Bahram Chobin

The battle between Bahram Tschobin and Chosrau II. (Medieval illumination from a Firdausi manuscript).

Bahram Tschobin (also written Vahram and Bahram Chobin , Persian بهرام چوبین, DMG Bahrām-e Čūbīn ) was a general ( Ērān Spāhbod ) and in the year 590/91 usurper in the late ancient Sassanid Empire .

Life

Bahram came from the Parthian noble family of Mihran , who were among the seven most influential Parthian families in the Sassanid Empire , and was probably born in Rhazakene ( Rey ) - when is unknown. His family, which can be traced back to the predecessor dynasty of the Sassanids, the Arsacids , traditionally provided generals for the army of the great king: Many late antique western authors (such as Prokop ) therefore mistakenly thought that Mihran was not a name but a rank.

Bahram, who initially served in the royal guard under Chosrau I , fought very successfully as a general against Armenians in the west and Kok-Turks in Central Asia (see Tardu ). But when he suffered a minor defeat against the East Romans in the Caucasus in 589 , King Hormizd IV , who had followed the successes of his general with suspicion, used this as an opportunity to humiliate him (he sent him women's clothes). Bahram, who had previously won great victories in the east of the empire, responded by stirring up his soldiers and rising against the king. Apparently, Bahram knew about the loyalty of his troops, and he could also count on widespread dissatisfaction with Hormizd IV, who had apparently been taking action against the nobility and priesthood for a long time. Bahram seems to have systematically built a power base in the east of the empire before moving west with a strong army in 590.

The great king had meanwhile been overthrown (probably on February 6, 590, but perhaps not until the summer) before Bahram had reached the capital, but the conspirators replaced Hormizd IV with his son Chosrau II , who was crowned nine days later and tried in vain to negotiate with Bahram. Until then, the latter had acted as a fighter for Chosrau, who had been at odds with his father for a long time; but now it was slowly becoming clear that Bahram represented more of its own interests.

No agreement was reached, numerous soldiers defected to Bahram, and since Chosrau had to realize after the first minor skirmishes that his cause was lost, he fled to the Eastern Roman Empire, with which Persia had been at war for years. Bahram took Ctesiphon and apparently systematically campaigned in the following months to proclaim him king. Finally, on March 9, 591, he crowned himself as Bahram VI. to the king. Since only members of the House of Sassan had worn the crown for over 360 years - usurpers had always come from at least secondary lines of the royal family - this was a sensational action. In the oriental tradition there are therefore indications that Bahram, who had previously acted as the defender of the nobility against Hormizd IV, lost support with this step and perhaps had to agree to vacate the throne again as soon as Chosrau's younger brother is of legal age. The idea that only a Sassanid was entitled to the crown was apparently still very powerful in Persia.

Bahram's attempts to persuade the Eastern Roman emperor Maurikios to extradite his rival, Chosrau II, who had fled, were unsuccessful. Instead, imperial troops invaded Persia along with the legitimate ruler; the Roman troops led by Narses , which were soon joined by the Persian followers of Chosraus, were able to defeat Bahram near the Blarathon (or Blarathos) river in the summer of 591 and then capture Ctesiphon - for the last time in antiquity, by the way. Nothing certain is known about the further fate of Bahram, he probably fled to East Persia or to the Gök Turks and was murdered there after a year at the instigation of Chosrau. His family, however, retained their influence and their territory; the other great families would not have tolerated a disempowerment of the house of Mihran by the king.

The main sources for the elevation of Bahram are Theophylaktos Simokates , Evagrius Scholasticus and Tabari .

The later Samanids , the first indigenous rulers in Persia after the Arab conquest, claimed to be the descendants of Bahram Chobin in order to gain further legitimation.

literature

• Henning Börm: Questionable Claims: Violent Transfer of Power in Late Antique Iran using the example of Narseh and Bahrām Čōbīn . In: T. Trausch (Ed.): Norm, norm deviation and practice of the transfer of power in a transcultural perspective , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2019, p. 187ff.
• Touraj Daryaee: Wahrām Čōbēn the Rebel General and the Militarization of the Sasanian Empire. In: A. Krasnowolska, R. Rusek-Kowalska (eds.): Studies on the Iranian World I. Krakau 2015, pp. 193-202.
• David Frendo: Theophylact Simocatta on the Revolt of Wahram Chobin and the Early Career of Khusrau II. In: Bulletin of the Asia Institute 3 (1989), pp. 77-88.
• John R. Martindale: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire IIIa. Cambridge 1992, pp. 166f.
• Zeev Rubin: Nobility, Monarchy and Legitimation under the later Sasanians. In: J. Haldon and L. Conrad (eds.): The Byzantine and early Islamic Near East. Volume 6, Princeton 2004, pp. 235-273.
• Klaus Schippmann : Basic features of the history of the Sassanid Empire. Darmstadt 1990.
• Michael Whitby : The Emperor Maurice and his Historian. Oxford 1988, pp. 292-304.

predecessor	Office	successor
Hormizd IV.	King of the New Persian Empire 590	Chosrau II.