General Notes

KHOSROW PARVIZ (PERSIAN: "KHOSROW THE VICTORIOUS") late Sasanian king of Persia (reigned 590-628), under whom the empire achieved its greatest expansion. Defeated at last in a war with the Byzantines, he was deposed in a palace revolution and executed.

Expansion of the empire.
The son of Hormizd IV, Khosrow was proclaimed king in AD 590 in turbulent times. Hormizd's general, Bahram Chubin, after his defeat by the Byzantine army at Lazica, had been openly insulted by the king. During a subsequent palace revolt led by Bostam and Bindoe (brothers-in-law of Hormizd), which culminated in the king's assassination, Bahram Chubin renounced the allegiance of his army to the
monarchy and forced the new king Khosrow to flee to Mesopotamia. Khosrow's pursuers were held off by the military tactics of his uncle Bindoe, until eventually the Byzantine emperor Maurice provided Khosrow with forces to defeat his adversary. Bahram Chubin was subsequently assassinated.
Insecure and unpopular, Khosrow now eliminated those connected with his father's murder, including Bindoe, on whose support he had relied. Although he retained a bodyguard of Byzantine legionaries, he resented the Byzantine presence in Armenia, which he had been forced to cede. Using the murder of Maurice (602) and his replacement as emperor by Phocas as a pretext and encouraged by the fact that Narces, who had commanded the Byzantine force that established Khosrow on the throne, refused to recognize Phocas, Khosrow's armies invaded Armenia and Mesopotamia. The Byzantine forces in Mesopotamia were weak, and the towns of Dara, Amida, and Edessa soon fell (604).

Crossing the Euphrates, Khosrow took Hierapolis and Beroea (Aleppo). Internal dissensions made the eastern Byzantine provinces easy prey, and Armenia and central Asia Minor were overrun by the Persians--though apparently not permanently occupied or administered. Nor was the Persian advance checked when Heraclius became emperor in 610 and sued for peace.

A second invasion of Mesopotamia, by Khosrow's ablest general, Shahrbaraz, took place in 613. Damascus was taken in that year, and in 614 Jerusalem fell. The Holy Sepulchre was destroyed and the True Cross carried to Ctesiphon. Although Khosrow himself was generally tolerant of Christianity, Shahrbaraz permitted thousands of Christian prisoners to be tortured by his Jewish aides. In 616 Alexandria was captured, and in 617 Chalcedon (opposite Byzantium), which had long been under siege by another of Khosrow's generals, Shahin, finally fell to the Persians.

This tide of conquest was turned by Heraclius in a series of brilliant campaigns between 622 and 627. Since he retained command of the sea, Heraclius was able to sail to Issus and rout the Persian army near the Armenian border. In alliance with the Khazar kingdom north of the Caucasus, he invaded Armenia again in 623, gaining victory over the King's army near Canzaca. The town and fire temple were
destroyed, together with the temple at Lake Urmia, traditionally associated with Zoroaster. The campaigns of 624 and 625 ranged across northern Syria and Mesopotamia and culminated in a reversal for Shahrbaraz' forces on the river Saras.

Khosrow rallied his forces in 626 and, in alliance with the Avars, a people who were also in conflict with Byzantium at this time, sent one army to besiege Constantinople and another to oppose Heraclius. Constantinople held, and Shahin was defeated; the Persian second force was outmanoeuvred in 628 by Heraclius' brave dash to Dastagird, the royal residence 70 miles (113 kilometres) north of Ctesiphon. An
important but indecisive battle was fought near Nineveh, but, as the Byzantine army reapproached Dastagird, Khosrow fled. His letters calling Shahrbaraz to his aid had been intercepted, and, although his resources were by now drastically reduced, he refused peace terms.

Khosrow's prestige was shattered, and he was now sick. The execution of Shahrbaraz and the desecration of Shahin's corpse were followed by revolution in the royal household. Khosrow was condemned to death and executed (628), and his youngest son and heir, Mardanshah, was murdered before his eyes. His eldest son, Kavadh (Qobad) II, Sheroe, signed the peace.

Source: www.eb.com