Gordiya (also spelled Gurdiya and Kurdiyah) was an influential

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

noblewoman from the

House of Mihran The House of Mihrān or House of Mehrān (Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭨𐭥𐭠𐭭; new Persian: مهران), was a leading Iranian noble family (''šahrdārān''), one of the Seven Great Houses of the Sassanid Persian Empire which claimed descent f ...

, who was first the sister-wife of the distinguished military leader

Bahram Chobin Bahrām Chōbīn ( fa, بهرام چوبین) or Wahrām Chōbēn (Middle Persian: ), also known by his epithet Mehrbandak ("servant of Mithra"), was a nobleman, general, and political leader of the late Sasanian Empire and briefly its ruler as Ba ...

, then the wife of the

Ispahbudhan The House of Ispahbudhan or the House of Aspahbadh was one of the seven Parthian clans of the Sasanian Empire. Like the Sasanians, they claimed descent from the Achaemenid dynasty. They also claimed descent from the legendary Kayanid figure Isfan ...

dynast

Vistahm Vistahm or Bistam (also transliterated Wistaxm, pal, 𐭥𐭮𐭲𐭧𐭬 wsthm), was a Parthian dynast of the Ispahbudhan house, and maternal uncle of the Sasanian king of kings of Iran, Khosrow II (). Vistahm helped Khosrow regain his throne af ...

, and ultimately the wife of the last prominent

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

emperor,

Khosrow II Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩, Husrō), also known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian king (shah) of Iran, ruling fr ...

Background

Gordiya was a member of the

, one of the

seven Great Houses of Iran The Seven Great Houses of Iran, also known as the seven Parthian clans, were seven feudal aristocracies of Parthian origin, who were allied with the Sasanian court. The Parthian clans all claimed ancestry from Achaemenid Persians. The seven Great ...

. The family was of

Parthia Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...

n origin, and was centered in Ray, south of

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, the capital of present-day Iran. Her father was

Bahram Gushnasp Bahram Gushnasp, known in Byzantine Empire, Byzantine sources as Bargousnas, was an Iranian peoples, Iranian military officer from the House of Mihran. He is first mentioned during an unknown date, where he campaigned against the Himyarite Kingdom, ...

, a military officer who had fought the Byzantines and campaigned in

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

during the reign of

Khosrow I Khosrow I (also spelled Khosrau, Khusro or Chosroes; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩; New Persian: []), traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan ( [] "the Immortal Soul"), was the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from ...

(). Her grandfather Golon Mihran, Gurgin Milad had served as the ''

marzban Marzbān, or Marzpān (Middle Persian transliteration: mrzwpn, derived from ''marz'' "border, boundary" and the suffix ''-pān'' "guardian"; Modern Persian: ''Marzbān'') were a class of margraves, warden of the marches, and by extension militar ...

'' (general of a frontier province, "

margrave Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Emp ...

") of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

from 572 to 574. Gordiya had three siblings whom were Gorduya, Mardansina and most notably,

, whom she or Bahram Siyavashan married.; It is however not known if she and Bahram Chobin were full siblings.

Biography

In 590, Bahram Chobin mounted a large-scale rebellion against the Sasanian family, forcing the newly ascended ruler

to flee, while taking the throne for himself. He was the following year defeated and killed. Not long after, Khosrow II's uncle

rebelled against him, carving a principality for himself in the entire eastern and northern quadrants of the Iranian realm. It was during this period that he married Gordiya, consequently increasing his status. His rebellion, however, also proved unsuccessful; according to some accounts, he was killed by

Hephthalite The Hephthalites ( xbc, ηβοδαλο, translit= Ebodalo), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during th ...

subject Pariowk, whilst an alternative account states that it was Gordiya who killed him after being given the promise of marriage in return by Khosrow II. The 9th-century historian

Dinawari Abū Ḥanīfa Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd Dīnawarī ( fa, ابوحنيفه دينوری; died 895) was a Persian Islamic Golden Age polymath, astronomer, agriculturist, botanist, metallurgist, geographer, mathematician, and historian. Life Dinawa ...

mentioned a son of Gordiya and Khosrow, named

Juvansher Javanshir ( fa, جوانشیر), also known by his Middle Persian name Juvansher (meaning ''young lion'') was the son of Khosrow II, and Gordiya, the sister of Bahram Chobin. The 9th-century historian Dinawari mentions him as ruling before the Sasa ...

, as reigning as monarch of Iran briefly in 630. This king however remains obscure, and none of his coins have yet been found.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Shahnameh-stub House of Mihran 6th-century Iranian people 6th-century women Women from the Sasanian Empire 6th-century births Year of death unknown Women in Shahnameh Wives of Khosrow II