Bahram V.

Mint of Bahram V.

Bahrām V. ( Wahrām, Varahrān , also Behram ), with his surname Gor (in Persian gōr : "wild ass ") also in Persian Bahrām-e Gūr or Bahrām-i Gōr ( Persian بهرام گور), was from 420/21 to 438 (or 439) Persian great king from the house of the Sasanids . In the Persian literature and Persian art life Bahrams found (especially his hunting adventures) an effective powerful reverberation.

Life

Depiction of Bahram V hunting (late 12th / early 13th century).

Bahram, who had spent part of his youth at the court of the Arab Lachmids in Hira , succeeded his father Yazdegerd I after the mysterious death of his father . Bahram, whose relationship with his father had been strained, now found himself confronted with several problems, above all with a strong high nobility who had repeatedly come into conflict with Yazdegerd, and the no less influential Zoroastrian priests. Nobles might also have been involved in the mysterious death of Yazdegerd, who had shown great tolerance towards the Christians , but had recently ordered persecutions that were initially continued under his son.

The greater part of the nobility wanted to exclude the sons of Yazdegerd, who was hated by many, from the line of succession (Shapur, the eldest son of Yazdegerd was also murdered) and initially favored Chosrau, a prince from a Sasanid branch line, as the new king. He first ascended the throne, but Bahram was ultimately able to prevail with the military support of the Lachmids.

However, Bahram had to make several concessions to the influential nobility. So he saw himself forced to allow considerable amounts of tax revenue to flow back to the rich nobility and to forego part of the property tax in the future. In research, this is partly interpreted to mean that Bahram was a rather weak ruler who was very dependent on the greats in the empire, above all the influential wuzurg-framadar Mihr-Narseh , and the Zoroastrian priests and gave up his father's independent policy . Others see him as a very capable ruler who was quite successful militarily.

It is noteworthy that, according to the Bahram coins, the formula kē čihr az yazdān (“from the seed of the gods” or “created in the image of the gods”), which has been common for 200 years, disappeared from the royal statute. According to some researchers, this is a sign that from now on the ruler was less willingly granted divine legitimation - a deficit that Bahram's successors may have tried to make up for by trying instead to tie in with the mythical primeval kings of Iran.

Bahram brought in several of his father's followers for administration; he does not seem to have pursued an independent domestic policy. At the same time he promoted the arts and mainly pursued his favorite pastime, hunting - from which his nickname Gor (“wild ass”) comes from. Due to his passion for hunting, which is particularly emphasized in the Shāhnāme , Bahram was stylized in Persian tradition as the prototype of a heroic, combative ruler . The king appeared as a "knightly" character and was evidently very popular with the people. His life was later glorified by legends, Bahram appears to be a darling of Persian tradition ( Nezāmis Seven Beauties and Firdausi ). He was considered a womanizer and a great hunter who had irrepressible strength. In the oriental tradition he is evaluated positively and praised like hardly any other Sassanid ruler.

In the west, because of disputes over Armenia and because of conflicts between Persian Christians and Zoroastrians, a new war broke out with Ostrom under King Yazdegerd in 420/21 : Augusta Aelia Pulcheria also seems to have sought a "crusade" against the Zoroastrian Persians. The main western source, however, the church historian Socrates , does not report that the Romans broke the peace. Bahram, who evidently wanted to underscore his controversial claim to power through military successes, took over the high command himself as soon as he ascended the throne. Strong Persian troops under his leadership advanced against Theodosiopolis in Roman Mesopotamia , while the Romans besieged Nisibis in return . In two major field battles, the Romans apparently remained victorious before they had to withdraw troops due to difficulties on other fronts. An attack by Bahram's Arab allies, the Lachmids, on Antioch on the Orontes also failed . The violent but short war was ended in 422. The (few) Zoroastrians in the Roman Empire and the (quite numerous) Christians in the Persian Empire should from now on be able to pursue their beliefs unhindered. Ostrom also undertook to make regular payments, for which Persia was supposed to fortify the Caucasus passes against the Huns ; perhaps the imperial payments to Bahram were simply tributes . Presumably it was also agreed that neither side should build new fortresses along the common border.

Some time later, Bahram was able to compete with eastern attackers (probably 427). The sources are, however, very poor, so that to this day it is still a matter of dispute who the invaders were. It is sometimes assumed that it was the Hephthalites , the so-called "white Huns". It is more likely, however, that these opponents were still the Chionites or the Kidarites , a subgroup of the so-called Iranian Huns . How long these fights dragged on is also unknown. In any case, during his campaign in the east, Bahram made rich booty, some of which he had consecrated as an offering.

When Bahram died in the autumn of 438 or early 439 (according to some reports during a hunt), his son Yazdegerd II followed him . The most important source for Bahram's reign is the universal history of Tabari , which could also access sources that are lost today. In addition, there are a few other sources that are particularly relevant to the conflict with Rome.

literature

• Touraj Daryaee: Sasanian Iran 224-651 CE. Portrait of a Late Antique Empire. Mazda Pub., Costa Mesa (Calif.) 2008.
• Geoffrey B. Greatrex , Samuel NC Lieu: The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars. Part II AD 363-630. A narrative sourcebook . London / New York 2002, p. 36 ff.
• Otakar Climate: Bahram V . In: Encyclopædia Iranica . Vol. 3, p. 518 f.
• Nikolaus Schindel: Wahram V. In: Nikolaus Schindel (Ed.): Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum . Vol. 3/1 (text volume). Vienna 2004, p. 346 ff.
• Klaus Schippmann : Basic features of the history of the Sassanid Empire . Darmstadt 1990, ISBN 3-534-07826-8 .
• Ilkka Syvänne: The Reign of Bahrām V Gōr. The Revitalization of the Empire through Mounted Archery. In: Historia I Swiat 4, 2015, pp. 71ff.

Web links

Commons : Bahram V.  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ^ Ferdinand Justi: Iranian name book . Marburg 1895, p. 362; Nikolaus Schindel: Wahram V. In: Nikolaus Schindel (Ed.): Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum. Vol. 3/1 (text volume). Vienna 2004, p. 366.
2. ↑ The verdict of Theodor Nöldeke was devastating ( History of the Persians and Arabs at the time of the Sasanids . Leiden 1879, p. 98, note 3); Nikolaus Schindel judged him similarly in recent times ( Wahram V. In: Nikolaus Schindel (Ed.): Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum . Vol. 3/1. Vienna 2004, p. 366 f.). On the other hand, positive things like Klaus Schippmann: Fundamentals of the history of the Sasanian empire . Darmstadt 1990, p. 42.
3. ↑ See Richard Nelson Frye : The History of Ancient Iran. Munich 1984, p. 319.
4. ↑ Socrates, Church History , 7:18; 7.20.
5. ^ Geoffrey B. Greatrex : The two fifth-century wars between Rome and Persia , in: Florilegium 12 (1993), pp. 1-14.
6. ↑ See Nikolaus Schindel: The Sasanian Eastern Wars in the 5th Century. The Numismatic Evidence. In: A. Panaino, A. Piras (Ed.): Proceedings of the 5th Conference of the Societas Iranologica Europaea. Volume I. Milan 2006, pp. 675-689, here pp. 678 f.
7. ↑ Cf. Nikolaus Schindel: Wahram V. In: Nikolaus Schindel (Ed.): Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum . Vol. 3/1. Vienna 2004, p. 365 f.
8. ↑ Frantz Grenet: Kidarites . In: Ehsan Yarshater (Ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica (English, including references)
9. ↑ Theodor Nöldeke: History of the Persians and Arabs at the time of the Sasanids. From the Arab Chronicle of Tabari. Translated and provided with detailed explanations and additions . Leiden 1879, p. 85 ff. ( Digitized version of the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt, Halle ); Clifford Edmund Bosworth: Ṭabarī. The Sāsānids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen . Albany / NY 1999, p. 82 ff.
10. ↑ For a summary, see The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire . Vol. 2. Cambridge 1980, p. 1150.

predecessor	Office	successor
Yazdegerd I.	King of the New Persian Empire 420 / 421–438	Yazdegerd II.