Kavad I ( pal, 𐭪𐭥𐭠𐭲 ; 473 – 13 September 531) was the
Sasanian King of Kings
King of Kings; grc-gre, Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων, Basileùs Basiléōn; hy, արքայից արքա, ark'ayits ark'a; sa, महाराजाधिराज, Mahārājadhirāja; ka, მეფეთ მეფე, ''Mepet mepe'' ...
of
Iran from 488 to 531, with a two or three-year interruption. A son of
Peroz I (), he was crowned by the nobles to replace his deposed and unpopular uncle
Balash
Balash (Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭥𐭣𐭠𐭧𐭱𐭩, ) was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 484 to 488. He was the brother and successor of Peroz I (), who had been defeated and killed by a Hephthalite army.
Name
''Balāsh'' () is the N ...
().
Inheriting a declining empire where the authority and status of the Sasanian kings had largely ended, Kavad tried to reorganize his empire by introducing many reforms whose implementation was completed by his son and successor
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 ...
. They were made possible by Kavad's use of the
Mazdakite preacher
Mazdak leading to a
social revolution
Social revolutions are sudden changes in the structure and nature of society. These revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed society, economy, culture, philosophy, and technology along with but more than just the political syst ...
that weakened the authority of the nobility and the clergy. Because of this, and the execution of the powerful king-maker
Sukhra
Sukhra (also spelled Sufaray, Sufray, Surkhab, Sarafra'i) was an Iranian nobleman from the House of Karen, who was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Sasanian Empire from 484 to 493. He was active during the reign of shah Peroz I (r. 457-484), Balash ...
, Kavad was imprisoned in the
Castle of Oblivion ending his reign. He was replaced by his brother
Jamasp
Jamasp (also spelled Zamasp or Djamasp; pal, 𐭩𐭠𐭬𐭠𐭮𐭯; fa, جاماسپ ''Jāmāsp'') was Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 496 to 498/9. He was a son of Peroz I and younger brother of Kavad I. Jamasp was installed on the Sasan ...
. However, with the aid of his sister and an officer named
Siyawush, Kavad and some of his followers fled east to the territory of the
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 ...
king who provided him with an army. This enabled Kavad to restore himself to the throne in 498/9.
Bankrupted by this hiatus, Kavad applied for subsidies from the
Byzantine emperor
Anastasius I. The Byzantines had originally paid the Iranians voluntarily to maintain the defense of the
Caucasus against attacks from the north. Anastasius refused the subsidies, which led Kavad to invade his domains, thus starting the
Anastasian War
The Anastasian War was fought from 502 to 506 between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire. It was the first major conflict between the two powers since 440, and would be the prelude to a long series of destructive conflicts between the tw ...
. Kavad first seized
Theodosiopolis and
Martyropolis respectively, and then
Amida after holding the city under
siege for three months. The two empires made peace in 506, with the Byzantines agreeing to pay subsidies to Kavad for the maintenance of the fortifications on the Caucasus in return for Amida. Around this time, Kavad also fought a lengthy war against his former allies, the Hephthalites; by 513 he had re-taken the region of
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
from them.
In 528, war between the Sasanians and Byzantines erupted again, because of the Byzantines refusal to acknowledge Khosrow as Kavad's heir, and a dispute over
Lazica. Although Kavad's forces suffered two notable losses at
Dara and
Satala, the war was largely indecisive, with both sides suffering heavy losses. In 531, while the Iranian army was
besieging Martyropolis, Kavad died from an illness. He was succeeded by Khosrow I, who inherited a reinvigorated and mighty empire that equaled that of the Byzantines.
Because of the many challenges and issues Kavad successfully overcame, he is considered one of the most effective and successful kings to rule the Sasanian Empire. In the words of the
Iranologist Nikolaus Schindel, he was "a genius in his own right, even if of a somewhat
Machiavellian type."
Name
Due to increased Sasanian interest in
Kayanian history, Kavad was named after the mythological Kayanian king
Kavi Kavata. The name is transliterated in
Greek as ''Kabates'', ''Chü-he-to'' in
Chinese, and ''Qubādh'' in
Arabic.
Background and state of Sasanian Iran
The son of the Sasanian
shah Peroz I (), Kavad was born in 473. The Sasanian family had been the monarchs of Iran since 224 after the triumph of the first Sasanian shah
Ardashir I
Ardashir I (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥, Modern Persian: , '), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new emp ...
() over the
Parthian (Arsacid) Empire. Although Iranian society was greatly militarised and its elite designated themselves as a "warrior nobility" (''arteshtaran''), it still had a significantly smaller population, was more impoverished, and was a less centralized state compared to the
Roman Empire. As a result, the Sasanian shahs had access to fewer full-time fighters, and depended on recruits from the nobility instead. Some exceptions were the royal cavalry bodyguard, garrison soldiers, and units recruited from places outside Iran.
The bulk of the high nobility included the powerful
Parthian noble families (known as the ''
wuzurgan'') that were centered on the
Iranian plateau. They served as the backbone of the Sasanian
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
army and were largely autonomous. The Sasanian shahs had noticeably little control over the ''wuzurgan''; attempts to restrict their self-determination usually resulted in the murder of the shah. Ultimately, the Parthian nobility worked for the Sasanian shah for personal benefit, personal oath, and, conceivably, a common awareness of the "Aryan" (Iranian) kinship they shared with their
Persian overlords.
Another vital component of the army was the Armenian cavalry, which was recruited from outside the ranks of the Parthian ''wuzurgan''. However, the
revolt of Armenia in 451 and the loss of its cavalry had weakened the Sasanian's attempts to keep the Hunnic tribes (i.e. the
Hephthalites,
Kidarites
The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna, and in Euro ...
,
Chionites and
Alkhans
The Alchon Huns, (Bactrian language, Bactrian: αλχον(ν)ο ''Alchon(n)o'') also known as the Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alkhan, Alakhana and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and ...
) of the northeastern border in check. Indeed, Kavad's grandfather
Yazdegerd II
Yazdegerd II (also spelled Yazdgerd and Yazdgird; pal, 𐭩𐭦𐭣𐭪𐭥𐭲𐭩), was the Sasanian King of Kings () of Iran from 438 to 457. He was the successor and son of Bahram V ().
His reign was marked by wars against the Eastern Roman ...
() had managed to hold off the Kidarites during his wars against them, which had occupied him throughout most of his reign. Now, however, Sasanian authority in
Central Asia began to decay.
In 474 and the late 470s/early 480s, Peroz was defeated and captured twice by the Hephthalites respectively. In his second defeat, he offered to pay thirty mule packs of silver
drachms
The dram (alternative British spelling drachm; apothecary symbol ʒ or ℨ; abbreviated dr) Earlier version first published in ''New English Dictionary'', 1897.National Institute of Standards and Technology (October 2011). Butcher, Tina; Cook, ...
in ransom, but could only pay twenty. Unable to pay the other ten, he sent Kavad in 482 as a hostage to the Hephthalite court until he could pay the rest. He eventually managed to gain the ten mule packs of silver by imposing a poll-tax on his subjects, and thus secured the release of Kavad before he mounted his third campaign in 484. There, Peroz was
defeated and killed by a Hephthalite army, possibly near
Balkh
), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001
, pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia
, pushpin_relief=yes
, pushpin_label_position=bottom
, pushpin_mapsize=300
, pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...
. His army was completely destroyed, and his body was never found. Four of his sons and brothers had also died. The main Sasanian cities of the eastern region of
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
−
Nishapur
Nishapur or officially Romanized as Neyshabur ( fa, ;Or also "نیشاپور" which is closer to its original and historic meaning though it is less commonly used by modern native Persian speakers. In Persian poetry, the name of this city is wr ...
,
Herat and
Marw were now under Hephthalite rule.
Sukhra
Sukhra (also spelled Sufaray, Sufray, Surkhab, Sarafra'i) was an Iranian nobleman from the House of Karen, who was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Sasanian Empire from 484 to 493. He was active during the reign of shah Peroz I (r. 457-484), Balash ...
, a member of the Parthian
House of Karen, 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 ...
, quickly raised a new force and stopped the Hephthalites from achieving further success. Peroz' brother,
Balash
Balash (Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭥𐭣𐭠𐭧𐭱𐭩, ) was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 484 to 488. He was the brother and successor of Peroz I (), who had been defeated and killed by a Hephthalite army.
Name
''Balāsh'' () is the N ...
, was elected as shah by the Iranian magnates, most notably Sukhra and the
Mihranid general
Shapur Mihran. However, Balash proved unpopular among the nobility and clergy who had him blinded and deposed after just four years in 488. Sukhra, who had played a key role in Balash's deposition, appointed Kavad as the new shah of Iran. According to
Miskawayh (d. 1030), Sukhra was Kavad's maternal uncle.
First reign
Accession and conditions of the empire
Kavad ascended the throne in 488 at the age of 15. His youth is emphasized on his coins, which show him with short whiskers. He inherited an empire that had reached its lowest ebb. The nobility and clergy exerted great influence and authority over the nation, and were able to act as king-makers, as seen by their choice to depose Balash. Economically, the empire was not doing well either, the result of drought, famine, and the crushing defeats delivered by the Hephthalites. They had not only seized large parts of its eastern provinces, but had also forced the Sasanians to pay vast amounts of
tribute to them, which had depleted the royal treasury of the shah. Rebellions were occurring in the western provinces including
Armenia and
Iberia. Simultaneously, the country's peasant class was growing more and more uneasy and alienated from the elite.
Conflict with Sukhra over the empire
The young and inexperienced Kavad was tutored by Sukhra during his first five years as shah. During this period, Kavad was a mere
figurehead, whilst Sukhra was the
de facto ruler of the empire. This is emphasized by
al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
, who states that Sukhra "was in charge of government of the kingdom and the management of affairs ...
e people came to Sukhra and undertook all their dealings with him, treating Kavad as a person of no importance and regarding his commands with contempt." Numerous regions and the representatives of the elite paid tribute to Sukhra not to Kavad. Sukhra controlled the royal treasury and the Iranian military. In 493, Kavad, having reached adulthood, wanted to put an end to Sukhra's dominance, and had him exiled to his native
Shiraz in southwestern Iran. Even in exile, however, Sukhra was in control of everything except the kingly crown. He bragged about having put Kavad on the throne.
Alarmed by the thought that Sukhra might rebel, Kavad wanted to get rid of him completely. He lacked the manpower to do so, however, as the army was controlled by Sukhra and the Sasanians relied mainly on the military of the Seven Great Houses of Iran. He found his solution in
Shapur of Ray, a powerful nobleman from the House of Mihran, and a resolute opponent of Sukhra. Shapur, at the head of an army of his own men and disgruntled nobles, marched to Shiraz, defeated Sukhra's forces, and imprisoned him in the Sasanian capital of
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon ( ; Middle Persian: 𐭲𐭩𐭮𐭯𐭥𐭭 ''tyspwn'' or ''tysfwn''; fa, تیسفون; grc-gre, Κτησιφῶν, ; syr, ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢThomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modi ...
. Even in prison, Sukhra was considered too powerful and was executed. This caused displeasure among some prominent members of the nobility weakening Kavad's status as shah. It also marked the temporary loss of authority of the House of Karen, whose members were exiled in the regions of
Tabaristan and
Zabulistan, which was away from the Sasanian court in Ctesiphon.
The Mazdakite movement and Kavad I's deposition
Not long after Sukhra's execution, a
Zoroastrian priest named
Mazdak caught Kavad's attention. Mazdak was the chief representative of a religious and philosophical movement called
Mazdakism
Mazdakism was an Iranian religion, which was an offshoot of Zoroastrianism. The religion has been called one of the most noteworthy examples of pre-modern communism.
The religion was founded in the early Sasanian Empire by Zardusht, a Zoroas ...
. Not only did it consist of theological teachings, it also advocated for political and social reforms, which would impact the nobility and clergy. The Mazdak movement was against violence and called for the sharing of wealth, women and property, an archaic form of
communism. According to modern historians
Touraj Daryaee and
Matthew Canepa
Matthew Philip Canepa is an American historian of art, and archaeology; as well as a writer and educator. He is a Professor of Art History and inaugural holder of the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Presidential Chair in Art History and Archaeology of ...
, sharing women was most likely an overstatement and defamation deriving from Mazdak's decree that loosened marriage rules to help the lower classes. Powerful families saw this as a tactic to weaken their lineage and advantages, which was most likely the case. Kavad used the movement as a political tool to curb the power of the nobility and clergy. Royal
granaries were distributed, and land was shared among the lower-classes.
The
historicity of the persona of Mazdak has been questioned. He may have been a fabrication to take blame away from Kavad. Contemporary historians, including
Procopius and
Joshua the Stylite make no mention of Mazdak naming Kavad as the figure behind the movement. Mention of Mazdak only emerges in later Middle Persian Zoroastrian documents, namely the ''
Bundahishn'', the ''
Denkard'', and the ''
Zand-i Wahman yasn''. Later Islamic-era sources, particularly al-Tabari's work, also mention Mazdak. These later writings were perhaps corrupted by Iranian oral folklore, given that blame put on Mazdak for the redistribution of aristocratic properties to the people, is a topic repeated in Iranian oral history. Other "villains" in Iranian history, namely
Gaumata
Bardiya or Smerdis ( peo, 𐎲𐎼𐎮𐎡𐎹 ; grc, Σμέρδις ; possibly died 522 BC), also named as Tanyoxarces ( grc, Τανυοξάρκης ) by Ctesias, was a son of Cyrus the Great and the younger brother of Cambyses II, both ...
in the
Behistun Inscription of the
Achaemenid ruler
Darius the Great
Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his d ...
(), and
Wahnam in the
Paikuli inscription
The Paikuli inscription ( ku, پەیکوڵی, Peykulî, fa, پایکولی, in ar, بيكولي) is a bilingual Parthian and Middle Persian text corpus which was inscribed on the stone blocks of the walls of Paikuli tower; the latter is located ...
of the Sasanian shah
Narseh (), are frequently accused of similar misdeeds. Regardless of the main figure behind this movement, the nobility deposed Kavad in 496. They installed his more impressionable brother
Jamasp
Jamasp (also spelled Zamasp or Djamasp; pal, 𐭩𐭠𐭬𐭠𐭮𐭯; fa, جاماسپ ''Jāmāsp'') was Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 496 to 498/9. He was a son of Peroz I and younger brother of Kavad I. Jamasp was installed on the Sasan ...
on the throne. One of the other reasons behind Kavad's deposal was his execution of Sukhra. Meanwhile, chaos was occurring in the country, notably in
Mesopotamia.
Imprisonment, flight and return
A council soon took place among the nobility to discuss what to do with Kavad.
Gushnaspdad
Gushnaspdād, known in Byzantine sources as Gousanastadēs (), was a Sasanian nobleman, who was '' kanarang'' during the reign of Balash (r. 484–488), and Kavad I (r. 488–531).
Biography
Gushnaspdad first appears in 496, as one of the suppo ...
, a member of a prominent family of landowners (the
Kanarangiyan) proposed that Kavad be executed. His suggestion was overruled, however, and Kavad was imprisoned instead in the
Prison of Oblivion The Castle of Oblivion (Middle Persian: ''anōšbord''), also known as the Prison of Oblivion or the Fortress of Oblivion, was a castle and political prison of the Sasanian Empire located in Khuzestan in southwestern Iran.
Notable prisoners of the ...
in
Khuzestan
Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...
. According to Procopius' account, Kavad's wife approached the commander of the prison. They came to an understanding that she would be allowed to see Kavad in exchange for sleeping with him.
Kavad's friend,
Siyawush, who was regularly in the same area as the prison, planned his friend's escape by preparing horses near the prison.
Kavad changed clothes with his wife to disguise himself as a female, and escaped from the prison and fled with Siyawush.
Al-Tabari's account is different. He says that Kavad's sister helped him to escape by rolling him in a carpet, which she made the guard believe was soaked with her menstrual blood. The guard did not object or investigate the carpet, "fearing lest he become polluted by it". One of the authors of the ''
Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', John Robert Martindale, proposes she may have in fact been
Sambice, Kavad's sister-wife, who was the mother of his eldest son,
Kawus. Regardless, Kavad managed to escape imprisonment, and fled to the court of the Hephthalite king, where he took refuge.
[Procopius]
VI
According to the narratives included in the history of al-Tabari, during his flight Kavad met a peasant girl from Nishapur, named Niwandukht, who became pregnant with his child, who would later be
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 ...
. However, the story has been dismissed as "fable" by the
Iranologist Ehsan Yarshater. Khosrow's mother was in reality a noblewoman from the
Ispahbudhan clan, one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran. At the Hephthalite court, Kavad gained the support of the Hephthalite king, and also married his daughter (who was Kavad's niece).
During his stay at the Hephthalite court, Kavad might have witnessed the rise of the Hephthalites to a better position than that of their former
suzerains, the
Kidarites
The Kidarites, or Kidara Huns, were a dynasty that ruled Bactria and adjoining parts of Central Asia and South Asia in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Kidarites belonged to a complex of peoples known collectively in India as the Huna, and in Euro ...
. The present-day district of
Qobadian (the Arabicized form of Kavadian) near Balkh, which was then under Hephthalite rule, was perhaps founded by Kavad, and possibly served as his source of revenue. In 498 (or 499), Kavad returned to Iran with a Hephthalite army. When he crossed the domains of the Kanarangiyan family in Khorasan, he was met by
Adergoudounbades
Adergoudounbadēs ( grc, Ἀδεργουδουνβάδης, before 488 – 541), was a prominent Sasanian nobleman, general, and ''kanarang'' during the reigns of Kavadh I (r. 488–531) and Khosrow I (r. 531–579). His life is known only through ...
, a member of the family, who agreed to help him. Another noble who supported Kavad was
Zarmihr Karen, a son of Sukhra.
Jamasp and the nobility and clergy did not resist as they wanted to prevent another civil war. They came to an agreement with Kavad that he would be shah again with the understanding that he would not hurt Jamasp or the elite. Jamasp was spared, albeit probably blinded, while Gushnaspdad and other nobles who had plotted against Kavad were executed. Generally, however, Kavad secured his position by lenience. Adergoudounbades was appointed the new head of the Kanarangiyan, while Siyawush was appointed the head of the Sasanian army (''arteshtaran-salar'').
Another of Sukhra's sons,
Bozorgmehr, was made Kavad's minister (''
wuzurg framadār
''Wuzurg framadār'' ( pal, 𐭫𐭲𐭬𐭥𐭯 𐭠𐭡𐭫, meaning "the grand lord") was a Sasanian office which was equivalent to the office of Grand Vizier in the later Islamic period.
List
* Abarsam, active during the reign of Ardashir I.E. ...
''). Kavad's reclamation of his throne displays the troubled circumstances of the empire, where in a time of anarchy a small force was able to overwhelm the nobility-clergy alliance.
Second reign
Reforms
Kavad's reign is noteworthy for his reforms, which he had been able to make with the nobility and clergy weakened by the Mazdakites. They were not be completed under his reign but were continued by his son, Khosrow I. The serious blows the Sasanians had suffered at the hands of the Hephthalites in the last quarter of the 5th-century was a key reason behind the reforms the two made. Tax reform was implemented, a poll tax was created, and a review of taxable land was undertaken to ensure taxation was fair. The empire was divided into four frontier regions (''kust'' in Middle Persian), with a military commander (''
spahbed'') in charge of each district; a chancery was also added to keep the soldiers equipped. Before Kavad and Khosrow's reforms, the Iranians' general (''Eran-spahbed'') managed the empire's army. Many of these military commanders were notably from the Parthian ''wuzurgan'', indicating the continuation of their authority, despite the efforts by Kavad and Khosrow. A new priestly office was also created known as the "advocate and judge of the poor" (''driyōšān jādag-gōw ud dādwar''), which assisted the clergy to help the poor and underprivileged (an obligation they had possibly ignored previously).
The power of the
dehqan
The ''dehqân'' ( fa, دهقان) or ''dehgân'' ( fa, دهگان), were a class of land-owning magnates during the Sasanian and early Islamic period, found throughout Iranian-speaking lands. The ''deqhans'' started to gradually fade away under t ...
, a class of small land-owning magnates, increased substantially (and possibly even led to their establishment in the first place). A group of these dehqans was enlisted into a group of cavalry men, who were managed directly by the shah and earned steady wages. This was done to decrease the reliance on the Parthian cavalry. Soldiers were also enlisted from Sasanian allies, such as the Hephthalites,
Arabs, and
Daylamites. As a result, the newly rejuvenated Sasanian army proved successful in its efforts in subsequent decades. It sacked the Byzantine city of
Antioch in 540,
conquered Yemen in the 570s, and under the Parthian military commander
Bahram Chobin defeated both the Hephthalites and
Western Turkic Khaganate in the late 580s.
Although the reforms were beneficial for the Sasanian Empire, they may also have resulted in the decline of the traditional links between the aristocracy and the crown under
Hormizd IV () and
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 ...
(), to the degree that many belonging to the ''wuzurgan'' class—notably Bahram Chobin of the Mihran family, and later
Shahrbaraz of the same family—were bold enough to dispute the legitimacy of the Sasanian family and lay claims to the throne.
Persecution of Mazdak and his followers
With his reforms under way by the 520s, Kavad no longer had any use for Mazdak, and he officially stopped supporting the Mazdakites. A debate was arranged where not only the Zoroastrian priesthood, but also Christian and Jewish leaders slandered Mazdak and his followers. According to the ''
Shahnameh'' (''The Book of Kings''), written several centuries later by the medieval Persian poet
Ferdowsi
Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a sin ...
, Kavad had Mazdak and his supporters sent to Khosrow. His supporters were killed in a walled orchard buried head first with only their feet visible. Khosrow then summoned Mazdak to look at his garden, saying: "You will find trees there that no-one has ever seen and no-one ever heard of even from the mouth of the ancient sages." Mazdak, seeing his followers' corpses, screamed and passed out. He was executed afterwards by Khosrow, who had his feet fastened on a
gallows, and had his men shoot arrows at Mazdak. (The validity of the story is uncertain; Ferdowsi used much earlier reports of events to write the ''Shahnameh'', and thus the story may report some form of contemporary memory.)
Building projects
Many places were founded or re-built under Kavad. He is said to have founded the city
Eran-asan-kerd-Kawad Eran-asan-kerd-Kawad or Iran asan kar(t) Kavad ( pal, 𐭠𐭩𐭫𐭠𐭭𐭠𐭮𐭠𐭭𐭪𐭫𐭪𐭥𐭠𐭲 ʾylʾnʾsʾnklkwʾt, meaning "Kavad asmade Ērān peaceful") was a Sasanian city founded by Kavad I () in the Hulwan region. It was ...
in
Media;
Fahraj in
Spahan
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. It is lo ...
; and Weh-Kawad, Eran-win(n)ard-Kawad, Kawad-khwarrah, and
Arrajan in
Pars
Pars may refer to:
* Fars Province of Iran, also known as Pars Province
* Pars (Sasanian province), a province roughly corresponding to the present-day Fars, 224–651
* ''Pars'', for ''Persia'' or ''Iran'', in the Persian language
* Pars News A ...
. He rebuilt
Kirmanshah in Media, which he also used as one of his residences. He is also said to have founded a township in
Meybod, which was named Haft-adhar ("seven fires"), because of a Zoroastrian
fire temple
A fire temple, Agiary, Atashkadeh ( fa, آتشکده), Atashgah () or Dar-e Mehr () is the place of worship for the followers of Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of Iran (Persia).
In the Zoroastrian religion, fire (see ''atar''), together wi ...
being established there. Its original fire was created by fire brought from seven other temples in Pars, Balkh,
Adurbadagan,
Nisa,
Spahan
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. It is lo ...
,
Ghazni, and Ctesiphon.
In the
Caucasus, Kavad had new
fortifications built at
Derbent, and ordered the construction of the
Apzut Kawat wall (
Middle Persian: ''*Abzūd Kawād'', "Kavad increased
n glory
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
or "has prospered"). The prominent
Caucasian Albania
Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus: mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among ...
n capital of
P'artaw, which had been rebuilt during the reign of Peroz I and named Perozabad ("the city of Peroz"), was fortified by Kavad and called Perozkavad ("victorious Kavad"). The Albanian former capital of
Kabala, a large urban area that included the headquarters of one of the Albanian bishops, was also fortified by Kavad. He founded the city of
Baylakan, which by most researchers is identified with the ruins of Oren-kala. Ultimately, these extensive buildings and fortifications transformed Caucasian Albania into a bastion of Iranian presence in the Caucasus.
The India trade
The Sasanians exerted considerable influence on trade in the region under Kavad. By using the strategic location of the
Persian Gulf, the Sasanians interfered to prevent Byzantine traders from taking take part in the India trade. They accomplished this either by bargaining with trade associates in the
Indian subcontinent—ranging from the
Gupta Empire in the north to the
Anuradhapura monarchs of
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
in the south—or by attacking the Byzantine boats. Iranian traders were also able to seize Indian vessels well before they could make contact with Byzantine traders. These advantages resulted in the Iranian traders establishing something resembling a monopoly over the India trade.
Anastasian war
The Sasanians and Byzantines had kept peace since the brief
Byzantine–Sasanian War of 440. The last major war between the two empires had been during the reign of
Shapur II (). However, war finally erupted in 502. Bankrupted by his hiatus in 496–498/9, Kavad applied for subsidies to the
Byzantine Empire, who originally had paid the Iranians voluntarily to maintain the defense of the Caucasus against attacks from the north. The Iranians seemingly saw the money as a debt due to them. But now Emperor
Anastasius I () refused subsidies forcing Kavad to attempt to obtain the money by force. In 502, Kavad invaded
Byzantine Armenia with a force that included Hephthalite soldiers. He
captured Theodosiopolis, perhaps with local support; in any case, the city was undefended by troops and weakly fortified.
He then marched through southwestern Armenia, reportedly without facing any resistance, and entrusted local governor with the administration of the area. He proceeded to cross the Armenian
Taurus, and reached
Martyropolis, where its governor Theodore, surrendered without any resistance and gave Kavad two years worth of taxes collected from the province of
Sophene. Because of this, Kavad let Theodore keep his position as governor of the city. Kavad then
besieged the fortress-city of
Amida through the autumn and winter (502–503). The siege proved to be a far more difficult enterprise than Kavad had expected; the defenders, although unsupported by troops, repelled the Iranian assaults for three months before they were finally defeated.
He had its inhabitants deported to a city in southern Iran, which he named "Kavad's Better Amida" (
Weh-az-Amid-Kawad). He left a garrison in Amida which included his general Glon, two ''
marzbans'' (
margraves) and 3,000 soldiers. The Byzantines failed in their attempt to recapture the city. Kavad then tried unsuccessfully to capture
Edessa
Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene ...
in
Osroene. In 505 an invasion of Armenia by the Huns from the Caucasus led to an armistice; the Byzantines paid subsidies to the Iranians for the maintenance of the fortifications on the Caucasus, in return for Amida. The peace treaty was signed by the
Ispahbudhan aristocrat
Bawi, Kavad's brother-in-law. Although Kavad's first war with the Byzantines did not end with a decisive winner, the conquest of Amida was the greatest accomplishment achieved by a Sasanian force since 359, when the same city had been
captured by Shapur II.
Relations with Christianity
Kavad's relationship with his Christian subjects is unclear. In Christian Iberia, where the Sasanians had earlier tried to spread Zoroastrianism, Kavad represented himself as an advocate of orthodox Zoroastrianism. In Armenia, however, he settled disputes with the Christians and appears to have continued Balash's peaceful approach. The Christians of Mesopotamia and Iran proper practised their religion without any persecution, despite the punishment of Christians in Iran proper being briefly mentioned in . Like Jamasp, Kavad also supported the
patriarch of the Church of the East,
Babai, and Christians served in high offices at the Sasanian court. According to Eberhard Sauer, Sasanian monarchs only persecuted other religions when it was in their urgent political interests to do so.
According to the ''
Chronicle of Seert'' and the historian
Mari ibn Sulayman, Kavad ordered all the religious communities in the empire to submit written descriptions of their beliefs. This took place sometime before 496. In response to this command, the Patriarch
Aqaq commissioned
Elishaʿ bar Quzbaye, interpreter of the
school of Nisibis, to write for the Church of the East. His work was then translated from
Syriac to Persian and presented to Kavad. This work has since been
lost.
Kavad's reign marked a new turn in Sasanian–Christian relations; before his reign,
Jesus had been seen solely as the defender of the Byzantines. This changed under Kavad. According to an apocryphal account in the ''
Chronicle of Pseudo–Zachariah of Mytilene'', written by a
West Syrian monk at Amida in 569, Kavad saw a vision of Jesus whilst besieging Amida, which encouraged him to remain resolute in his effort. Jesus guaranteed to give him Amida within three days, which happened. Kavad's forces then sacked the city, taking much booty. The city's church was spared, however, due to the relationship between Kavad and Jesus. Kavad was even thought to have venerated a figure of Jesus. According to modern historian Richard Payne, the Sasanians could now be viewed as adherents of Jesus and his saints, if not Christianity itself.
Wars in the east
Not much is known about Kavad's wars in the east. According to Procopius, Kavad was forced to leave for the eastern frontier in 503 to deal with an attack by "hostile Huns", one of the many clashes in a reportedly lengthy war. After the Sasanian disaster in 484, all of Khorasan was seized by the Hephthalites; no Sasanian coins minted in the area (Nishapur, Herat, Marw) have been found from his first reign. The increased in the number of coins minted at
Gorgan (which was now the northernmost Sasanian point) during his first reign may indicate a yearly tribute he paid to the Hephthalites. During his second reign, his fortunes changed. A Sasanian campaign in 508 led to the conquest of the Zundaber (Zumdaber) Castellum, associated with the temple of az-Zunin in the area of ad-Dawar, situated between
Bust and
Kandahar. A Sasanian coin dating to 512/3 has been found in Marw. This indicates the Sasanians under Kavad had managed to re-conquer Khorasan after successfully dealing with the Hephthalites.
Negotiations with the Byzantines over the adoption of Khosrow
Around 520 to secure the succession of his youngest son Khosrow, whose position was threatened by rival brothers and the Mazdakite sect, and to improve his relationship with the Byzantine emperor
Justin I, Kavad proposed that he adopt Khosrow. This proposal was greeted initially with enthusiasm by the Byzantine emperor and his nephew,
Justinian. However, Justinian's ''
quaestor
A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times.
In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...
'', Proclus, opposed the move concerned over the possibility that Khosrow might attempt to take over the Byzantine throne. The Byzantines made a counter-proposal to adopt Khosrow not as a Roman but as a barbarian.
[Procopius]
XI
In the end the negotiations did not reach a consensus. Khosrow reportedly felt insulted by the Byzantines, and his attitude towards them deteriorated.
Mahbod, who with Siyawush, had acted as the diplomats in the negotiations accused him of purposely sabotaging them.
Further accusations were made against Siyawush, which included his reverence for new deities, and having his dead wife buried, a violation of Iranian law. Siyawush was thus most likely a Mazdakite, the religious sect that Kavad had originally, but now no longer, supported. Although Siyawush was a close friend of Kavad and had helped him escape imprisonment, Kavad did not try to prevent his execution. Seemingly his purpose was to restrict Siyawush's immense authority as the head of the Sasanian army, a post which was disliked by the other nobles. Siyawush was executed, and his office was abolished. Despite the breakdown of the negotiations, it was not until 530 that full-scale warfare on the main western frontier broke out. In the intervening years, the two sides preferred waging war by proxy, through Arab allies in the south and Huns in the north.
Iberian war
Hostility between the two powers erupted into conflict once again in 528, just a year after the new Byzantine emperor
Justinian I () had been crowned. This was supposedly the result of the Byzantines not acknowledging Khosrow as Kavad's heir. According to the Greek chronicler
John Malalas
John Malalas ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Malálas''; – 578) was a Byzantine chronicler from Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey).
Life
Malalas was of Syrian descent, and he was a native speaker of Syriac who learned how to write in Greek later in ...
, military clashes first took place in
Lazica, which had been disputed between the two empires since 522. Not long after this the battles also spread down to Mesopotamia, where the Byzantines suffered a heavy defeat near the border. In 530, one of the
famous open-field battles took place between the Byzantine and Sasanian troops at
Dara.
The Sasanian army led by
Perozes
Perozes ( el, Περόζης, from Middle Persian ''Pērōz'') was the Sassanid Persian general opposing the Byzantines under Belisarius at the Battle of Dara (530).
According to the description of the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, h ...
, Pityaxes and
Baresmanas suffered a severe defeat. The battle did not, however, bring an end to the conflict. The following year Kavad raised an army, which he sent under
Azarethes
Azarethes ( el, ), also recorded as Exarath () and Zuraq, was a Sassanid Persian military commander during the Byzantine–Sassanid Wars. His Greek name is possibly a misunderstanding of the honorific title ''hazaraft''.
Biography
According t ...
to invade the Byzantine province of
Commagene. When the Byzantine army under
Belisarius approached, Azarethes and his men withdrew east, halting at
Callinicum. In the
ensuing battle the Byzantines suffered a heavy defeat, but Iranian losses were so great Kavad was displeased with Azarethes, and relieved him of his command.
[Procopius]
Book I.xviii
In 531, the Iranians
besieged Martyropolis. During the siege, however, Kavad became ill and died on 13 September. As a result, the siege was lifted and
peace was made between Kavad's successor Khosrow I and Justinian.
Coins
The provinces of Gorgan, Khuzestan, and
Asoristan provided the most
Sasanian coinage for Kavad during his reign. His reign marks the introduction of distinctive traits on the obverse sides of the coin which includes astral symbols, particularly, a
crescent on both of his shoulders, and a star in the left corner. The reverse side shows the traditional fire altar flanked by two attendants facing it in veneration. Kavad used the title of ''
kay
The name Kay is found both as a surname (see Kay (surname)) and as a given name. In English-speaking countries, it is usually a feminine name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but it is also used as a first name in its own ...
'' (
Kayanian) on his coins, a title that had been used since the reign of his grandfather Yazdegerd II (). Kavad was, however, the last Sasanian shah to have ''kay'' inscribed on his coins—the last one issued in 513. The regular obverse inscription on his coins simply has his name; in 504, however, the slogan ''abzōn'' ("may he prosper/increase") was added.
Succession
According to Procopius and other historians, Kavad had written a succession plan that favoured Khosrow just before his death. Historian John Malalas stated that Kavad crowned Khosrow himself. However, at the beginning of Khosrow's reign in 531, Bawi, and other members of the Iranian aristocracy, became involved in a conspiracy to overthrow Khosrow and make Kavad, the son of Kavad's second eldest son
Jamasp
Jamasp (also spelled Zamasp or Djamasp; pal, 𐭩𐭠𐭬𐭠𐭮𐭯; fa, جاماسپ ''Jāmāsp'') was Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 496 to 498/9. He was a son of Peroz I and younger brother of Kavad I. Jamasp was installed on the Sasan ...
, the shah of Iran.
Upon learning of the plot, Khosrow executed all of his brothers and their offspring, as well as Bawi and the other nobles who were involved.
Khosrow also ordered the execution of Kavad, who was still a child, and was away from the court, being raised by Adergoudounbades. He sent orders to kill Kavad, but Adergoudounbades disobeyed and secretly raised him until he was betrayed to the shah in 541 by his own son, Bahram. Khosrow had him executed, but Kavad, or someone claiming to be him, managed to flee to the Byzantine Empire.
Legacy
Kavad's reign is considered a turning point in Sasanian history. As a result of the many challenges and issues Kavad successfully handled, he is considered one of the most effective and successful kings to rule the Sasanian Empire. In the words of Iranologist Nikolaus Schindel he was "a genius in his own right, even if of a somewhat
Machiavellian type." He was successful in his efforts to reinvigorate his declining empire paving the way for a smooth transition to his son Khosrow I, who inherited a powerful empire. He improved it further during his reign, becoming one of the most popular shahs of Iran earning the epithet Anushirvan ("the immortal soul").
[; ; ]
The
Ziyarid dynasty
The Ziyarid dynasty ( fa, زیاریان) was an Iranian dynasty of Gilaki origin that ruled Tabaristan from 931 to 1090 during the Iranian Intermezzo period. The empire rose to prominence during the leadership of Mardavij. After his death, his ...
, which mainly ruled over Tabaristan and Gorgan between 931–1090, claimed that the founder of the dynasty,
Mardavij
Mardavij ( Gilaki/ fa, مرداویج, meaning "man assailant") was an Iranian prince, who established the Ziyarid dynasty, ruling from 930 to 935.
Born to a Zoroastrian family native to Gilan, Mardavij sought to establish a native Iranian Zoroa ...
(), was descended from Kavad.
Family tree
Notes
References
Bibliography
Ancient works
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Procopius, ''History of the Wars''.
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Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kavadh I
473 births
531 deaths
5th-century Sasanian monarchs
6th-century Sasanian monarchs
Anastasian War
Iberian War
Medieval child rulers
People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars
Shahnameh characters
City founders