Māhōē Sūrī, known in Islamic sources as Māhūy Sūrī, was an

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 ...

aristocrat, who served as the '' marzbān'' (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 Em ...

") of Marv during the reign of the last

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 ...

king of kings

Yazdegerd III Yazdegerd III (also spelled Yazdgerd III and Yazdgird III; pal, 𐭩𐭦𐭣𐭪𐭥𐭲𐭩) was the last Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 632 to 651. His father was Shahriyar and his grandfather was Khosrow II. Ascending the throne at the ...

(r. 632–651).

Biography

Mahoe was probably from the

House of Suren House of Suren or Surenas.. ( Parthian: 𐭎𐭅𐭓𐭉𐭍 Surēn, Middle Persian: 𐭮𐭥𐭫𐭩𐭭) is one of two Parthian noble families explicitly mentioned by name in sources dateable to the Arsacid period.. History The head of Sure ...

, one of the

seven Parthian clans 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 ...

of the Sasanian state. During the Islamic invasion of Iran, Yazdegerd III went to refuge in Marv; when he arrived to the city along with his army chief

Farrukhzad Farrukhzad ( pal, script=Latn, Farrūkhzādag; New Persian: ), was an Iranian aristocrat from the House of Ispahbudhan and the founder of the Bavand dynasty, ruling from 651 to 665. Originally a powerful servant of the Sasanian king Khosrow II (r. ...

, Mahoe warmly received them. However, Farrukhzad did not stay for long and mutinied against Yazdegerd and left the city. Mahoe used this opportunity to secretly plot with the Hephthalite ruler Nizak against Yazdegerd, who, however, discovered the plot and fled from Mahoe's residence. He was eventually assassinated in a mill by an assassin sent by Mahoe. Meanwhile, the Muslims were seizing eastern parts of the fallen Iran, and Mahoe was in the end forced to make peace with the Muslims and pay tribute. During the reign of the

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam ...

(656–661), a complaint about Mahoe's '' dehqans'' not paying tribute was sent to the latter, who then went to

Kufa Kufa ( ar, الْكُوفَة ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Currently, Kufa and Najaf a ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. However, during Mahoe's arrival to the city, the inhabitants of Khorasan, who disliked the governorship of Mahoe, revolted. After this, Mahoe is no longer mentioned in any source.

References

Sources

* * * {{Shahnameh House of Suren Governors of the Sasanian Empire History of Turkmenistan Rulers of Khorasan Generals of Yazdegerd III 7th-century Iranian people