautiful woman who he falls in love with. Peroz then sends one of his relatives and a close friend, a certain Mihrfiruz from the Mihran family to find her.^[8] He manages to find the woman, who in the end is turned out to be the sister of Izad Gushnasp himself (whose father was named Ashtat). After having found her, Peroz marries her and at her request, lay foundation to the city of Amol in Tabaristan.^[9]

Notes

References

Sources

• Wigram, W. A. (2004). An introduction to the history of the Assyrian Church, or, The Church of the Sassanid Persian Empire, 100–640 A.D. Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-59333-103-7.
• Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008). Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.
• Zeimal, E. V. (1996). "The Kidarite kingdom in Central Asia". History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume III: The Crossroads of Civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. Paris: UNESCO. pp. 119–135. ISBN 92-3-103211-9.
• Daryaee, Touraj (2008). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–240. ISBN 978-0857716668.
• Litvinsky, B. A. (1996). "The Hephthalite Empire". History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Volume III: The Crossroads of Civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. Paris: UNESCO. pp. 135–163. ISBN 92-3-103211-9.
• Shahbazi, A. Shapur (2004). "Hormozd III". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XII, Fasc. 5. pp. 465–466.
• Kia, Mehrdad (2016). The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia [2 volumes]: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1610693912.
• Frye, R. N. (1983), "Chapter 4", The political history of Iran under the Sasanians, The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-20092-9
• Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 1–256. ISBN 9781474400305.