Shahrbaraz (also spelt Shahrvaraz or Shahrwaraz; New Persian: شهربراز) was shah (king) of the Sasanian Empire from 27 April 630 to 9 June 630. After forty days, he usurped the throne from Ardashir III and was killed by Iranian nobles. Before seizing the Sasanian throne, he was a spahbed (general) under Khosrow II (590–628). He is furthermore noted for his significant role during the climactic Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 and the events that followed afterwards.
Name
Shahrbaraz is a title meaning “the Boar of the Empire”, attesting to his skill in military command and his warlike personality, as the boar was the animal associated with the Zoroastrian Izad Vahram, the epitome of victory. Shahrwarāz (Inscriptional Pahlavi: 𐭱𐭲𐭫𐭥𐭫𐭠𐭰 štlwlʾc) is a Middle Persian word, with shahr meaning “country” and warāz meaning “boar”. This word is rendered as Shahrbarāz (شهربراز) in New Persian and as Sarbaros (Greek: Σαρβάρος; Latin: Sarbarus) in Byzantine sources. Ferdowsi has used the shortened form Gurāz (گراز, literally “boar”), which is from Middle Persian warāz.
According to al-Tabari, his real name was Farrukhān (فرخان). The name is corrupted as Khoream in Armenian sources and Farāyīn (فرایین) in Ferdowsi’s Shahnama. Ferdowsi has split Shahrbaraz’s character into two: Farayin, the usurper, and Shahran-Guraz, who supported Bahram Chobin’s rebellion.
Armenian sources also use the title Razmyozan (spelt Razmiozan, Erazmiozan, Razmayuzan). The title is also mentioned as Rasmiozdan, Rasmiozan (Georgian), rsmysa (Arabic: رسميسة, reading uncertain), Rōmēzān, Rūmīzān, Rumbūzān (al-Tabari, Tarikh).
Early life
Shahrbaraz belonged to the House of Mihran, one of the Seven Parthian clans; he was the son of a certain Ardashir. He was married to Mirhran, the sister of the Sasanian king Khosrow II, with whom Shahrbaraz had one boy named Shapur-i Shahrvaraz. Shahrbaraz also had another son named Niketas the Persian, who may be from the same woman or another. During Shahrbaraz’s later life, he joined the Sasanian army, where he rose to high offices and was appointed as spahbed of Nēmrōz.
The war against the Byzantine Empire
Shahrbaraz was first mentioned when Khosrow II started the last and most devastating Byzantine–Sasanian wars, which lasted 26 years. Khosrow II, Shahrbaraz, and his other best generals conquered Dara and Edessa in 604. In the north, the Byzantines were driven back to the old, pre-591 frontier before Khosrow II gave them most of Sasanian Armenia, parts of Mesopotamia and the western half of the Kingdom of Iberia. After reconquering lost territory, Khosrow II withdrew from the battlefield and handed military operations to his best generals.
Shahrbaraz was one of them. In 610, Heraclius, an Armenian of probable Arsacid descent, revolted against the Byzantine Emperor Phocas and killed him, crowning himself as Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. After becoming Byzantine Emperor, he prepared a major counter-attack against the Sasanians outside Antioch in 613. Still, he was decisively defeated by Shahrbaraz, who inflicted heavy losses on the Byzantine army and then captured the city, giving the Sasanians naval access to the Mediterranean Sea.
After the Byzantine defeat outside Antioch, Heraclius, his brother Theodore, and General Nicetas combined their armies in Syria but were defeated by Shahrbaraz and his forces. They besieged Damascus and captured it along with many Byzantine troops as prisoners. Furthermore, Shahrbaraz also defeated a Byzantine army near Adhri’at, as mentioned in the Quran. One of the most important events during his career was when he led the Sasanian army toward Palaestina and, after a bloody siege, captured Jerusalem, a city sacred to the Christians. After his conquest of Jerusalem, the Holy Cross was carried away in triumph. In 618, Shahrbaraz was ordered by Khosrow II to invade Egypt, and by 619, Alexandria, the capital of Byzantine Egypt, was in Sasanian hands.
After the fall of Alexandria, Shahrbaraz and his forces extended Sasanian rule southwards along the Nile. By 621, the province was securely in Sasanian hands, and a certain Sahralanyozan was appointed governor. In 622, Heraclius counter-attacked the Sasanian Empire in Anatolia. Shahrbaraz was sent there to deal with him but was eventually defeated by him.
After Heraclius’ victory, he marched towards Caucasian Albania and wintered there. Shahrbaraz, along with Shahin and Shahraplakan, was later sent by the orders of Khosrow II to trap the forces of Heraclius. Shahin managed to rout the Byzantine army. Due to jealousy among the Sasanian commanders, Shahrbaraz hurried with his army to take part in the glory of the victory. Heraclius met them at Tigranakert and routed the forces of Shahraplakan and Shahin one after the other.
After this victory, Heraclius crossed the Araxes and camped on the other side of the plains. With the remnants of his and Shahraplakan’s armies, Shahin joined Shahrbaraz in pursuing Heraclius, but marshes slowed them down. At Aliovit, Shahrbaraz split his forces, sending some 6,000 troops to ambush Heraclius while the remainder of the soldiers stayed at Aliovit. Heraclius launched a surprise night attack on the Sasanian main camp in February 625, destroying it. Shahrbaraz only barely escaped, naked and alone, having lost his harem, baggage, and men.
Heraclius spent the rest of winter to the north of Lake Van. In 625, his forces attempted to push back toward the Euphrates. In seven days, he bypassed Mount Ararat and the 200 miles along the Arsanias River to capture Amida and Martyropolis, primary fortresses on the upper Tigris.
Heraclius then carried on towards the Euphrates, pursued by Shahrbaraz. According to Arab sources, he was defeated at the Satidama or Batman Su River; Byzantine sources do not mention this incident. Another minor skirmish between Heraclius and Shahrbaraz occurred at the Sarus River near Adana. Shahrbaraz stationed his forces across the river from the Byzantines. A bridge spanned the river, and the Byzantines immediately charged across.
Shahrbaraz feigned retreat to lead the Byzantines into an ambush, and the vanguard of Heraclius’ army was destroyed within minutes. The Sasanians, however, had neglected to cover the bridge, and Heraclius charged across with the rearguard, unafraid of the arrows that the Sasanians fired, turning the tide of battle against the Sasanians. Shahrbaraz admired Heraclius to a renegade Greek: “See your Emperor! He fears these arrows and spears no more than would an anvil!” The Battle of Sarus was a successful retreat for the Byzantines that panegyrists magnified. In the aftermath of the battle, the Byzantine army wintered at Trebizond.
Siege of Constantinople
Shahrbaraz and a smaller army later managed to slip through Heraclius’ flanks and bee-lined for Chalcedon, the Sasanian base across the Bosphorus from Constantinople. Khosrow II coordinated with the Khagan of the Avars to launch a coordinated attack on Constantinople from Europe and Asia. The army of Shahrbaraz stationed themselves at Chalcedon, while the Avars placed themselves on the European side of Constantinople and destroyed the Aqueduct of Valens. However, because of the Byzantine navy’s control of the Bosphorus Strait, the Sasanians could not send troops to the European side to aid their ally. This reduced the effectiveness of the siege because the Sasanians were experts in siege warfare. Furthermore, the Sasanians and Avars had difficulties communicating across the guarded Bosphorus—though undoubtedly, there was some communication between the two forces.
On 7 August, Byzantine ships surrounded and destroyed a fleet of Sasanian rafts ferrying troops across the Bosphorus. The Slavs under the Avars attempted to attack the sea walls from across the Golden Horn, while the primary Avar host attacked the land walls. Patrician Bonus’ galleys rammed and destroyed the Slavic boats; the Avar land assault from 6 to 7 August also failed. With the news that Theodore had decisively triumphed over Shahin (supposedly leading Shahin to die from depression), the Avars retreated to the Balkan hinterland within two days, never to threaten Constantinople seriously again. Even though the army of Shahrbaraz was still encamped at Chalcedon, the threat to Constantinople was over.
Disappointed by Shahrbaraz’s failure, Khosrow II sent a messenger bearing a letter to Kardarigan, the Sasan army’s second-in-command. The letter said Kardarigan should kill Shahrbaraz and return his army to Ctesiphon. Still, the bearers of the letter were intercepted in Galatia by Byzantine soldiers, who gave the letter to the future emperor Constantine III, who gave it to Heraclius. After reading the letter, he offered to show it to Shahrbaraz in a meeting at Constantinople. Shahrbaraz accepted his proposal and met Heraclius at Constantinople, where he read the letter and switched over to Heraclius’ side. He then changed the letter’s contents, stating that Khosrow II wanted 400 officers killed, ensuring that Kardarigan and the rest of the army remained loyal to him.
Shahrbaraz then moved his army to northern Syria, where he could easily decide to support either Khosrow or Heraclius immediately. Still, with the neutralization of Khosrow’s most skilled general, Heraclius deprived his enemy of some of his best and most experienced troops while securing his flanks before he invaded Iran.
The overthrow of Khosrow II
In 627, Khosrow sent Shahrbaraz a letter saying he should send his army to Ctesiphon. Shahrbaraz disobeyed and moved to Asuristan, where he set up a camp in Ardashir Khurrah. Khosrow then sent Farrukhzad to negotiate with him. However, Farrukhzad made a secret conspiracy against Khosrow and joined Shahrbaraz.
One year later, the feudal families of the Sasanian Empire, who were tired of war against the Byzantines and Khosrow’s oppressive policies, freed Khosrow’s son, Sheroe. His father had imprisoned him. The feudal families included Shahrbaraz himself, who represented the Mihran family; the House of Ispahbudhan, represented by Spahbed Farrukh Hormizd and his two sons Rostam Farrokhzad and Farrukhzad; the Armenian faction, represented by Varaztirots II Bagratuni; and finally the kanarang Kanadbak.
In February, Sheroe and Aspad Gushnasp captured Ctesiphon and imprisoned Khosrow II. Sheroe then proclaimed himself king of the Sasanian Empire on 25 February, assuming the regal name of Kavadh II. With Piruz Khosrow, he executed all his brothers and half-brothers, including Khosrow II’s favourite son Mardanshah. Three days later, he ordered Mihr Hormozd to execute his father. With the agreement of the nobles of the Sasanian Empire, Kavad II then made peace with the Byzantine emperor Heraclius; under the terms of this peace, the Byzantines regained all their lost territories, their captured soldiers, a war indemnity, along with the True Cross and other relics that were lost in Jerusalem in 614.
Following the loss of territory required for the peace treaty, the embittered aristocracy started forming independent states within the Sasanian Empire. This divided the resources of the country. Furthermore, dams and canals became derelict, and a devastating plague erupted in the western provinces of Iran, killing half of the population along with Kavad II, whom Ardashir III succeeded.
Usurping the throne
After the death of Kavad II, Heraclius sent Shahrbaraz a letter saying:
Now that the Iranian king is dead, the throne and the kingdom has come to you. I bestow it on you, and on your offspring after you. If an army is necessary, I shall send to your assistance as many [troops] as you may need.
On 27 April 630, Shahrbaraz besieged Ctesiphon with a force of 6,000 men. He was, however, unable to capture the city and then allied with Piruz Khosrow, the leader of the Parsig (Persian) faction and the previous minister of the Empire during the reign of Ardashir’s father, Kavad II. He also allied with Namdar Gushnasp, who had succeeded him as the spahbed of Nēmrōz in 626. Shahrbaraz, with the aid of these influential figures, captured Ctesiphon and executed Ardashir III and many Sasanian nobles, including Ardashir’s minister Mah-Adhur Gushnasp. Shahrbaraz then became the new shah (king) of the Sasanian Empire and killed Kardarigan, who opposed Shahrbaraz after he usurped the Sasanian throne.
An Iranian Christian as the heir of the Sasanian Empire opened the chances of the Christianization of Iran. Heraclius also acknowledged Shahrbaraz’s Christian son, Niketas, as his heir. After some time, Shahrbaraz had Shamta, the son of the former finance minister Yazdin, crucified in a church in Margha. This execution was reported because the latter insulted Shahrbaraz during Khosrow II’s reign. Forty days later, on 9 June 630, during a ceremony, Shahrbaraz was killed by a javelin thrown by Farrukh Hormizd, who then helped Boran, the daughter of Khosrow II, to ascend the throne.
Legacy
Shahrbaraz had played an essential role in the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 and the events after the war; his mutiny against Khosrow II caused the Sasanian Empire to fall into a civil war. After the death of Shahrbaraz, his son Shapur-i Shahrvaraz deposed Boran and became king of the Sasanian Empire. However, his reign did not last long, and the Sasanian nobles soon deposed him. During the same period, Niketas entered the service of the Byzantines. They would later appear as one of the Byzantine generals at the Battle of Yarmouk during the Arab–Byzantine wars.
A detailed saga of heroism and romance evolved around Shahrbaraz later. In the Islamic period, it was transferred into the legend of Umar ibn al-Numan and his sons. It became included in the One Thousand and One Nights, influencing the late Byzantine epic of Digenes Akritas.
