HORMUZD IV
[578-590 A.D.]
The new king, Hormuzd IV, son of Chosroes and the daughter of the Turkish chagan, was haughty and enterprising. It produced an unpleasant impression at Constantinople that he sent no notification of his accession thither, for even in time of war announcements of this sort had been ceremoniously made by both courts. Altogether Greek authors criticise Hormuzd very unfavourably, and even Persian tradition testifies that he was spiteful and shed much blood. We know on the evidence of a contemporary that he put his brothers to death when he came to the throne, but the same authority states that this was a barbarous custom among the Persians. On the other hand, Persian tradition reports that he exercised strict justice without respect of persons, and zealously took the part of the common man against the noble. The weight of his severity fell upon the great. This agrees with the fact that he took thought for the soldiers in the ranks and treated the aristocratic cuirassiers with slight regard. He also incurred the wrath of the priests by a decision which does him the highest honour, for he ironically rejected their petition that he should place Christians at a disadvantage. In many points he seems to have resembled the first Yezdegerd, whose fate he likewise shared. It was his misfortune that he did not possess the intellectual superiority which enabled his father to control the nobles, both temporal and spiritual.
The war with Rome lasted through the whole of his reign, and the repeated attempts at negotiations came to nought. Sometimes one side was victorious, sometimes the other. To this war was added an unfortunate war with the Turks. Against them Hormuzd despatched Bahram Chobin. He succeeded in gaining a brilliant victory over them, or rather over one of their vassals, and took much booty; and even, as the story goes, converted the Persian tribute to the Turks into a Turkish tribute to the Persians. The victorious general was next sent (589) to the countries south of the Caucasus, there to aim a mighty blow at the Romans. Bahram, however, was totally routed. Hormuzd was then guilty of the folly of dismissing this experienced commander, the head of the house of Mihran, with ignominy.
CIVIL WAR
[590-592 A.D.]
Bahram retaliated by open rebellion. His army took his part. He very likely knew how disaffected the nobles were, and could count upon malcontents among the rest of the troops. The army in Mesopotamia, which had retreated to Nisibis after being defeated by the Romans and dreaded the vengeance of the king, mutinied and joined Bahram, though without resigning its independence. Bahram had advanced as far as the great Zab (not far from the Mosul of to-day) on his way to the capital, when he was confronted by a royal army. But this army likewise rebelled, not, indeed, in Bahram’s favour, but in favour of Chosroes, the king’s son. Some of these troops reached Ctesiphon soon after, whither Hormuzd had hurried from Media on receipt of the fatal tidings. The city was given over to tumult. Bindoe, whose sister was Chosroes’ mother, was imprisoned there (a fate most liable to befall an oriental noble); his brother Bistam (Vistahm) liberated him by force, and the nobles proceeded to depose Hormuzd and proclaim Chosroes king (summer of 590). He was on bad terms with his father, and the movement certainly did not come upon him as a surprise. How far he was implicated in the assassination of Hormuzd, which soon followed, we cannot tell with any degree of certainty; most likely he let that happen which he could not well prevent.
Chosroes II, surnamed Parvez, “the victorious,” tried in vain to win Bahram over to his side. The latter himself wished to reign either in the name of a prince who was not of age, or preferably in his own. Chosroes marched against him, but his army was not loyal. The famous general commanded more respect than the faint-hearted king, whose troops deserted him after the first serious engagement. Chosroes, with his family and a few faithful followers, fled into Syria, to the Romans. When he had reached the frontier city of Circesium, he wrote to implore the aid of the emperor Maurice (who had been on the throne since the 14th of August, 582). The latter was not adroit enough to take advantage of this extraordinarily favourable situation for the benefit of his empire, for he undertook to restore Chosroes without stipulating for a fair equivalent. A man of mean origin himself, he probably felt flattered by the mere fact of being called upon to reinstate a legitimate king of ancient lineage and being able to declare himself “father” of such a one.
Meanwhile Bahram, after some hesitation, had caused himself to be proclaimed king and had struck coins in his own name. He had also been fortunate enough to get Bindoe into his power. But Bahram’s was but a tottering throne from the outset. The nobles would not submit to a man who had been their equal. Even in the Parthian Empire, however, often kings were deposed and raised to the throne; it had always been accounted right that none but an Arsacid should wear the crown, and in the empire of the Sassanids the legitimist sentiment was much stronger. In the popular mind the “ancient royal majesty” (farrahi kayanik) was bound up with the house of Ardaschir, and no other could reign.
There was a rising even in Ctesiphon itself, which was put down by Bahram, though Bindoe escaped during the tumult, further to exert himself on his nephew’s behalf. By the beginning of 591 an imperial army was in the field to reinstate Chosroes. Martyropolis, which had fallen into the hands of the Persians through treachery, and had already been blockaded for a considerable time, was given over to the Romans by Chosroes; so was Dara. The Persian army at Nisibis went over to him, and increased from day to day by the arrival of Persian nobles, among whom were barons from Armenia. Bistam collected an army at Aderbaijan to march against Bahram; the main Romano-Persian army advanced upon him to the left of the Tigris, but before ever they came into touch with the enemy, a royal force which had been sent in advance straight through the Mesopotamian desert had taken the capital cities of Ctesiphon, Seleucia, and New Antiochia.
All men took the part of their lawful sovereign, and in the great battle that was fought near the Zab, Bahram was completely routed (summer of 591). He fled to the Turks, by whom he was received with honour, but soon afterwards assassinated. Chosroes was escorted to Ctesiphon by the Romans, and as a matter of course peace was concluded between Rome and Persia. Equally of course the payment of tribute was dropped; but the frontiers remained as they had been before the war, and Nisibis was left in the hands of the Persians.
Chosroes still felt so insecure on his throne that he begged the emperor to leave him a body-guard of one thousand Romans. His first thought was to rid himself of all dangerous characters, and especially of those who had compassed his father’s fall and his own elevation to the throne. Among others he had his uncle, Bindoe, put to death; but Bindoe’s brother Bistam was beyond his reach. When the latter saw that his death was determined upon, he followed Bahram’s example, assumed the title of king in Media, and had coins struck. He too was of ancient lineage, and he too could not gain the prestige of the legitimate line. He seems to have relied upon the remnants of Bahram’s forces, and to have entered into alliance with the Turks and Delamites. He withstood Chosroes’ troops for nearly six years, till he fell by treachery (probably at the end of 595 or the beginning of 596).
VICES OF CHOSROES II
[592-610 A.D.]
These disorders must have sadly distracted the empire, which had been sufficiently enfeebled before by the long wars in the east and the west. Nor was Chosroes II the sagacious, strong, and humane ruler whom it required under these circumstances. At best he was a very ordinary type of oriental prince. Weak at bottom, he was at the same time boastful and cowardly, and to ostentation and luxury he added the much more harmful fault of avarice. At his death the royal treasuries, which he had found empty, were full, while his dominions were impoverished by war. Some excuse may be found in the circumstances of the time for his conduct towards those who had helped him to the throne. In war he never distinguished himself, his victories are only those of his generals. He did indeed protect the Christians, he even treated them with distinction, and built churches for them; but he did it partly on account of the impression made upon him by the help of the Romans and (as he himself thought) the assistance of St. Sergius, the patron saint of the Syrians and Arabs in the Roman Empire, partly at the instigation of Shirin, his favourite wife, who was an ardent Christian, and of others, such as his Christian physician in ordinary, Gabriel. In later days Chosroes’ friendship for the Christians was turned into the opposite sentiment. And we know that he was a man of gross character.