Yazdezerd III, Yazdezerd Sheheryar (632 – 651) (Part 3)

A coin of Yazdezerd III in the later part of his reign

Fall and loot of Ctesiphon

In 638, Caliph Omar asked Waqqas to attack Iran once again, this time straight on Ctesiphon, referred to as Madayan by the Arabs. Yazdezerd’s advisors asked him to retreat to Azarbaizan, or Holwan in the Zagros mountains.

Waqqas, instead of following the Iranian king, was lured by the treasures at Ctesiphon. In order to come to Ctesiphon, the Arabs had to first takeover the west bank of Tigris and then, through a bridge, advance to the east coast where Ctesiphon was situated. The local inhabitants had destroyed the bridge and the Arabs had to rebuild it.

The Arabs were successful in storming the palace of Tāk-i-Kisrā at Ctesiphon and looting all its riches. One fifth of the loot was sent to Caliph Omar in Medina and the rest was distributed among the soldiers. So huge was the haul that each soldier received about twelve thousand dirhams worth of riches. Forty thousand noblewomen were sold as slaves in Arabia. Ceremonial swords of Kobad I, Behram V and Khushru II, crowns and jewels of Khushru II and the sword of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius were among the riches.

However, the costliest item looted was the gigantic Royal carpet of Persia measuring 100 square feet studded with rare jewels of various hues to represent a garden of flowers, embellished with gold and silver embroidery. All these, and the equally jewel studded Drafsh-e-Kāvyāni, were sent to Caliph Omar. It is said that the Royal Iranian standard was sold for thirty thousand dirhams in Arabia.

Battle of Jalula

In 639 CE, the next major battle was fought at Holwan in Jalula near Baghdad, where a very small Arab army under commander al-Hashem met the Sasanian force under commander Rustam’s brother Farrokh-zād (also known as Khorrzad or Firoozān) and Mehran. The Sasanian army was ten times bigger than the Arab army in size, but was made up of raw recruits.

The Sasanians dug a deep ditch in front of their forces and stayed safe behind their defense. The Arabs too did not attack, and waited patiently for eight months. Since the small Arab army had many Sasanian soldiers, they knew many all secrets of the Iranian army. The Iranians were frustrated of the waiting and thus the Arabs finally succeeded in luring the Iranians out of their defensive positions.

In the battle that ensued, there was a large-scale massacre of the Iranian soldiers. Treasures were looted and women and children were taken slaves. This was one more defeat for the battered Iranians.

Nehavand – The final battle

In 641 CE, Yazdezard, who was now at Rae got the news that the successful Arab general Waqqas had been recalled to Medina. Emboldened, he made one last bold attempt by sending emissaries to Iranian allies like Media, Azarbaizan, Khorasan, Gurgan, Tabaristan, Sistan, Kerman and Pars. He managed to collect a military force consisting of one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, who were then asked to assemble at Nehavand, in northwestern Iran. He appointed General Farrokh-zād their Commander.

Caliph Omar immediately sent a strong resistance force of a hundred thousand soldiers towards Nehavand, under Commander Noman. The Arab force had many non-Arab professional troops, including ex-Sasanian and ex-Byzantine fighters.

The Iranian Commander’s tactic was not to attack the approaching Arab forces, but to wait, and bait the enemy to make the first move, or wear out their patience. He had confidence on his legendary strong archers, and the hidden trenches and traps.

Arabs win at Nehavand by guile

The Arabs too did not attack and waited for two months. However, they did not have enough supplies and provisions to last them for long and hence they resorted to a guile to break the stalemate. They spread rumours that Caliph Omar had died and that the Arabs were retreating. They then staged a false withdrawal, which led the Iranians to change their strategy and go in their pursuit.

The Iranians pursued for two days. Then, on the third day, the Arabs, as planned, turned around chanting Allāhu Akbar “God is great”, and attacked the Iranian troops, who were taken by surprise. The Iranians soon landed in the traps prepared by the Arabs.

The battle was hard fought and there were heavy casualties on both sides. Though the Arabs had lost their commander Numan early on, they did not let it be known till the end of the battle. Farrokh-zād was badly wounded, but managed to save his life. Nehavand was soon captured, followed by Rae. The Iranians had lost their last decisive battle. The Arabs referred to the battle of Nehavand as fattteh ul fatteh “victory of victories”. The Arabs went on conquering province after province. The Iranians were losing hope of regaining their kingdom. Some provincial Governors put up heavy resistance against the Arabs, but were ultimately defeated. Several autonomous Governors realized that it was futile to resist the might of the Arabs, and so they subjugated themselves without a fight and offered them weapons and troops. Nevertheless a few Governors and rulers in northern Iran kept on resisting the Arabs.