General Notes

Hormizd IV, king of the Sasanian dynasty, son of Chosroes I, reigned 579-590. Some characteristic stories are told of him by Tabari. Hormizd protected the common people and introduced a severe discipline in his army and court. When the priests demanded a persecution of the Christians, he declined on the ground that the throne and the government could only be safe if it gained the good will of both concurring religions. Consequently he raised a strong opposition in the ruling classes. From his father he had inherited a war against the Byzantine empire and against the Turks in the east, and negotiations of peace had just begun with the emperor Tiberius, but Hormizd haughtily declined to cede anything of the conquests of his father. Therefore the accounts given of him by the Byzantine authors, Theophylact, Simocatta (iii, 16 ff.), Menander Protector and John of Ephesus (vi, 22), are far from favourable. In 588 his general, Bahram Chobin, defeated the Turks, but in the next year was beaten by the Romans; and when the king superseded him he rebelled. This was the signal for a general insurrection. The magnates deposed Hormizd and proclaimed his son Chosroes II king. In the war which followed between Bahram Chobin and Chosroes II, Hormizd was killed (590). [Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1961 ed., Vol. 11, p. 744, HORMIZD]