Bahram V

Bahram V was brought up under the Arab ruler, King Hira Mundir I. ^[2] Hira, located on the lower reaches of the Euphrates, was the capital of the Lahmid Arabs, allied, and subsequently kings, subordinate to Iran. When the young man grew up, he returned to Ctesiphon , but for some reason his father deprived him of the right to the throne and practically put him under house arrest. Then the shah had mercy and allowed his son to go back to his uniform, who replaced his father's youth.

Upon the death of Yazdegerd I, the Persian kingdom swept through unrest. To know, dissatisfied with his rule, tried to remove from power all his sons. Nobles killed the elder brother of Bahram, the king of Armenia Shapur , and seated on the throne a certain Khosrov, the offspring of the side line of the Sassanid dynasty. ^[3] Bahram turned to uniform I for help, and he gave him warriors. With their help, Bahram entered Ctesiphon, but did not begin to execute an opponent who had already sworn allegiance to part of the nobility. According to Firdousi , a council was convened for a new Shah election. First, out of thirty candidates for the role of the king, they were first selected, in the end two remained - Bahram and Khosrov. Members of noble families, brutally mutilated during the reign of his father, were brought there, and, at the sight of them, the opinion of the council members was not in favor of Bahram. He was not wanted to be elected king simply because he was the son of Yazdegerd I. According to legend, Bahram offered a truly royal way to solve the issue of power - they placed Kula (Persian royal crown) between two lions and both applicants should have tried to take him away. Khosrov, being a very old man, refused, and Bahram killed both lions with a club, took the crown and became a shah. First of all, the new sovereign demonstrated his goodwill by forgiving debtors arrears to the treasury (legend says about 70 million silver coins, that is, 280 tons of silver ^[4] ) and richly endowing his rival Khosrov. ^[five]

Many scholars note the king’s dependence on the aristocracy, which dictated his will to him. Under Bahram V, Mihr-Nars , the vazurg-ratmar (supreme vezir), who held this post since the time of Yazdigerd I, gained enormous power. Bahram V almost did not do business, devoting himself to entertainment and pleasure. He was a brave hunter, a sophisticated lover and a great lover of feasts. Mihr-Nars managed to accumulate fabulous wealth and provide decent posts to his children. One of his son became Herbedan Herbed (the head of the priestly estate), the second - Vastrioshan salar (the head of the farmers), the third - arteshtaran salar (the head of the estate of warriors). The name of this all-powerful temporary worker is associated with extensive construction in the central regions of Iran, as well as the implementation of anti-Christian policies, ultimately aimed at confrontation with the East Roman Empire. ^{[6] [7]}

As Socrates Scholastic , Bahram V, points out, “prompted by the Magi” (that is, Zoroastrian magicians) began to oppress the Christians, subjecting them to various executions and tortures, and many of them fled to Byzantium. ^[8] In fairness, it should be noted that this bishop of Suz Avda destroyed a Zoroastrian temple and in response to this the Persians launched persecution of Christians, and that this incident occurred at the end of the reign of Yazdigerd I. ^[9] The Byzantine authorities refused to extradite the fugitives, as well as the robberies to which the caravans of Byzantine merchants were subjected, gave rise to a military conflict. The Persian troops were led by Mihr-Nars, the Romans - by the master Ardavur . Thus, according to the story of Movses Khorenatsi , the Persians, led by Bahram V, laid siege to Theodosiopol for a month, and according to Socrates Scholastic, the Byzantines led Ardavur and ravaged Azazin, and also besieged Nisibin and invaded Northern Mesopotamia. In any case, the war was in favor of the Byzantines, however, the invasion of the Huns in Thrace in 422 forced Byzantium to conclude peace with Persia on less favorable terms than previously assumed. The Byzantine empire demanded that Iranian Christians be allowed to freely practice their faith, guaranteeing the same for the Zoroastrians living in Byzantium. However, this condition was more beneficial for Christians, because the number of Zoroastrians in Byzantium was insignificant, in contrast to the number of Christians in Iran. Under other conditions of the agreement, Byzantium made a commitment to pay Iran for protection from the barbarians by the Sasanian troops of the Caucasus Gate , and both sides pledged not to erect new fortresses on the border. ^[7]

Under Bahram V, the Council of Bishops of Iran ( 424 ) announced the separation of its church from the Byzantine.

Under Bahram V, Sasanian Iran faced the problem of defending the eastern borders from the tribes with which it had happened to have been in conflict before, but never fought on a large scale. We are talking about chionites , kidarites and ephthalites . Chionites came from the steppes of the Aral Sea region and have been well known to Iran since the time of Shapur II . The power of the Ephthalites, having emerged at the end of the 4th century on the territory of Bactria , spread several decades later to a much larger territory, including Central Asia , eastern Afghanistan , and northwestern India . According to one of the accepted points of view, the Ephthalites were called Chionites, by the common name of their rulers - Ephthal. Later sources begin to mix the Ephthalites with the Khidarites (known to the Chinese chroniclers as Yuezhi ), another powerful people of the East, who settled around the Karshi oasis at the beginning of the fifth century. As noted, the sources do not make clear distinctions between the Khidarites, Chionites and Ephthalites, which, perhaps, reflects a real mixture of peoples and rulers. Clarification of the truth is hindered by the tradition of medieval historians to call any eastern tribe "Huns" (Byzantine sources) or "Türks" (Arab-Persian sources), not particularly understanding the intricacies. Therefore, it is now difficult to understand against whom the campaigns of Bahram V in Central Asia and the Caspian were directed. It is only known that the shakinshah had to leave his brother Narsa in Ktesifon instead of himself, through Azerbaijan , Tabaristan , Gurgan , to reach the surroundings of Merv , where the “Türks” invaded Iran. In the night battle near this city, the Persians defeated the enemies and drove them beyond the Amu Darya (Ceyhun) . Somewhere there, according to legend, the Shah erected a tower, marking the end of Iran’s possessions. ^{[10] [11] [12]}

In 429, tsarist power in Persarmania was abolished. From now on, the country was led by an official appointed by the tsar - a marzpan (Persian or Armenian), who first lived in Artashat , and from the second half of the fifth century - in Dvina . Marzpans did not have sovereign rights and were appointed temporarily. The territory of Marzpanian Armenia became smaller than the original tsarist one, since a number of lands were administratively assigned to the Persian regions adjacent to the marzpanism. ^[7]

About Bahram V there are many legends that have come down to us in Muslim traditions, based on the works of the late Sassanian period. The image of Bahram V is endowed with the features of either the ideal king, commander, hero, hero-lover (for this, in the medieval tradition, the shah acquired the nickname “Gur”, that is, onagra , the wild ass) and (according to some current scholars) even Veretragna , puppets on a throne interested only in pleasures, so it’s sometimes difficult to judge where the truth is in these legends and where is the joke. It is clear, however, that if the information about a thousand wives in one hundred harems could have any basis, then the stories of the Shah’s numerous victories over dragons during a trip to distant India and much more are not credible for the modern reader. But the introduction into the army of the best archery technique borrowed from the Arabs is quite plausible.

Firdousi in “ Shahnam ” has a fascinating story about the king’s unsuccessful attempt to ban Zoroastrians from drinking wine, replacing it with reading pious books. They also tell about the shah (a common story in the East) that he secretly traveled around the country in an unrecognizable guise, generously rewarding the worthy and punishing sinners.

They praise Bahram V as a great lover of hunting. He indulged her so passionately that, according to legend, he trampled his beloved concubine Azade, who at first encouraged him to make an incredibly skillful, but also cruel shot (having beaten a deer with an arrow, he turned the “male into a female”, and thrusting two arrows into the head deer - “female to male”), and after she herself regretted the wounded animals. ^[13] This scene of the hunt from the camel of Bahram Gora and Azadeh is a well-known plot that was repeatedly reproduced in the Middle Ages, in particular, in silver dishes. In general, Bahram, who kills animals on a hunt, is a favorite character in Persian art. ^[14]

Alisher Navoi also portrays Bahram as a passionate lover of hunting and wine in his work of Seven Planets .

According to one legend, he disappeared on the hunt: he fell into a deep hole with his horse. Modern historians believe that the shah most likely, like his father, was killed by the court. ^[15]

Bahram V ruled 18 years and 10 months (although there are other terms for the duration of rule - 18 years and 11 months, 19 years and 11 months, and even 23 years). ^[sixteen]

• Encyclopedia of Iranik: Bahram V

• Dashkov S. B. Kings of kings - Sassanids. History of Iran III - VII centuries. in legends, historical chronicles and modern research. - M .: Media-ASIA, 2008 .-- 352 p. - 4000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-91660-001-8 .