Bahram V was the fourteenth Sassanid King of Persia (421–438). Also called
Bahramgur, he was a son of
Yazdegerd IYazdegerd I or Izdekerti was thirteenth Sassanid King of Persia and ruled from 399 to 421. He is believed by some to be the son of Shapur III of Persia and by others to be son of Bahram IV...
(399–421), after whose sudden death (or assassination) he gained the crown against the opposition of the grandees by the help of Mundhir, the
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
ic dynast of
al-HirahAl Hīra was an ancient city located south of al-Kufah in south-central Iraq. It was a significant city in pre-Islamic Arab history. Originally a military encampment, in the 5th and 6th centuries CE it became the capital of the Lakhmids....
. Bahram's mother was Shoshandukht, the daughter of the Jewish
ExilarchExilarch refers to the leaders of the Diaspora Jewish community following the deportation of the population of Judah into Babylonian exile after the destruction of the kingdom of Judah...
.
Reign
Bahram V began his reign with a systematic persecution of the
ChristiansChristianity in Iran has had a long history, dating back to the very early years of the faith. It has always been a minority religion, overshadowed by the majority state religions — Zoroastrianism in the past, and Shia Islam today — though it had a much larger representation in the past than it...
, (one of these Christians being Saint
James IntercisusSaint James Intercisus is a Persian saint. His surname, Intercisus, is derived from the Latin word for "cut into pieces," which refers to the manner of his martyrdom: he was slowly cut into twenty-eight pieces...
).
War With Rome
The persecution of James Intercisus led to a war with the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
in the year 420. The Romans sent their general Ardaburius with an extensive contingent into Armenia. Ardaburius defeated the Persian commander Narsehi and proceeded to plunder the province of Arzanene and lay siege to
NisibisNusaybin is a city in Mardin Province, southeastern Turkey populated by Turks, Kurds, Assyrian/Syriacs, Arabs....
. Ardaburius abandoned the siege in the face of an advancing army under Bahram, who then besieged Theodosiopolis. After an abortive round of negotiations, the Persians desicively defeated Ardaburius and Procopius. Peace was then concluded between the Persians and Romans.
Relations with Armenia
The situation in Armenia occupied Bahram immediately after the conclusion of peace with Rome. Armenia had been without a king since Bahramgur's brother Shapur had vacated the country in 418. Bahramgur now desired that a descendant of the royal line of kings, a scion of the Arshakunis should be on the throne of Armenia. With this intention in mind, he selected an Arshakuni named Artaxias IV, a son of Vram-Shapuh and made him King of Armenia.
But the newly appointed king did not have a favorable personal character. The frustrated nobles petitioned Bahramgur to remove Artaxias and admit Armenia into the Persian Empire so that the province would be under the direct control of the Sassanian Emperor. However, the annexation of Armenia by Persia was strongly opposed by the Armenian patriarch
Isaac of ArmeniaIsaac of Armenia, or Sahak was Catholicos of Armenia. He is sometimes known as "Isaac the Great," and as "Սահակ Պարթև / Sahak Parthev" in Armenian, owing to his Parthian origin....
who felt the rule of a Christian better than that of a non-Christian regardless of his character or ability. Despite his strong protests, however, Armenia was still annexed by Bahramgur who placed it under the charge of a Persian Governor in 428.
Invasion of the Huns
During the later part of Bahram V's reign, Persia was invaded from the north-east by
HephthaliteThe Hephthalites were a Central Asian nomadic confederation whose precise origins and composition remain obscure. According to Chinese chronicles they were originally a tribe living to the north of the Great Wall and were known as Hoa or Hoa-tun. Elsewhere they were called White Huns...
hordesHordes may refer to:*Social and military structures of nomadic Turkic peoples in the Middle Ages; see:**Golden Horde**Tatar invasions*The miniature war game HORDES-See also:* Horney guy*Hordes is deduced from the bosnian name Hodžić:**Hodžić...
who ravaged northern Iran under the command of their Great Khan. They crossed the Elburz into
KhorasanGreater Khorasan is a modern term for a historical geographic region spanning north-eastern and east of Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, western and northern Afghanistan and the North Western Areas of Pakistan...
and proceeded as far as the ancient town of
Rei-People:*Rei, the Biblical term for those who retained their allegiance to King David when Adonijah rebelled, as mentioned in 1 Kings 1:8*Rei Hiroe*Rei Igarashi*Rei Kawakubo*Rei Kikukawa*Rei Mikamoto*Rei Munakata*Rei Okamoto*Rei Omishi...
. Unprepared, Bahram initially made an offer or peace and submission which was well-received by the Khan of the Hephthalites. But crossing Tabaristan,
HyrcaniaHyrcania was the name of a satrapy located in the territories of present day Golestan, Mazandaran, Gilan and part of Turkmenistan, lands south of the Caspian Sea. To the Greeks, the Caspian Sea was the "Hyrcanian Sea".-Etymology:...
and
NishapurNishapur, or Neyshābūr , is a city in the Razavi Khorasan province in northeastern Iran, situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Binalud Mountains, near the regional capital of Mashhad....
by night, he took the
HunsThe Huns were a group of nomadic pastoral people who, appearing from beyond the Volga, migrated into Europe c.AD 370 and built up an enormous empire in Europe. They were possibly the descendants of the Xiongnu who had been northern neighbours of China three hundred years before and may be the first...
unawares and massacred them along with their Khan and taking the Khan's wife hostage. The retreating Huns were pursued and slaughtered up to the Oxus. One of Bahram's generals followed the Huns deep into Hun territory and destroyed their power. His portrait which survived for centuries on the coinage of
BukharaBukhara , also transliterated Bukhoro and Bokhara, from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 237,900...
(in contemporary
UzbekistanUzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union...
) is considered to be an evidence of his victory over the Huns.
Legends associated with Bahramgur
Numerous legends have been associated with Bahram. One account says that he aided an Indian king in his war against China and that, in return for his help, the Indian king made over the provinces of Makran and Sindh to Persia. The Lurs of Persia, it is argued, are the descendants of musicians sent to Persia by the grateful Indian monarch. However there does not exist any historical proof in support of this story. Other accounts suggest that he married an Indian princess. However, the conclusion of such a marriage alliance is regarded as highly dubious once again due to lack of evidence. His name is also associated with a legendary Indian prince of the Punjab.
Legacy
Bahram V has left behind a rich and colorful legacy which has survived to the present day. He is especially a favorite of the writers who have woven numerous legends and fantastical tales around him. His fame has survived the annihilation of Zorostrianism and the Anti-Iranian measures of the Umayyads and the Mongols and many of the stories have been incorporated in contemporary Islamic lore.
His legacy even survives outside Iran. He is the King who receives
The Three Princes of SerendipThe Three Princes of Serendip is the English version of the Peregrinaggio di tre figluoli del re di Serendippo published by Michele Tramezzino in Venice in 1557. Tramezzino claimed to have the story from one Christophero Armeno who had translated the Persian fairy tale into Italian adapting Book...
in the tale that gave rise to the word
SerendipitySerendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words that were hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company...
. He is believed to be the inspiration for the legend of Bahramgur prevalent in the Punjab.
He is a great favourite in Persian tradition, which relates many stories of his valour and beauty, of his victories over the Romans,
TurksThe Turkic peoples are Eurasian peoples residing in northern, central and western Eurasia. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
,
IndiansThe Gupta Empire was an Ancient Indian empire which existed approximately from 320 to 550 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent. Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty began the Classical Age in the Middle kingdoms of India...
and Africans, and of his adventures in hunting and in love; he is called
Bahram Gur, "Onager," on account of his love for hunting, and in particular, hunting
onagerThe Onager is a large mammal belonging to the genus Equus of the family Equidae and native to the deserts of Syria, Iran, Pakistan, India, Israel, and Tibet...
s.
For example, the
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, by Edward Fitzgerald, quatrain 17:
"They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
The Courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep:
And Bahram, that great Hunter - the Wild Ass
Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep."
To which Fitzgerald adds the following footnote (1st edition, 1859): "Bahram Gur -
Bahram of the Wild Ass from his fame in hunting it - a Sassanian sovereign, had also his seven palaces, each of a different colour; each with a Royal mistress within; each of whom recounts to Bahram a romance. The ruins of three of these towers are yet shown by the peasantry; as also the swamp in which Bahram sunk while pursuing his
Gur.
Some have judged Bahram V to have been rather a weak
monarchA monarch is the person who heads a monarchy, a form of government in which the country or entity usually ruled or controlled by an individual who usually rules for life or until abdication...
, after the heart of the grandees and the priests. He is said to have built many great
fire-templeA fire temple in Zoroastrianism is the place of worship for Zoroastrians. Although Zoroastrians revere fire in any form, the temple fire is not literally for the reverence of fire: In the Zoroastrian religion, fire , together with clean water , is an agent of ritual purity...
s, with large gardens and villages (Tabari).
Coins of Bahram V
The coins of Bahram V are chiefly remarkable for their rude and coarse workmanship and for the number of the mints from which they were issued. The mint-marks include Ctesiphon, Ecbatana, Ispahan, Arbela, Ledan, Nehavend, Assyria, Chuzistan, Media, and Kerman, or Carmania. The head-dress has the mural crown in front and behind, but interposes between these two detached fragments a crescent and a circle, emblems, no doubt, of the sun and moon gods. The reverse shows the usual fire-altar, with guards, or attendants, watching it. The king's head appears in the flame upon the altar.