King Khushru Parviz and the Romans

For the first twelve years of his reign, Khushru remained committed to maintain his friendship and loyalty with Maurice. However after the Roman emperor’s violent death in 602 CE, Khushru not only refused to accept the authority of his successor Phocas who had assassinated Maurice and his family, but also Khushru gave refuge to Theodosius, the only surviving member of Maurice’s family.

The eight years of Phocas’ reign was a disaster for the Byzantine empire. The new emperor was unable to deal with the developments in the kingdom, especially the might of the Iranian army. So he offered truce, but his peace overtures were rejected, and Khushru initiated a war with Byzantine. Theodosius was a part of many Iranian campaigns.

Khushru emerged victorious on account of his might and power, his tactical prowess, and also because of the rampant internecine warfare and civil wars in then Byzantine empire. It is reported that at the battle of Arkhamus, Khushru put together a ‘moving fort’ of armored elephants with cabs housing archers, and achieved a crushing victory, capturing the fort of Dara.

Commander Shahrbaraz

Between 604 and 610, many fortresses were captured by the Sasanian commander Farrokh Shahrbaraz across Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Anatolia, Armenia, Edessa and Egypt. Sasanian general Shahen cleared the Byzantines from Caucasus in 611, thrust into Cappadocia and captured it by 613.

The civil war of the Romans in Syria and Palestine led to the execution of Phocas. Heraclius was invited by the Roman senate to take over the helm of the empire. The new emperor ruled from 610 to 641. He made pleas to Khushru for peace, but the Iranian emperor, who was on a winning streak, rejected his overtures.

The Iranian commander Shahrbaraz crushed Heraclius and his brothers and annexed Cilicia to the Sasanian empire, followed by Damascus in 613 and Jerusalem in 614. The Jews in Jerusalem were liberated but the Christian population was treated very harshly, and their patriarch Zacharias was imprisoned. The ‘True Cross’ also known as ‘The Holy Cross’, the Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified, was taken to Ctesiphon and placed in the care of Khushru’s queen Shirin.

In 615 Khushru’s forces captured Anatolia and Chalcedon, and were at the gates of Constantinople. Never since Cyrus and Darius had Persian cavalry traversed such distances. In geographical expanse, Khushru had recreated the empire of Darius the Great. During the Sasanian times, this was the largest western expanse that any king had occupied. The Sasanian emperor commanded all of western Asia with the exception of Constantinople.

Khushru’s military continued its westward advance unopposed. First it captured Sardis in 616. No Iranian king since Cyrus the Great had achieved this. Rhodes Island, Constantia and Samos too came under the Sasanian command, followed by Alexandria in 619. By 621, all of Egypt had shifted from Byzantine power and was now under Iranian occupation. This was the second time in Egypt’s history that it was part of the Iranian empire.

In 619 the Turks and Hephthalites struck in north eastern Iran, and came close to Isfahan and Rae. After a few setbacks, Khushru’s Armenian commander Bagratuni was able to kill their leader and squash their attack.

However, Khushru’s fortunes in wars started declining from 622 when Heraclius, with an army of zealous Christians, describing his attack as a religious crusade, attacked the Sasanians in Armenia and defeated Shahrbaraz.

In 624 Heraclius went into the heartland of the Sasanian empire. He sacked the sacred Adar Gushnasp fire temple at Shiz in retaliation of the taking of the ‘True Cross’ by Khushru in 614.

In 625, Heraclius arrived in Cappadocia and went to the Caucasus. Though at first he was defeated by the combined Sasanian forces of Generals Shahen, Shahrbaraz and Shahrapakan, he was later able to overpower them. Shahrbaraz managed to escape, but Shahrapakan was killed.

In 626, Heraclius was again victorious at Constantinople. He achieved his victory in an interesting manner by allegedly intercepting a letter written by Khushru to his other commander Kardarigan asking him to remove Shahrbaraz or have him killed. This was because, Khushru was now suspicious and insecure about Shahrbaraz’s growing might and stature. Heraclius somehow showed this letter to Shahrbaraz and gained his support. Without his powerful commander Shahrbaraz by his side, Khushru lost to Heraclius and had to sue for peace.

Now Heraclius and the Khazars joined hands. To further cement the alliance, Heraclius gave the hand of his daughter to the Khakan of the Khazars. It was difficult for Khushru with his depleting forces to stand up against their combined might.  In 627 they attacked and captured Albania and then moved south, but they were not successful in Armenia.

Khushru was finally defeated at Nineveh after a long drawn battle. Much of his elite infantry and cavalry was destroyed. The Iranian commander Rahzad (Razutis) also lost his life. Then the Romans proceeded to Khushru’s grand palace at Dastegard, looted the treasures and destroyed it in 628. Heraclius returned to Constantinople after destroying numerous other Sasanian palaces. Khushru ordered his remaining army to gather and guard Ctesiphon, where Heraclius was soon expected to arrive.

Shiroy is born to Queen Maryam

Now let us go back to the Shahnameh’s description of Khushru’s palace and palace intrigues. In the sixth year of the reign of king Khushru, Queen Maryam gave birth to a son. In those times, children born of nobility had two names. One was the private family name which the father uttered softly in the child’s ear, and the other the public name, which was announced aloud. The king uttered the child’s private name as Kobad in his ears, and the public name was announced as Shiroy.

When the astrologers were asked to foretell the events of Shiroy’s life, they gave a very grim prediction, saying that he will be harmful the country and its people. This greatly pained the king. His ministers consoled him as nobody could have power over the inevitability of fate. The king conveyed the tidings of the child’s arrival to its maternal grandfather, the Kaisar, who announced festivity in Rome. He sent lots of gifts for the child, his mother and the king. In a letter sent by the Kaisar, he requested Khushru to return the ‘True Cross’, which had been captured in a previous war. On receiving the letter, Khushru first thanked the Kaisar for his kind and generous words. However he declined to return the ‘True Cross’ as he feared that the Iranian people may regard such a gesture as a sign of him being favourable towards Christianity. He sent three hundred camel loads of presents to the Kaisar, which included ten camels laden with sacks of Dinars.