Valentinus to the Rescue

Constantine's arrangement and gift of money to Valentinus for the army, to support Constantine's son in the line of succession, was almost prescient. Constantine died three months after becoming emperor, leaving his step-brother Heraclonas in charge.

Valentinus and troops from Asia Minor went on the march. When they reached the strait across from Constantinople, Heraclonas wisely confirmed his nephew Constans II as co-emperor. This was in September of 641, and Constans was ten years old to Heraclonas' 17 years. (The illustration is a gold solidus with Constans' image.)

Of course, it was Heraclonas' mother, Martina, who had guided her son and tried to contradict the authority of Constantine. The known adversarial relationship Marina had with the son of her husband's first marriage led to rumors that she had poisoned Constantine.

In November of 641, Valentinus and the army crossed to Constantinople, arrested Martina, Heraclonas, and Martina's other sons David and Marinos. The sons were castrated and their noses were cut off, Martina's tongue was slit; all were exiled to Rhodes. After this, they all fall out of the public record.

Constans was too young not to be guided by a regency council. During his reign, Byantines withdrew from Egypt, and the Rashidun Caliphate attempted to expand into the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Constans took a different approach to Monothelitism than his father, preferring not to take sides. His Typos of Constans of 648 was an edict forbidding the topic to be debated. This, of course, solved nothing and satisfied no one. (His son, Constantine IV, would call the Sixth Ecumenical Council that would settle the matter officially.)

There was a serious hiccup in his reign early on, however, brought about by the man who saved him originally. Tomorrow we'll talk about how Valentinus thought maybe he should be emperor. See you then.

Constantine and Heroclonas

When Emperor Heraclius died on 11 February 641, he left two of his sons in charge. Each was from a different mother.

Constantine, his son by his first wife, Fabia Eudokia, had been crowned co-emperor on 22 January 613, when the child was only eight months old. This honorary title was a way to ensure succession in the event of the father's death, but did not give him the emperor's authority while his father lived. (The illustration shows a gold solidus with father and son displayed.)

Heraclonas, his son by Martina, had been made a caesar (a royal title but not the same as emperor) at the age of six years, on 1 January 632. On that same day, Constantine was given a consulship, which made him one of the highest-ranking men in the empire with actual authority. Heroclonas was named "Augustus" and essentially a co-emperor on 4 July 638.

Heraclius' favoring of Martina, who naturally tried to promote her own children over that of her step-son, led to a weakening of Constantine's roles.

At Heraclius' death, however, Constantine became senior emperor. Constantine promoted his own son, Constans (who was only 10 years old) to caesar, ignoring Martina's other sons. Because Heraclonas was so young, Martina made decisions on his behalf, often arguing with Constantine.

Some of Constantine's supporters feared that Martina and Heraclonas would try to overthrow him, and advised him to make sure the army was loyal. Constantine sent two million solidi to Valentinus, to ensure that the army would support Constans.

Constantine died within a few months of becoming emperor. The cause is assumed to be tuberculosis, although rumors that he was poisoned by Martina persisted. That's when the money sent to Valentinus came in handy, as I'll explain tomorrow.

The Heraclian Dynasty

For a century (610 - 711), Heraclius and his descendants were emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire, ruling over the Byzantines from Constantinople. To get these descendants, he had two marriages.

The first was to Fabia Eudokia, betrothed to him before he became emperor. She and her mother were kidnapped by the previous emperor, Phocas, to try to prevent Heraclius from attacking Constantinople. They were released by members of the Greens, who favored Heraclius in his revolt. Once they were safely with Heraclius, he was able to enter Constantinople. Heraclius and Fabia married on the same day he was crowned emperor, 5 October 610, and she was given the title Augusta. Their son was Constantine III, who would succeed Heraclius.

Fabia died on 13 August 612. Heraclius then married Martina in 613. Her mother was Maria, Heraclius' sister, making him her uncle.

There have been several times in history when laws of consanguinity were proposed, suggesting various degrees of relatedness that were prohibited. Marriage to your niece was certainly one of these prohibited unions, whichever set of rules you chose to apply. The crime of incest, and the respect for the deceased Fabia Eudokia, led to disapproval by the population of this new marriage. Heraclius' own family rejected this choice; his brother Theodore frequently condemned it.

Heraclius kept Martina with him on campaigns, but military failures were attributed to her and the inappropriate marriage. The couple had several children:

• Constantine, who died young
• Fabius, who had a paralyzed neck and died young
• Theodosius, born deaf-mute

These children may have suffered due to the inbreeding of Heraclius with a close relative. The population pointed fingers at this "evidence" that the marriage was cursed.

There were children who survived and became rulers themselves, however. When Heraclius was on his deathbed, he asked that his son by Fabia, Constantine, and a son by Martina, Heraclonas, be honored. Constantine and Martina did not get along, however, which was going to cause trouble in the near future. See you tomorrow. (The illustration is a much later coin struck to commemorate Heraclius.)

Emperor Heraclius

Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (reigned 610 - 641) was mentioned here when he tried to make the whole empire follow Monothelitism. The idea that Jesus had only a single "energy" and not two (the human and the divine) was not well-received by everyone. That was not the only issue of Heraclius' reign.

Born c.575 in (we think) Armenia, his father (Heraclius the Elder) was a general under Emperor Maurice during the time of Bahram Chobin's revolt against the Iranian emperors Hormizd IV and his son, Khosrow II. Maurice made Heraclius the Elder the Exarch (regional governor) of Africa.

In 608, Heraclius the Elder and his son led a revolt against Emperor Phocas (reigned 602 to 610). Phocas had overthrown Maurice years earlier, but was so unpopular that when the younger Heraclius approached Constantinople, the elite imperial guard that was led by Phocas' son-in-law defected to Heraclius. The son-in-law, Priscus, supported the overthrow and was later given a command against the Persians. Another group in favor of change that supported the revolt was the Greens.

Heraclius the Younger became emperor. The illustration shows him sentencing Phocas, although a generation later an historian said Heraclius slew Phocas himself without any formality. The Elder was still securing Egypt. When news came that his son was made emperor, the father is said to have rejoiced. He died shortly after, however.

Heraclius was crowned on 5 October 610. Much of his reign was spent dealing with the danger from the east. War with the Sassanian Empire (602 - 628) lost him Syria and Egypt. When Khosrow II was overthrown by his son, Kavad II, Kavad II wanted peace. The war against the Persians ended, but the military losses on both sides were significant.

As a sign of good faith, Kavad offered the True Cross to Heraclius in 628. Heraclius returned it to Jerusalem a year or two later.

Unfortunately, here was another enemy to the East, the Rashidun Caliphate, who conquered the Sassanian Empire first and then came for the West, taking Armenia, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. What was gained from Persian Zoroastrians was lost to Arab Muslims.

He established the Heraclian dynasty that lasted a century. There was a problem with his descendants, however, and that was the problem of incest. I'll explain more tomorrow.

Khosrow and Shirin, Part 3

We left off two days ago (because of the Farhad Tarash interlude) with the "wrong" ending of their love story, one we know didn't happen because we know when the two lovers lived and died. The idea that Khosrow's son kills Khosrow in order to marry Shirin, and Shirin killing herself to avoid this, does not fit the few facts we know.

The fact is that the two were married. Shirin was a Christian, and her presence in his life was likely an influence on his tolerance for the various Christian offshoots, although he did take sides. The ongoing conflict between Monophysite (Jesus had only one nature) and Nestorian (Jesus had a human and divine nature) Christians led Khosrow to favor his wife's version and declare that Monophysitism should be followed by Christians in his empire.

Shirin bore a son, Mardanshah, whom she would have liked to be Khosrow's successor.

Also, despite the part of the story that has Shirin also romantically interested in the sculptor Farhad, she lives on in legend as a faithful wife. She played a more public role than Gordiya (the sister of Khosrow's one-time enemy, Bahram Chobin), or Mariam (said to be the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Maurice). Each of his wives bore him sons. It was a son of Mariam who was to cause the greatest grief for the couple.

During the Persian-Turkic War of 627-629, the Turks captured Khosrow's home in Dastagird, whereupon Khosrow fled to the capital of Ctesiphon. Once he reached Ctesiphon, Khosrow intended to recognize Mardanshah as his heir. Hearing this, Sheroe sent a message to a general who once led opposition to Khosrow. Sheroe promised to promote conspirators, increase the army's salaries, and end the war with the Byzantine Empire.

With those assurances, the general arranged for a coup d'état in favor of Sheroe, who started calling himself Kavad II as a regnal name. This was in 628.

Sheroe had his father imprisoned, and a list of accusations was made against him for mis-management and corruption. Khosrow dismissed the accusations. Kavad then had all his siblings rounded up and executed. He then had an Iranian nobleman kill Khosrow, after which he had the nobleman killed. Khosrow's daughters criticized their brother. Shirin is also said to have died in 628, but the idea that she committed suicide because her step-son wants to marry her was unlikely. (The illustration is a carved capital that depicts Khosrow.)

To end the war, Kavad would have to deal with Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. Let's meet him tomorrow.

Farhad Tarash

I mentioned yesterday a sculptor named Farhad who was punished by Khosrow II for becoming a rival for the love of Shirin. He was given the impossible task to carve steps into the cliffs of Mount Behistun.

As it happens, if you go to Mount Behistun in western Iran you'll find a long smooth section carved into the stone that is decidedly not natural. Called the Farhād Tarāsh, it is 30 meters high and 200 meters long.

Its origin is unknown. A medieval geographer named Istakhri, who died in 957, had no idea whence it came. Near the Farhād Tarāsh are several hundred dressed stone blocks that would be suitable for the start of a wall or a building's foundation. They have been dated to the same era as the wall carving.

Farhad is only known from Nizami Ganjavi's famous tragic romance Khosrow and Shirin, which he started writing in c. 1180. Did Nizami Ganjavi know something about the history of Mount Behistun? Or did he simply take a mystery and come up with a fiction that explained it and added a tragic note to his story? (In the story, Farhad threw himself off the cliff when he was told that Shirin was dead.)

One archaeologist thought the stone face was created to be the frame for an inscription by Darius the Great (reigned 522-486 BCE). Another theorized it was the beginning of a planned palace by Khosrow II, and that the literary link to his reign was evidence of such. Khosrow also reigned over a Golden Age of sorts before the Muslim conquest of Iran.

None of the theories can be proven, but it makes for an interesting footnote to the romance of Khosrow and Shirin, which we will get back to tomorrow.

Khosrow and Shirin, Part 2

Yesterday we started the romance of Khosrow and Shirin, in which the two lovers separate when Khosrow goes to Constantinopole to get help from Roman Emperor Maurice. Khosrow had been dethroned by Bahram Chobin, and Maurice would lend him soldiers if Khosrow agreed to marry Maurice's daughter Mariam. He also had to promise to marry no one else whilst Mariam lived, which would put a wrinkle in his plans to be married to Shirin.

Khosrow and Mariam are wed. She will give birth to a son, Shiroyeh. Time passes.

While Khosrow was in Constantinople, a sculptor named Farhad was falling for Shirin. Shirin was returning the interest. (The illustration is of Shirin visiting Farhad.) Back in power, Khosrow sends Farhad away with the task of carving steps into Behistun Mountain. While Farhad is attempting this task, Khosrow sends him word that Shirin has died. Farhad's grief is so great that he throws himself from the mountain and dies.

Khosrow sends a message to Shirin, informing her that Farhad is dead and expressing regret. Eventually, Mariam dies. A 10th-century Persian poet who wrote the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi, says Shirin poisoned her, after which Shirin sends Khosrow a letter expressing regret sarcastically, in revenge for the death of Farhad.

The two lovers are now free to marry, but Khosrow has a dalliance with another woman named Shekar; this delays the union of the two. Then, a drunk Khosrow goes to Shirin's castle to see her, but she won't let him in because of his affair with Shekar, and he returns to his own castle.

Several more incidents occur before Shirin agrees to marry Khosrow, but yet another wrinkle appears: Shiroyeh has fallen in love with Shirin. Shiroyeh kills Khosrow and writes to Shirin, saying that he will marry her in one week. She kills herself instead, and she and Khosrow are buried together.

Didn't happen.

What did happen is worth telling, but first we have to talk about Farhad, the likely fictitious sculptor given an impossible task. At Behistun there is a carving with his name attached to it, and it's worth looking at. See you tomorrow. 

Khosrow and Shirin, Part 1

Once the rebellions were finished, the reign of Khosrow II (590 - 628) experienced a golden age in some respects. One facet of his reign was his tolerance of Christians, which may have had something to do with undoing the persecutions in the times of his immediate ancestors, and also to do with one of his wives, Shirin.

Shirin was a Christian, a member of the Church of the East and later a member of the Syriac Orthodox Church. When Jerusalem was conquered in 614 by the Sassanians and the True Cross was captured, it was brought to Ctesiphon where Shirin took possession of it.

How Khosrow came to be married to a Christian is the subject of speculation, and many varying accounts were created over the years. One is that she was a servant in a Persian home he used to visit when he was young. A 12th-century Persian poet, Nizami Ganjavi, wrote a very popular poem called "Khosrow and Shirin" in which he tells the beautiful (and no doubt extremely fictional) story of the two lovers.

Nizami paints Shirin as the flawlessly beautiful niece of an Armenian queen. A friend of Khosrow travels at his behest to find Shirin and show her a picture of Khosrow, with whom she falls in love. She decides to flee her home to go to find Khosrow. Ironically, Khosrow at the time decided to flee his father's anger and go to Armenia to find Shirin.

Coincidentally, Khosrow (disguised as a peasant) sees a young woman bathing in a river. It is Shirin, who does not recognize him because of his disguise. He does not realize that she is the woman he seeks, so he continues. They miss each other several times in the story, until he flees to Armenia after his overthrow by Bahram Chobin. He finally meets Shirin, but leaves her in Armenia to travel to Constantinople to get help from the Byzantine Emperor Maurice against Bahram Chobin.

Maurice agrees to help, but on the condition that Khosrow marry his daughter Mariam, and to marry no one else so long as Mariam is alive. To further complicate things, a sculptor named Farhad falls in love with Shirin.

The romance of Khosrow and Shirin was known long before Nizami, but he turned it into a famous Iranian epic. Tomorrow we'll find out what happened to the lovers.

Gordiya

The woman whose name keeps showing up in the last few posts was the wife of three powerful men in 6th-century Iran, one of whom was her brother.

Born to one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran, Gordiya's father was a military officer under Emperor Khosrow I (531 - 579). She had three brothers, one of whom was Bahram Chobin, who later started a civil war against Khosrow's son (Hormizd IV) and then grandson, Khosrow II. She was married to Bahram; it is not known for certain, but they may have been half-siblings from different mothers.

Not much is known of Gordiya's early life. After Bahram's death in 590, when Khosrow II's uncle Vistahm rebelled against his nephew and created his own principality in eastern Iran, Gordiya saw a chance to be connected again to a powerful man and married Vistahm. This increased his authority with her brother's former followers.

Vistahm, however, was not going to be allowed to run his independent mini-kingdom, and ultimately Khosrow sent an army to conquer him. Vistahm was killed either by a supporter of Khosrow's or by Gordiya herself. Whether she was responsible is not able to be proven, but the identity of her third husband might shed some light on the incident.

She married Khosrow II.

If it is possible that Khosrow made a secret offer to her to make her his empress, then that could be sufficient motivation for her—a woman who saw marriage to powerful men as a way to gain status—to eliminate Vistahm.

Dinawari, a 9th-century Iranian polymath, wrote a history that mentions Gordiya giving Khosrow a son, Juvanshir, who was briefly a king of Iran in 630. If that were the case, however, there is no other evidence, neither written records nor coins minted with his information on them.

Let's get back to Khosrow II; with rebellions suppressed, we can now find out what else was significant about his reign, starting tomorrow.

Uncle Vistahm

An uncle willing to kill your father might not be the best person in whom to put your faith. Vistahm and his brother Vinduyih killed Iranian Emperor Hormizd IV (they had revenge reasons) and put his son on the throne as Khosrow II.

They had helped Khosrow during a civil war against his enemy, Bahram Chobin, but eventually he had to order them executed to distance himself from their murder of his father. Vinduyih was caught up with and killed, but Vistahm found enough supporters—including supporters of Bahram Chobin when Bahram's sister Gordiya married Vistahm—to create a little kingdom for himself inside Persian territory.

Because of the coins Vistahm was printing with his name and dates (see illustration), we know that he was ruling that area for seven years. Khosrow sent soldiers several times to capture and kill Vistahm, but Vistahm's following was too great. Ultimately, however, Vistahm had to flee to the mountainous province of Gilan.

Although some Armenian sections of Khosrow's army defected to Vistahm, he was finally tracked down and captured by forces led by an Armenian Prince, Smbat IV Bagratuni. Vistahm was killed, but there are two stories about that. One is that, at Khosrow's request, a prince of Transoxiana, Pariowk, killed him. The other is that the urging came from Gordiya herself.

Why would his wife be involved, whose brother was killed by forces of which Vistahm was originally part? She seems to have had a good head for figuring out where her best future options lay. Once it looked like Vistahm was no longer going to be successful, she was willing to abandon him for something else.

What was that "something else"? Would you be surprised to know that her next husband was a younger man, a powerful man; in fact, that his name was Khosrow II?

Maybe it's time to learn more about Gordiya. See you tomorrow.

Dealing with the Uncles

So Khosrow II had regained his throne and the usurper Bahram Chobin had fled and been killed. Order was restored in the Iranian Empire. Khosrow had originally been put on the throne when his two uncles on his mother's side, Vistahm and Vinduyih, who absolutely hated Khosrow's father, Hormizd IV (who had persecuted aristocratic clans to have more control himself and had killed their father), deposed Hormizd.

During the approach of Bahram's army to Ctesiphon, when Khosrow fled to Azerbaijan, Vinduyih even pretended to be Khosrow when Bahram's force caught up with them, and allowed himself to be captured in order to save his nephew.

Both uncles were rewarded handsomely with money and positions. Vinduyih became the royal treasurer. Vistahm took over his father's title of military chief in the east. 

The shadow of Hormizd's murder hung over Khosrow's reign, however. In order to distance himself from any complicity, Khosrow chose to have his uncles executed. Vinduyih tried to flee to Vistahm, but was captured and killed.

Then Vistahm (understandably) rebelled against Khosrow, sending him a message:

You are not worthier to rule than I am. Indeed, I am more deserving on account of my descent from Darius, son of Darius, who fought Alexander. You Sassanians deceitfully gained superiority over us and usurped our right, and treated us with injustice. Your ancestor Sasan was no more than a shepherd.

There was plenty of support for Vistahm, aided by an unexpected marriage. Bahram's sister, the influential noblewoman Gordiya (see illustration), went to Vistahm and married him. This brought many of Bahram's supporters to Vistahm's side.

Vistahm managed to carve out a very nice principality for himself, thumbing his nose at Khosrow. The estimates of his reign are from 590 to c.594/5. If he had stayed quiet, he might have lasted longer, but he decided to expand toward Khosrow-controlled territory. This set up a more serious clash between the two, about which I will say more tomorrow.

Khosrow II and Bahram

After Hormizd IV was strangled with his own turban by his own followers in 590, his son, now Iranian Emperor Khosrow II, faced the threat of the civil war leader Bahram Chobin heading his way. Khosrow sent a message to Bahram with a gentle warning:

Khosrow, kings of kings, ruler over the ruling, lord of the peoples, prince of peace, salvation of men, among gods the good and eternally living man, among men the most esteemed god, the highly illustrious, the victor, the one who rises with the sun and who lends the night his eyesight, the one famed through his ancestors, the king who hates, the benefactor who engaged the Sassanians and saved the Iranians their kingship—to Bahram, the general of the Iranians, our friend.... We have also taken over the royal throne in a lawful manner and have upset no Iranian customs.... We have so firmly decided not to take off the diadem that we even expected to rule over other worlds, if this were possible.... If you wish your welfare, think about what is to be done.

Bahram continued his march to the capital of Ctesiphon. Khosrow's loyalists initially held off Bahram's forces, despite being outnumbered, but were eventually worn down. Khosrow, his wives, his uncles Vistahm and Vinduyih (who had killed Hormizd) and 30 nobles fled west to lands controlled by the Byzantine Empire.

Bahram declared himself emperor in the summer of 590. Bahram supported his claim by linking his existence and success to a Zoroastrian legend of a savior (mentioned here). He proceeded to do what rulers do: minting his own gold coins (illustration) with his name and likeness on them.

Khosrow, meanwhile, made the desperate move of writing to the Byzantine Emperor Maurice (mentioned here) to ask for help regaining his throne. Despite the frequent Byzantine/Persian clashing, Maurice agreed, in exchange for the return of some cities to Byzantine possession and Iran stopping interfering with Iberia and Armenia.

Some vicious fighting followed, as Khosrow and his people attacked Bahram-controlled territory. General Narses made enough progress into Bahram's territory that Khosrow was again declared king there. Vistahm and Vinduyih also were making progress. Bahram was sufficiently defeated that he fled eastward where he found refuge with the Khagan of the Turks.

Khosrow was back on the throne after having ruled for less than a year and then been exiled for less than a year. Understanding that Bahram was very popular and could still pose a threat, Khosrow sent men to execute him. It would be convenient to say that Bahram's legacy no longer intertwined with Khosrow's, but history doesn't always tie up loose ends neatly. Tomorrow we'll look at Khosrow's reign, new/old threats, and a surprise marriage.

The End of Hormizd IV

So Hormizd IV was dealing with a civil war when a successful military leader decided he was destined to lead the Iranian Empire. Hormizd asked his general Farrukhan to go put down the rebellion. Before setting out, Farrukhan requested that Hormizd release a political prisoner, Zadspram, a military leader whom Farrukhan considered important to success. Zadspram was released.

The armies of Hormizd under Farrukhan faced the army of Bahram Chobin across the River Zab. Neither wanted to be the first to try crossing the river and putting themselves into a vulnerable position. Farrukhan might also have delayed in hopes that the rebellion would dissolve over time.

Unfortunately, Zadspram deserted Farrukhan. This desertion demoralized the army. Two of Farrukhan's officers killed Farrukhan, and the loyalist army fell apart.

Meanwhile, Hormizd was in Ctesiphon, the Iranian royal capital for over 800 years. Enter Vistahm and Vinduyih. They were Hormizd's brothers-in-law, and they hated him. They decided to get Hormizd off the throne, so they blinded him with a red-hot needle in 590. The brothers elevated his son, their nephew Khosrow II (born c.570), to the position of emperor. Not long after, the two dealt with Hormizd permanently by strangling him with his own turban.

Accounts written later disagree on whether Khosrow II was involved in the murder of his father. A few years after the event, Khosrow executed both uncles for the murder of his father, along with others he considered co-conspirators. (More own this in the next few days.)

With the news of the death of Hormizd, Bahram Chobin continued his march to the capital under the public pretext of avenging the assassination of the emperor. Now, however, he was Khosrow II's problem. Whether this would make Khosrow II's reign a short one will be seen tomorrow.

Hormizd IV

Iranian Emperor Khosrow I maintained a level of religious tolerance (except for Mazdakism), during his reign (531 - 579). His son was also tolerant.

Hormizd IV (reigned 579 - 590) turned down requests by the Zoroastrian clergy to persecute Christians. His explanation was:

Just as our royal throne cannot stand on its two front legs without the two back ones, our kingdom cannot stand or endure firmly if we cause the Christians and adherents of other faiths, who differ in belief from ourselves, to become hostile to us. So refrain from harming the Christians and become assiduous in good works, so that the Christians and the adherents of other faiths may see this, praise you for it, and feel themselves drawn toward your religion.

He wanted all living within the empire to be treated as citizens of the empire. One of Hormizd's wives was a Christian, and he is said to have prayed to St. Sergius, a 4th-century Christian soldier.

The Zoroastrian clergy were not okay with this, and treated him with hostility. Hormizd felt it prudent to deal with their threat by executing Zoroastrian clergy who opposed him. There was another Zoroastrian threat, however, that did not come from the clergy.

Bahram Chobin was a military leader from one of the Seven Great Houses of the Sassanian Iranian Empire. He started a civil war against Hormizd. The religious element came from a Zoroastrian holy book that predicted:

...a man shall come from the frontiers of Kavulistan, with whom there will be glory, also of the royal family, whom they will name Kay Bahram; and all men will return with him, and he will rule even over India, Rome, and Turkistan, over all the frontiers.

Bahram's activities were near the end of the millennium of Zoroaster (which had to have started with the Seleucids in 312 BCE to make this work). Bahram began to be hailed by some as the fulfillment of a prophecy. Bahram himself claimed to be the personification of the fire of Mithra.

Hormizd, of course, had his own army, and the two forces faced each other across a river, neither wanting to make the first move and become vulnerable while trying to cross. Tomorrow I'll tell you what ended the civil war about to take place.

The End of Mazdak

Two days ago I promised you a grisly end to Mazdak and his followers. Yesterday was the set-up: Iranian Emperor Kavad tried to be tolerant of Mazdak, a priest who preached a doctrine that was not in line with orthodox Zoroastrianism.

Kavad reached a point where support of Mazdak was detrimental to Kavad's rule. He arranged a debate over the tenets of Mazdakism. Not only Zoroastrian priests, but also Jewish and Christian representatives were invited to all denigrate Mazdak and his beliefs.

Kavad sent Mazdak and all his followers to his son, Khosrow (who would later succeed Kavad as emperor). Kavad's eldest son, Kawus, was a supporter of Mazdakism, and could not be entrusted to do what had to be done.

What happened next was not recorded at the time. The Shahnameh, an epic poem by a Persian in the 10th century (in fact, the longest epic poem in the world created by a single author), tells us what transpired. Khosrow took 3000 followers to a walled garden, where he had them "planted" head-down in the ground, with only their legs showing.

Mazdak himself was then invited by Khosrow, who supposedly said "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." Upon viewing the scene, Mazdak cried out, then fainted. He was hanged and shot with arrows.

Cool story, if true. There is a Jewish tradition that says the Jewish community under a revolutionary named Mar-Zutra II rose up to defeat Mazdak and the Mazdakites and then established a Jewish kingdom that lasted seven years.

"The End of Mazdak" was not necessarily the end of his ideas. Mazdakism survived, however, because a few survivors went to remote areas. An author in the 17th century claimed to have met Mazdakites practicing their beliefs secretly among the Muslims.

Religious tolerance in the Iranian Empire took a strange turn after Khosrow's son succeeded him. That's a story for tomorrow.

Mazdak and Kavad

During the reign of the Sassanian dynasty's Emperor Kavad I (r. 488–531), Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion. An Iranian priest named Mazdak started preaching a different version that came to be called Mazdakism.

The Zoroastrian clergy were very powerful, wealthy through donations at a time when the empire was having economic problems due to the need to provide tributes to some of their neighbors who had defeated them in some military struggles. The control of the Zoroastrian clergy meant the population was ready to embrace something new, but also meant that something new would not be received well by those in the upper class.

Mazdakism preached a dualistic Manichaeism cosmology, that there was a struggle between a good spiritual world of light, and an evil material world of darkness. Mazdakism also opposed war, consumption of meat, and said greed should be eliminated by eliminating personal property. It also said women should be held in common, which may have been an attempt by Mazdak to promote polygamy.

During a famine, grain was being hoarded by the wealthy nobility. Mazdak urged Kavad to help the people by sharing the grain. Kavad was dealing with an increasingly powerful nobility and Zoroastrian clergy, and saw helping the people as a way to garner more popular support to himself.

Kavad was actually deposed by the nobles for his support of Mazdak. He was imprisoned, and his brother Jamasp was enthroned in 496. Procopius tells the story that Kavad's wife went to the man guarding Kavad, offering herself to the guard for sex in exchange for getting to speak to her husband. While in his cell, Kavad and his wife exchanged clothes. An Iranian officer and friend of Kavad had horses ready nearby, helping him escape.

Kavad returned two years after his imprisonment with an army at his back. Fearing a devastating civil war, Jamasp stepped down with the promise that he would not be harmed. Those who plotted the usurpation were executed, however.

Kavad instituted several reforms that were influenced by Mazdakism: pacifism, anti-clericalism, and aid for the poor.

The Zoroastrian clergy were still powerful, however. When Kavad died, they asserted control over the succession. His elder son, Kawus, who had been a supporter of Mazdak, was considered unsuitable. The youngest, Khosrow, became Emperor Khosrow I. Under Khosrow, Mazdakism (and Mazdak) would come to a grisly end. Yesterday's post promised that today, but we will have to wait until tomorrow for the details.

Iranian Religious Tolerance

If the Iranian Empire under the Sassanian Emperor Khosrow I (531 - 579) had an official religion, it would be Zoroastrianism. In fact, Khosrow's older brother was deemed unsuitable to succeed their father as emperor because he supported an offshoot of Zoroastrianism (called Mazdakism after its chief proponent). Khosrow's father, Emperor Kazad I, was even deposed (briefly) because of his dalliance with Mazdakism.

Khosrow's interest in accepting "the good" in other cultures extended to tolerance of other religions. (Unless, of course, it was the "heretical" Mazdakism.) Sassanians were aware of other religions and their prominence in different parts of the East, and treated them as mard/zan ī šahr ("man/woman citizen" (of the Empire). So long as they adhered to the laws of Iran/Persia, they were accepted in society.

Christian and Jewish scholars had even been employed in a formal debate along with Zoroastrians to slander Mazdak.

The Christian "Church of the East" (aka Nestorian Church, aka Assyrian Church) had a leader who was called Catholicos of Iran. During Khosrow's reign this was Mar Abba the Great. Khosrow (usually) got along with Mar Abba, although after the Lazic War there were increased persecutions of Christians. Mar Abba held a 544 synod that created an "orthodoxy of faith" that embedded in it some Persian facets of the Church in the East, like the prohibition of marriage between close kin, following Zoroastrian ideas.

Khosrow even used a Christian diplomat in his communications with the Byzantine Empire. One of his commanders, Gregory, had left Zoroastrianism and converted to Christianity. Khosrow supported Gregory, but the court felt the commander's existence was an insult. One of Gregory's nephews asked Khosrow to execute Gregory. Khosrow tried incarceration first, but ultimately was pressured to execute Gregory.

Worse than being a member of another religion, however, was being a member of Zoroastrianism and departing from Zoroastrian orthodoxy. I suppose I should really tell you about how harshly Mazdak and his followers were treated. Tomorrow's post should carry a warning for those who are squeamish.

Can't wait.

Khosrow the Philosopher King

Although the youngest of four sons and not truly expected to ever become king, Khosrow I (531 - 579) received an extensive education in his youth. Once he became king, he cared deeply about advancing knowledge and culture.

The intellectual center of the Iranian Empire was the city of Gundeshapur, founded centuries earlier as a place to house Roman prisoners of war and used as a royal winter residence. There was an Academy of Gundishapur that Khosrow expanded significantly. It taught astronomy, medicine, philosophy, physics, poetry, and rhetoric. The academy combined knowledge from Greek and Indian sources as well as Iranian.

Gundeshapur taught medicine not under an apprenticeship system. Students worked in a hospital supervised by the entire medical faculty. It is thought that there were even exams required before completion of study. The academy also had a department focused on the study of maritime diseases and their treatment, likely the first in history.

The Encyclopedia Iranica tells us:

John of Ephesus, who even apologizes for eulogizing ... an enemy, states that Ḵosrow “was a prudent and wise man, and all his lifetime he assiduously devoted himself to the perusal of philosophical works … He took pains to collect the religious books of all creeds, and read and studied them, that he might learn which one were true and wise and which were foolish.”

Khosrow himself is believed to have said:

We have not declined to adopt anything which was good nor to avoid anything which was bad. Affection for our forebears did not lead us to accept customs which were not good.

Khosrow's name in Iranian texts during and after his reign is mentioned numerous times. He created a golden age of culture. Part of his ability to do so much was because he concentrated power on his central authority, which angered many of the nobles in the far-reaching empire. After his death, there were significant changes.

He was succeeded by his son, but before we get into that, I want to talk about how Christians fared inside the Iranian Empire whose ruler followed Zoroastrianism. That will be for tomorrow.

Khosrow and The Panchatantra

The Emperor of Iran, Khosrow I (531 - 579) was not just a leader who wanted to go to war with the Byzantines. He wanted to advance his people and culture in all ways, not just militarily.

Yesterday we told the story of the creation of chess and then backgammon as part of a challenge between India and Iran. There was another "cultural exchange" between the two worth mentioning (and was touched on here a few years ago).

The Panchatantra is an ancient Sanskrit collection of animal fables, written down by an anonymous author from stories preserved by oral tradition. It was enormously popular in India, and consists of five frame stories (Panchatantra means "Five Treatises"), each of which has fables that contribute to the main theme. The theme in many is the duty that a leader has to a people.

When Khosrow learned about the Panchatantra, he sent his physician Borzuya to India to make a copy of it. Why a physician? Because what Khosrow heard was that in India was something that could raise the dead.

(Note: yesterday we learned of Khosrow's advisor Borzogmehr. Some think Borzogmehr and Borzuya are the same person, because "Borzuya" can be a shortened form of "Borzogmehr." Other sources say they were two different men.)

Borzuya sailed to India and inquired about the "plant"; he learned it was actually a book, the Panchatantra. The ruler of India did not allow him to make a copy, but Borzuya was allowed to read it in the palace. Borzuya would read a story each day, then at night in his room he would write out what he had memorized and send what he wrote back to Iran.

Khosrow's reaction to reading the fables was to say the book "has given my soul new life." In a sense, therefore, it brought something back to life.

It's refreshing to talk about a ruler without talking about war. Tomorrow let's see what else Khosrow might have done culturally.

Games of Diplomacy

A 7th-century Sanskrit biography of the Indian emperor Harshavardhana written by his court poet Banabhatta contains the first literary mention (we believe) of the game of chess. In it we read that the Indian emperor sent a gift to the Sassanian King Khosrow I. The gift was a game that contained pieces that have been translated in different ways: "royal figures of sculptors" or "fighting terracotta-warriors" or even "When this king reigns, the fight among kings is confined to terracotta statuettes."

The strong assertion is that this was a chess game. (More detail available here; just search for "chess.")

The biography explains that the king of India sent it to Khosrow with a challenge, or taunt:

As your name is the King of Kings, all your emperorship over us connotes that your wise men should be wiser than ours. Either you send us an explanation of this game of chess or send revenue and tribute to us.

Khosrow tossed the challenge to his vizier, Bozorgmehr, who had been an advisor and military commander under Khosrow's father. It took three days, but Bozorgmehr figured out the arrangement and rules of the game of chess. (The illustration shows Bozorgmehr challenging the Indian envoy to a game.)

Khosrow decided that turnabout was fair play, so he had Bozorgmehr design a board game to send to India. The game was called Nard, and was designed to represent Zoroastrian philosophy:

• 30 Checkers: Represent the 30 days of a month.
• 24 Points (Squares): Represent the 24 hours of a day.
• 4 Sections of the Board: Represent the 4 seasons of the year.
• Two Colors (Black and White): Symbolize night and day.
• The Dice: Represent the stars of fate, fortune, and life's unpredictability

Khosrow sent it to the Indian emperor with the same challenge. They failed to decipher the playing of the game, and therefore were obliged to pay tribute to Persia.

And that (we are told) is how these two wildly popular games came to be. Tomorrow we will return to more serious matters, perhaps fables.