Shahraplakan ( xcl, Շահրապղական, translit=Šahrapłakan), rendered Sarablangas () in Greek sources, was a Sassanid Persian general (''

spahbed ''Spāhbed'' (also spelled ''spahbod'' and ''spahbad'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbed'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Sasani ...

'') who participated in the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602–628 and the

Third Perso-Turkic War The Third Perso-Turkic War was the third and final conflict between the Sassanian Empire and the Western Turkic Khaganate. Unlike the previous two wars, it was not fought in Central Asia, but in Transcaucasia. Hostilities were initiated in 627 A ...

Biography

Shahraplakan first appears in 624, when the Persian shah

Khosrau 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 ...

(r. 590–628) entrusted him with the command of the so-called "New Army", composed of the regiments of ''Khosroēgetai'' and ''Perozitai'' according to Theophanes the Confessor. With this army, Shahraplakan was to counter the

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Heraclius Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, led a revolt ...

(r. 610–641), who had invaded

Persarmenia Sasanian Armenia, also known as Persian Armenia and Persarmenia ( hy, Պարսկահայաստան – ''Parskahayastan''), may either refer to the periods in which Armenia ( pal, 𐭠𐭫𐭬𐭭𐭩 – ''Armin'') was under the suzerainty of ...

and was wintering in

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 ...

.. Shahraplakan's army was successful in recovering many towns and driving the Byzantines back to the Siwnik area, and sought to capture key passes so as to prevent Heraclius from descending south into northwestern Persia ( Adurbadagan). Heraclius, however, managed to avoid encirclement through a series of maneuvers. Shahraplakan followed him but did not engage him, hoping first to join with the army led by another Persian general,

Shahrbaraz Shahrbaraz (also spelled Shahrvaraz or Shahrwaraz; New Persian: ), was shah (king) of the Sasanian Empire from 27 April 630 to 9 June 630. He usurped the throne from Ardashir III, and was killed by Iranian nobles after forty days. Before usur ...

. Although Heraclius launched several sorties against Shahraplakan to prevent this, the two Persian armies eventually joined. Encouraged by reports from Byzantine deserters, the two Persian generals decided not to await the arrival of a third army under their rival Shahin, but to attack Heraclius. In the battle that followed, the Sassanid Persians were defeated. One source records that Shahraplakan was killed in that battle ("struck by a sword in his back"), but he re-appears later. In 627, he was sent with a force of about 1,000 elite men to the relief of Tiflis, then being besieged by the Byzantines and their "Khazar" (in reality probably Gökturk) allies. Their arrival reinforced the garrison and gave heart to the defenders, but the city eventually fell (probably in late 628). As the siege dragged on, however, in mid-September 627 Heraclius left the Turks to continue the siege, while he with his army and a large Turkish contingent turned south towards Persia. Shahraplakan, with his much smaller force, could do nothing to prevent the

's advance..

References

Sources

* * * 6th-century births Year of death unknown 7th-century Iranian people People of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 Sasanian governors of Armenia Generals of Khosrow II {{Marzbans of Persian Armenia