Misplaced Pages

#935064

161-486: Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; Middle Persian : 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩 , romanized:  Husrō and Khosrau ), commonly known as Khosrow Parviz ( New Persian : خسرو پرویز , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian king ( shah ) of Iran , ruling from 590 to 628, with an interruption of one year. Khosrow II was the son of Hormizd IV (reigned 579–590), and

322-430: A diadem . The lower section depicts Khosrow II on horseback, wearing full body armor, whilst holding a lance and shield. His head is encircled by a halo , which according to Howard-Johnston, is most likely a representation of his xwarrah , i.e. kingly glory. On the left side panel, a boar hunt scene is depicted, portraying Khosrow on a boat whilst aiming a bow. On the right, there is a deer hunt scene. The relief, however,

483-492: A Christian Psalter fragment, which still retains all the letter distinctions that Inscriptional Pahlavi had except the one between t and ṭ ; and the Pahlavi found in papyri from the early 7th century CE, which displays even more letter coincidences than Book Pahlavi. The Manichaean script was an abjad introduced for the writing of Middle Persian by the prophet Mani (216–274 CE), who based it on his native variety of

644-714: A Persian province ruled by a marzpan (governor). The term "Caucasian Iberia" is also used to distinguish it from the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. All exonyms are likely derived from gorğān ( گرگان ), the Persian designation of the Georgians, evolving from Parthian wurğān ( 𐭅𐭓𐭊𐭍 ) and Middle Persian wiručān ( 𐭥𐭫𐭥𐭰𐭠𐭭 ), rooting out from Old Persian vrkān ( 𐎺𐎼𐎣𐎠𐎴 ) meaning "the land of

805-475: A Persian vassal, an outcome confirmed by the Peace of Acilisene in 387. However, a later ruler of Kartli, Pharsman IV (406–409), preserved his country's autonomy and ceased to pay tribute to Persia. Persia prevailed, and Sassanian kings began to appoint a viceroy ( pitiaxae / bidaxae ) to keep watch on their vassal. They eventually made the office hereditary in the ruling house of Lower Kartli , thus inaugurating

966-547: A currently more popular one reflecting the Sassanid-era pronunciation, as used by C. Saleman, W. B. Henning and, in a somewhat revised form, by D. N. MacKenzie (1986). The less obvious features of the usual transcription are: A common feature of Pahlavi as well as Manichaean spelling was that the Aramaic letters ṣ and ḥ were adapted to express the sounds /t͡ʃ/ and /h/ , respectively. In addition, both could use

1127-474: A different shape from a historical point of view, by under- or overlining them: e.g. the heterogram for andar 'in' is transliterated B YN , since it corresponds to Aramaic byn , but the sign that 'should' have been b actually looks like a g . Within Arameograms, scholars have traditionally used the standard Semitological designations of the Aramaic (and generally Semitic) letters, and these include

1288-455: A general uprising against Persia and started a desperate war for independence that lasted for twenty years. He could not get Byzantine support and was eventually defeated, dying in battle in 502. The continuing rivalry between Byzantium and Sasanian Persia for supremacy in the Caucasus , and the next unsuccessful insurrection (523) of the Georgians under Gurgen had severe consequences for

1449-594: A key role in the fall of the Sasanian Empire. The overthrow and death of Khosrow culminated in a chaotic civil war , with the most powerful members of the nobility gaining full autonomy and starting to create their own government. The hostilities between the Persian ( Parsig ) and Parthian ( Pahlav ) noble-families were also resumed, which split up the wealth of the nation. The civil war finally ended when Khosrow's eight year old grandson, Yazdegerd III , ascended

1610-942: A large number of diacritics and special signs expressing the different Semitic phonemes, which were not distinguished in Middle Persian. In order to reduce the need for these, a different system was introduced by D. N. MacKenzie , which dispenses with diacritics as much as possible, often replacing them with vowel letters: A for ʾ , O for ʿ , E for H , H for Ḥ , C for Ṣ , for example ORHYA for ʿRḤYʾ ( bay 'god, majesty, lord'). For ''ṭ'', which still occurs in heterograms in Inscriptional Pahlavi, Θ may be used. Within Iranian words, however, both systems use c for original Aramaic ṣ and h for original Aramaic ḥ , in accordance with their Iranian pronunciation (see below). The letter l , when modified with

1771-686: A lengthy courtship strewn with mishaps and difficulties. "Khosrow" is the New Persian variant of his name used by scholars; his original name was Middle Persian , Husraw , itself derived from Avestan Haosrauuah ("he who has good fame"). The name is transliterated in Greek as Chosroes (Χοσρόης) and in Arabic as Kisra . His name in combination with the epithet "Parviz" is attested in Georgian as K‛asre Ambarvez ( Pseudo-Juansher , writing around

SECTION 10

#1732765692936

1932-569: A less common view is that /x/ and /ɣ/ were uvular instead. Finally, it may be pointed out that most scholars consider the phoneme /w/ as being still a labial approximant, but a few regard it as a voiced labial fricative /v/ . The initial clusters of /s/ and a stop ( /sp-/ , /st-/ , /sk-/ ) had acquired a prosthetic vowel /i/ by the time of the Manichaean Middle Persian texts: istāyišn ( ՙst՚yšn ) 'praise' vs Pahlavi stāyišn ( ՙst՚dšn' ) 'praise'. Stress

2093-663: A place in the Shahnameh , the national epic of Iran. Smbat IV Bagratuni likewise led an illustrious career under Khosrow, rising to the office of frontier commander of Gorgan , possibly the most vital and contested area of the Sasanian realm. As a reward for his accomplishments in the east, Smbat was appointed the leader of the military jurisdiction in the Caucasus. Furthermore, his aristocratic house–the Bagratunids –was made

2254-472: A ruler named Azo and his people came from Arian-Kartli – the initial home of the proto-Iberians, which had been under Achaemenid rule until the fall of the Persian Empire – and settled on the site where Mtskheta was to be founded. Another Georgian chronicle, Kartlis Tskhovreba (“History of Kartli”) claims Azo to be an officer of Alexander ’s, who massacred a local ruling family and conquered

2415-461: A script derived from Aramaic . This occurred primarily because written Aramaic had previously been the written language of government of the former Achaemenids , and the government scribes had carried that practice all over the empire. This practice had led to others adopting Imperial Aramaic as the language of communications, both between Iranians and non-Iranians. The transition from Imperial Aramaic to Middle Iranian took place very slowly, with

2576-571: A slow increase of more and more Iranian words so that Aramaic with Iranian elements gradually changed into Iranian with Aramaic elements. Under Arsacid hegemony , this Aramaic-derived writing system for Iranian languages came to be associated with the Parthians in particular (it may have originated in the Parthian chancellories ), and thus the writing system came to be called pahlavi "Parthian" too. Aside from Parthian, Aramaic-derived writing

2737-472: A special horizontal stroke that shows that the pronunciation is /l/ and not /r/, is rendered in the MacKenzie system as ɫ . The traditional system continues to be used by many, especially European scholars. The MacKenzie system is the one used in this article. As for Pahlavi, c is used for the transliteration of original Aramaic ṣ and h for the transliteration of original ḥ . Original Aramaic h , on

2898-576: A story in which Khosrow II (in Arabic : كسرى Transliteration: Kisra) was a Persian king to whom Muhammad had sent a messenger, Abdullah ibn Hudhafah as-Sahmi , along with a letter in which Khosrow was asked to preach the religion of Islam. The account as transmitted by Muslim tradition reads: "In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, to Kisra,

3059-553: A thousand of these in the Book Pahlavi variety. In addition, their spelling remained very conservative, expressing the pronunciation of the Arsacid period. The two most important subvarieties are: Other known Pahlavi varieties are the early Pahlavi found in inscriptions on coins issued in the province of Pars from the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century CE; the relatively conservative Psalter Pahlavi (6th–8th centuries CE), used in

3220-559: A vassal state and acknowledged the reign over all the Caucasian area, it recognized Mirian III , the first of the Chosroid dynasty, as king of Iberia. Roman predominance proved crucial in religious matters, since King Mirian III and leading nobles converted to Christianity around 317 and declared as state religion . The event is related with the mission of a Cappadocian woman, Saint Nino , who since 303 had preached Christianity in

3381-591: Is -i . When the Arsacids (who were Parthians) came to power in the 3rd-century BCE, they inherited the use of written Greek (from the successors of Alexander the Great ) as the language of government. Under the cultural influence of the Greeks ( Hellenization ), some Middle Iranian languages, such as Bactrian , also had begun to be written in Greek script . But yet other Middle Iranian languages began to be written in

SECTION 20

#1732765692936

3542-484: Is Middle Persian, i.e. the middle stage of the language of the Persians, an Iranian people of Persia proper , which lies in the south-western highlands on the border with Babylonia . The Persians called their language Parsig , meaning "Persian". Another Middle Iranian language was Parthian , i.e. the language of the northwestern Iranian peoples of Parthia proper , which lies along the southern/south-eastern edge of

3703-406: Is a major difficulty for scholars. It has also been pointed out that the Pahlavi spelling does not express the 3rd century lenitions, so the letters p , t , k and c express /b/ , /d/ , /ɡ/ and /z/ after vowels, e.g. šp' for šab 'night' and hc for az 'from'. The rare phoneme /ɣ/ was also expressed by the same letter shape as k (however, this sound value is usually expressed in

3864-432: Is expressed in a synchronic alternation: at least at some stage in late Middle Persian (later than the 3rd century), the consonants /b/ , /d/ , /ɡ/ appear to have had, after vowels, the fricative allophones [ β ] , [ ð ] , [ɣ] . This is slightly more controversial for /ɡ/ , since there appears to have been a separate phoneme /ɣ/ as well. A parallel development seems to have affected /d͡ʒ/ in

4025-540: Is far more common for the letter l to have that function, as in the example plhw' for farrox . In the relatively rare cases where l does express /l/ , it can be marked as ɫ . Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity) (302–159 BC) (65–63 BC, 40–36 BC, 30–1 AD) (1–129 AD, 131–260 AD) (260–265 AD) (298–363 AD) (363–482 AD, 502–523 AD) (523–580 AD) (580–588 AD) In Greco-Roman geography , Iberia ( Ancient Greek : Ἰβηρία Iberia ; Latin : Hiberia ; Parthian : wurğān ; Middle Persian : wiručān )

4186-580: Is in this particular late form of exclusively written Zoroastrian Middle Persian, in popular imagination the term 'Pahlavi' became synonymous with Middle Persian itself. The ISO 639 language code for Middle Persian is pal , which reflects the post-Sasanian era use of the term Pahlavi to refer to the language and not only the script. In the classification of the Iranian languages, the Middle Period includes those languages which were common in Iran from

4347-553: Is most likely wrong since Kavad's mother was a Byzantine princess named Maria . Khosrow married three times: first to Maria , a daughter of the Byzantine emperor Maurice , who bore him Kavad II . Then to Gordiya, the sister of Bahram Chobin , who bore him Javanshir . Then to Shirin , who bore him Mardanshah . Khosrow also had other children whom were named: Borandukht , Azarmidokht , Shahriyar and Farrukhzad Khosrow V . All these persons except Shahriyar would later become

4508-399: Is nevertheless often the old pronunciation or a transitional one that is reflected in the Pahlavi spelling. 2. Voiceless stops and affricates, when occurring after vowels as well as other voiced sounds, became voiced: This process is thought not to have been taken place before Sassanid Pahlavi, and it generally is not reflected in Pahlavi spelling. A further stage in this lenition process

4669-725: Is spelt mtr' . In contrast, the Manichaean spellings are gʾh , ngʾh , šhr , myhr . Some other words with earlier /θ/ are spelt phonetically in Pahlavi, too: e.g. gēhān , spelt gyhʾn 'material world', and čihr , spelt cyhl 'face'. There are also some other cases where /h/ is spelt /t/ after p : ptkʾl for pahikār 'strife', and /t/ may also stand for /j/ in that position: ptwnd for paywand 'connection'. There are some other phoneme pairs besides /j/ and /d͡ʒ/ that are not distinguished: h (the original Aramaic ḥ ) may stand either for /h/ or for /x/ ( hm for ham 'also' as well as hl for xar 'donkey'), whereas

4830-427: Is that Arsacid word-initial /j/ produced Sassanid /d͡ʒ/ (another change that is not reflected in the Pahlavi spelling). The sound probably passed through the phase /ʒ/ , which may have continued until very late Middle Persian, since Manichaean texts did not identify Indic /d͡ʒ/ with it and introduced a separate sign for the former instead of using the letter for their native sound. Nonetheless, word-initial /j/

4991-447: Is unfinished, probably due to Khosrow's setback in the later stages of the war and his eventual downfall. Khosrow, during his second reign, added the ideogram GDH, meaning xwarrah ("royal splendor") on his coins. He combined this together with the word abzōt ("he has increased"), making the full inscription thus read as: "Khosrow, he has increased the royal splendor" ( Khūsrōkhwarrah abzōt ). The title of King of Kings –missing since

Khosrow II - Misplaced Pages Continue

5152-576: The Adur Gushnasp temple. In 626 Heraclius captured Lazistan ( Colchis ). Later that same year, Shahrbaraz advanced on Chalcedon on the Bosphoros and attempted to capture Constantinople with the help of Avar and Slavic allies. In this siege of Constantinople in 626 , the combined Sassanid, Slavic and Avar forces failed to capture the Byzantine capital city. The Avars did not have

5313-587: The Armaztsikhe , and a temple to the god Armazi , and to have created a new system of administration, subdividing the country into several counties called saeristavos . His successors controlled the mountain passes of the Caucasus , with the Daryal (also known as the Iberian Gates) being the most important of them. The period following this time of prosperity was one of incessant warfare as Iberia

5474-648: The Battle of Nineveh and advanced towards Ctesiphon . Khosrow II fled from his favorite residence, Dastagird (near Ctesiphon), without offering resistance. Heraclius then captured Dastagird and plundered it. After the capture of Dastagird, the son of Khosrow, Sheroe, was released by the feudal families of the Sasanian Empire , which included the Ispahbudhan spahbed Farrukh Hormizd and his two sons Rostam Farrokhzad and Farrukhzad . Shahrbaraz of

5635-489: The Byzantine Empire . He then tried to negotiate peace with Khosrow II by sending diplomats to his court. Khosrow, however, rejected their offer and said: "That kingdom belongs to me, and I shall enthrone Maurice's son, Theodosius, as emperor. [As for Heraclius], he went and took the rule without our order and now offers us our own treasure as gifts. But I shall not stop until I have him in my hands." Khosrow then had

5796-471: The Caspian sea and is adjacent to the boundary between western and eastern Iranian languages. The Parthians called their language Parthawig , meaning "Parthian". Via regular sound changes Parthawig became Pahlawig , from which the word 'Pahlavi' eventually evolved. The -ig in parsig and parthawig was a regular Middle Iranian appurtenant suffix for "pertaining to". The New Persian equivalent of -ig

5957-643: The House of Sasan was based on acceptance that the halo of kingship, the xwarrah , was given to the first Sasanian shah, Ardashir I ( r.  224–242 ) and his family following the latter's conquest of the Parthian Empire . This was now, however, disputed by Bahram Chobin, thus marking the first time in Sasanian history that a Parthian dynast challenged the legitimacy of the Sasanian family by rebelling. Meanwhile, Hormizd tried to come to terms with his brothers-in-law Vistahm and Vinduyih, who according to

6118-623: The Mihran family, the Armenian faction represented by Varaztirots II Bagratuni , and finally Kanadbak of the Kanārangīyān family . On the night of 25 February, the night-watch of the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon , which would usually shout the name of the reigning shah, shouted the name of Sheroe instead, which indicated a coup d'état was taking place. Sheroe, with Aspad Gushnasp leading his army, captured Ctesiphon and imprisoned Khosrow II in

6279-505: The Oxus river to the region of Ardabil in the west. He even campaigned in the east, where he subdued two Hephthalite princes of Transoxiana , Shaug and Pariowk. The date of Vistahm's uprising is uncertain. From his coinage, it is known that his rebellion lasted for seven years. The commonly accepted dates are ca. 590–596, but some scholars like J.D. Howard–Johnston and Parvaneh Pourshariati push its outbreak later, in 594/5, to coincide with

6440-523: The Oxus river , where he was received honorably by the Khagan of the Turks, who was most likely Birmudha—the same Turkic prince that Bahram Chobin had defeated and captured a few years earlier during his wars against the Turks. Bahram Chobin entered his service, and was appointed as a commander in the army, achieving further military accomplishments there. Bahram Chobin became a highly popular figure after saving

6601-672: The Pahlavi Psalter (7th century); these were used until the beginning of the second millennium in many places in Central Asia , including Turpan and even localities in South India . All three differ minimally from one another and indeed the less ambiguous and archaizing scripts of the latter two have helped to elucidate some aspects of the Sasanian-era pronunciation of the former. The vowels of Middle Persian were

Khosrow II - Misplaced Pages Continue

6762-704: The Parthians . From the first centuries of the Christian era, the cult of Mithras and Zoroastrianism were commonly practiced in Iberia. Excavation of rich burials in Bori, Armazi, and Zguderi has produced silver drinking cups with the impression of a horse either standing at a fire-altar or with its right foreleg raised above the altar. The cult of Mithras, distinguished by its syncretic character and thus complementary to local cults within Georgian mythology , especially

6923-536: The Roman (Byzantine) throne, Khosrow launched an offensive against Constantinople: ostensibly to avenge Maurice's death, but his aim clearly included the annexation of as much Byzantine territory as was feasible. Khosrow II, along with Shahrbaraz and his other best generals, quickly captured Dara and Edessa in 604, and recaptured lost territory in the north, which made the Sasanian–Byzantine borders go back to

7084-534: The Syriac writer Joshua the Stylite , both "equally hated Hormizd". The two brothers overthrew Hormizd in a seemingly bloodless palace revolution. They had Hormizd blinded with a red-hot needle, and put Khosrow II on the throne. Sometime in the summer of 590, the two brothers then had Hormizd killed, with at least the implicit approval of Khosrow II. Nevertheless, Bahram Chobin continued his march to Ctesiphon, now with

7245-658: The imperial variety of the Aramaic alphabet used in the chancelleries of the Achaemenid Empire . As is typical of abjads, they express primarily the consonants in a word form. What sets them apart from other abjads, however, is the use of Heterograms , and more specifically Aramaeograms , i.e. words written in Aramaic (sometimes, in later periods, with distortions) but pronounced in Middle Persian: e.g. LY (Aramaic 'to me') for man 'me, I'. There were about

7406-514: The rebellion of Vistahm (590/1–596 or 594/5–600). With Khosrow's rule now restored, his aim was to now consolidate his grip over his realm, which included showing tolerance and support to his Christian subjects. His wife Shirin —a Christian from Khuzestan —was the most influential of his wives, playing an important role in the royal favour that the Mesopotamian Christians enjoyed. She had a church and monastery constructed near

7567-481: The w and n have the same graphic appearance. Furthermore, letters used as part of Aramaic heterograms and not intended to be interpreted phonetically are written in capitals: thus the heterogram for the word ān is rendered ZK , whereas its phonetic spelling is transliterated as ʾn' (the final vertical line reflects the so-called 'otiose' stroke, see below ). Finally, there is a convention of representing 'distorted/corrupt' letters, which 'should' have appeared in

7728-470: The wolves ". This is also reflected in Old Armenian virk ( վիրք ), it being a source of Ancient Greek ibēríā ( Ἰβηρία ), that entered Latin as Hiberia . The transformation of vrkān into gorğān and alteration of v into g was a phonetic phenomenon in the word formation of Proto-Aryan and ancient Iranian languages . All exonyms are simply phonetic variations of

7889-442: The "old" language (i.e. Middle Persian) and Aramaic-derived writing system. In time, the name of the writing system, pahlavi "Parthian", began to be applied to the "old" Middle Persian language as well, thus distinguishing it from the "new" language, farsi . Consequently, 'pahlavi' came to denote the particularly Zoroastrian, exclusively written, late form of Middle Persian. Since almost all surviving Middle Persian literature

8050-412: The 10th–11th centuries, Middle Persian texts were still intelligible to speakers of Early New Persian. However, there are definite differences that had taken place already by the 10th century: Texts in Middle Persian are found in remnants of Sasanian inscriptions and Egyptian papyri , coins and seals, fragments of Manichaean writings , and Zoroastrian literature , most of which was written down after

8211-644: The 28th year of [Khosrow's] reign [618–19]. In 622, despite the major progress the Sasanians were making in the area of the Aegean Sea , the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius was able to take the field with a powerful force. In 624, he advanced into northern Adurbadagan , where he was welcomed by Farrukh Hormizd and his son Rostam Farrokhzad who had rebelled against Khosrow. Heraclius then began sacking several cities and temples, including

SECTION 50

#1732765692936

8372-483: The 4th century, after the Christianization of Iberia by Saint Nino during the reign of King Mirian III , Christianity was made the state religion of the kingdom. Starting in the early 6th century AD, the kingdom's position as a Sassanian vassal state was changed into direct Persian rule. In 580, king Hormizd IV (578–590) abolished the monarchy after the death of King Bakur III , and Iberia became

8533-740: The 7th-century, the Sassanids were overthrown by the Arabs. Under Arab influence, Iranian languages began to be written in Arabic script (adapted to Iranian phonology ), while Middle Persian began to rapidly evolve into New Persian and the name parsik became Arabicized farsi . Not all Iranians were comfortable with these Arabic-influenced developments, in particular, members of the literate elite, which in Sassanid times consisted primarily of Zoroastrian priests. Those former elites vigorously rejected what they perceived as ' Un-Iranian ', and continued to use

8694-420: The Aramaic distinctions between ḥ and h and between k and q were not always maintained, with the first often replacing the second, and the one between t and ṭ was lost in all but Inscriptional Pahlavi: thus YKTLWN (pronounced о̄zadan ) for Aramaic yqṭlwn 'kill', and YHWWN (pronounced būdan ) for Aramaic yhwwn 'be', even though Aramaic h is elsewhere rendered E . In the rest of this article,

8855-488: The Aramaic script of Palmyrene origin. Mani used this script to write the known book Šābuhrāgān and it continued to be used by Manichaeans until the 9th century to write in Middle Persian, and in various other Iranian languages for even longer. Specifically the Middle Persian Manichaean texts are numerous and thought to reflect mostly the period from the 3rd to the 7th centuries CE. In contrast to

9016-584: The Armenian Vahewuni rebellion. As Vistahm began to threaten Media , Khosrow sent several armies against his uncle, but failed to achieve a decisive result: Vistahm and his followers retreated to the mountainous region of Gilan , while several Armenian contingents of the royal army rebelled and defected to Vistahm. Finally, Khosrow called upon the services of the Armenian Smbat Bagratuni , who engaged Vistahm near Qumis . During

9177-508: The Armenians would become partners of the new Iranian empire ruled by a Parthian dynastic family if he accepted his proposal to betray Khosrow II. Mushegh, however, rejected the offer. Bahram Chobin was then defeated at the Battle of Blarathon , forcing him to flee with 4,000 men eastwards. He marched towards Nishapur , where he defeated a pursuing army as well as an army led by a Karenid nobleman at Qumis . Constantly troubled, he crossed

9338-447: The Arsacid sound values, but is known from the more phonetic Manichaean spelling of texts from Sassanid times. As a result of these changes, the voiceless stops and affricates /p/ , /t/ , /k/ , /t͡ʃ/ rarely occurred after vowels – mostly when geminated, which has protected them from the lenition (e.g. waččag , sp. wck' 'child'), and due to some other sound changes. Another difference between Arsacid and Sassanid-era pronunciation

9499-498: The Avesta also retain some old features, most other Zoroastrian Book Pahlavi texts (which form the overwhelming majority of the Middle Persian corpus as a whole) are linguistically more innovative. In view of the many ambiguities of the Pahlavi script, even its transliteration does not usually limit itself to rendering merely the letters as written; rather, letters are usually transliterated in accordance with their origin regardless of

9660-806: The Byzantines to deal with the issue. After his victory, Khosrow rewarded his uncles with high positions: Vinduyih became treasurer and first minister and Vistahm received the post of spahbed of the East, encompassing Tabaristan and Khorasan , which was the traditional homeland of the Ispahbudhan. Soon, however, Khosrow changed his intentions: trying to disassociate himself from his father's murder, he decided to execute his uncles. The Sasanian monarchs' traditional mistrust of over-powerful magnates and Khosrow's personal resentment of Vinduyih's patronising manner certainly contributed to this decision. Vinduyih

9821-556: The Byzantines would re-gain sovereignty over the cities of Amida , Carrhae , Dara and Martyropolis . Furthermore, Iran was required to stop intervening in the affairs of Iberia and Armenia , effectively ceding control of Lazistan to the Byzantines. In 591, Khosrow moved to Constantia and prepared to invade Bahram Chobin's territories in Mesopotamia, while Vistahm and Vinduyih were raising an army in Adurbadagan under

SECTION 60

#1732765692936

9982-534: The Christian Byzantines even made some Armenian writers think that Khosrow was a Christian. His positive policy toward Christians (which, however, was probably politically motivated) made him unpopular with the Zoroastrian priests, and also made Christianity greatly spread around the Sasanian Empire. During Khosrow's war with the Byzantines, Christian elites and organizations were incorporated into

10143-548: The Classical/Hellenistic periods are known from Colchis as well); the court was organized on Iranian models, the elite dress was influenced by Iranian costume, the Iberian elite adopted Iranian personal names, and the official cult of Armazi (q.v.) was introduced by King Pharnavaz in the 3rd century BC (connected by the medieval Georgian chronicle to Zoroastrianism) Decisive for the future history of Iberia

10304-486: The Empire from across the Danube River . In 622/3, Rhodes and several other islands in the eastern Aegean fell to the Sasanians, threatening a naval assault on Constantinople. Such was the despair in Constantinople that Heraclius considered moving the government to Carthage in Africa. In ca. 606/607, Khosrow recalled Smbat IV Bagratuni from Sasanian Armenia and sent him to repel the Turko - Hephthalites , who had raided as far as Spahan in central Iran. Smbat, with

10465-497: The Georgian kingdom of Iberia (Eastern Georgia). The religion would become a strong tie between Georgia and Rome (later Byzantium ) and have a large scale impact on the state's culture and society. Iranian elements in Georgian art gradually ceased with the adoptation of Christianity in the fourth century. However, after the emperor Julian was slain during his failed campaign in Persia in 363, Rome ceded control of Iberia to Persia, and King Varaz-Bakur I (Asphagur) (363–365) became

10626-430: The Iberian king Amazasp III (260–265) was listed as a high dignitary of the Sasanian realm, not a vassal who had been subdued by force of arms. But the aggressive tendencies of the Sasanians were evident in their propagation of Zoroastrianism , which was probably established in Iberia between the 260s and 290s. However, in the Peace of Nisibis (298) while the Roman empire obtained control of Caucasian Iberia again as

10787-406: The Iberian king Vakhtang I dubbed Gorgasali (447–502) was marked by the relative revival of the kingdom. Formally a vassal of the Persians, he secured the northern borders by subjugating the Caucasian mountaineers, and brought the adjacent western and southern Georgian lands under his control. He established an autocephalic patriarchate at Mtskheta , and made Tbilisi his capital. In 482 he led

10948-477: The Kartli pitiaxate , which brought an extensive territory under its control. Although it remained a part of the kingdom of Kartli, its viceroys turned their domain into a center of Persian influence. Sasanian rulers put the Christianity of the Georgians to a severe test. They promoted the teachings of Zoroaster , and by the middle of the 5th century Zoroastrianism had become a second official religion in eastern Georgia alongside Christianity. The early reign of

11109-473: The Khagan from a conspiracy instigated by the latter's brother Byghu (conceivably an incorrect translation of yabghu ). Khosrow II, however, could not feel safe as long as Bahram Chobin lived, and succeeded in having him assassinated. The assassination was reportedly achieved through distribution of presents and bribes between the members of the Turkic royal family, notably the queen. What remained of Bahram Chobin's supporters went back to northern Iran and joined

11270-423: The Manichaean script and a maximally disambiguated transliterated form of Pahlavi do not provide exhaustive information about the phonemic structure of Middle Persian words, a system of transcription is also necessary. There are two traditions of transcription of Pahlavi Middle Persian texts: one closer to the spelling and reflecting the Arsacid-era pronunciation, as used by Ch. Bartholomae and H. S. Nyberg (1964) and

11431-560: The Pahlavi scripts, it is a regular and unambiguous phonetic script that expresses clearly the pronunciation of 3rd century Middle Persian and distinguishes clearly between different letters and sounds, so it provides valuable evidence to modern linguists. Not only did it not display any of the Pahlavi coalescences mentioned above, it also had special letters that enabled it to distinguish [p] and [f] (although it didn't always do so), as well as [j] and [d͡ʒ] , unique designations for [β] , [ð] , and [ɣ] , and consistent distinctions between

11592-529: The Pahlavi spellings will be indicated due to their unpredictability, and the Aramaeograms will be given priority over the 'phonetic' alternatives for the same reason. If a word expressed by an Arameogram has a grammatical ending or, in many cases, a word-formation suffix, these are generally expressed by phonetic elements: LYLYA ʾn for šab ʾn 'nights'. However, verbs in Inscriptional Pahlavi are sometimes written as 'bare ideograms', whose interpretation

11753-700: The Romans again marched (36 BC) on Iberia forcing King Pharnavaz II to join their campaign against Albania . While another Georgian kingdom of Colchis was administered as a Roman province, Iberia freely accepted the Roman Imperial protection. A stone inscription discovered at Mtskheta speaks of the 1st-century ruler Mihdrat I (AD 58–106) as "the friend of the Caesars" and the king "of the Roman-loving Iberians." Emperor Vespasian fortified

11914-416: The Sasanian dynasty of a future competent ruler, and has been described as a "mad rampage" and "reckless". Three days later he ordered Mihr Hormozd to execute Khosrow. However, after the regicide of his father, Kavad also proceeded to have Mihr Hormozd killed. Khosrow's daughters Boran and Azarmidokht reportedly criticized and scolded Kavad for his barbaric actions, which made him filled with remorse. With

12075-483: The Sasanian era. The language of Zoroastrian literature (and of the Sasanian inscriptions) is sometimes referred to as Pahlavi – a name that originally referred to the Pahlavi scripts , which were also the preferred writing system for several other Middle Iranian languages. Pahlavi Middle Persian is the language of quite a large body of literature which details the traditions and prescriptions of Zoroastrianism , which

12236-446: The Sasanian system, as part of his attempt to absorb the Byzantine realm into his expanded empire. The condition of the Christian nobility reached its pinnacle under Khosrow. Mushegh II Mamikonian , a prominent Armenian nakharar , is the first and only Christian nobleman that is praised by courtly historiographers, due to his rejection of the enticements of Bahram Chobin. His decision to choose Khosrow over his native Armenia, gained him

12397-549: The aid of an Iranian prince named Datoyean, repelled the Turko-Hephthalites from Iran, and plundered their domains in eastern Khorasan , where Smbat is said to have killed their king in single combat. Khosrow then gave Smbat the honorific title Khosrow Shun ("the Joy or Satisfaction of Khosrow"), while his son Varaztirots II Bagratuni received the honorific name Javitean Khosrow ("Eternal Khosrow"). Sebeos describes

12558-589: The ancient Mtskheta site of Arzami for the Iberian kings in AD 75. The next two centuries saw a continuation of Roman influence over the area, but by the reign of King Pharsman II (116–132) Iberia had regained some of its former power. Relations between the Roman Emperor Hadrian and Pharsman II were strained, though Hadrian is said to have sought to appease Pharsman. However, it was only under Hadrian's successor Antoninus Pius that relations improved to

12719-540: The area of Caucasian Iberia was inhabited by several related tribes stemming from the Kura-Araxes culture . According to the Cyril Toumanoff , Moschians were the early proto-Georgian tribe which played a leading role in the consolidation of Iberian tribes largely inhabiting eastern and southern Georgia. The Moschians may have moved slowly to the northeast forming settlements as they traveled. One of these

12880-477: The area, until being defeated at the end of the 4th century BC by Prince Pharnavaz , at that time a local chief. The story of Alexander's invasion of Kartli, although legendary, nevertheless reflects the establishment of Georgian monarchy in the Hellenistic period and the desire of later Georgian literati to connect this event to the celebrated conqueror. Pharnavaz , victorious in a power struggle, became

13041-616: The battle, Vistahm was murdered by Pariowk at Khosrow's urging (or, according to an alternative account, by his wife Gordiya). Nevertheless, Vistahm's troops managed to repel the royal army at Qumis, and it required another expedition by Smbat in the next year to finally end the rebellion. In 600, Khosrow II executed Al-Nu'man III , King of the Lakhmids of Al-Hira , presumably because of the Arab king's refusal to give him his daughter al-Ḥurqah in marriage and insulting Persian women. Afterwards

13202-434: The beginning of the 7th century, the truce between Byzantium and Persia collapsed. The Iberian prince Stephan I (c. 590 – 627), decided in 607 to join forces with Persia in order to reunite all the territories of Iberia, a goal he seems to have accomplished. But Emperor Heraclius 's offensive in 627 and 628 brought victory over the Georgians and Persians and ensured Byzantine predominance in western and eastern Georgia until

13363-629: The central government took over the defense of the western frontiers to the desert, and the buffer state of the Lakhmids vanished. This ultimately facilitated the Muslim Caliphs ' invasion and conquest of Lower Iraq , less than a decade after Khosrow's death. Toward the beginning of his reign, Khosrow II had good relations with the Byzantines . However, when in 602 Emperor Maurice was murdered by his General Phocas (602–610), who usurped

13524-429: The cluster *θr in particular), but it had been replaced by /h/ by the Sassanid period: The phoneme /ɣ/ (as opposed to the late allophone of /ɡ/ ) is rare and occurs almost only in learned borrowings from Avestan and Parthian , e.g. moγ (Pahlavi mgw or mwg 'Magian'), maγ (Pahlavi mγ ) 'hole, pit'. The sound /ʒ/ may also have functioned as a marginal phoneme in borrowings as well. The phoneme /l/

13685-411: The coinciding forms: thus, even though Book Pahlavi has the same letter shapes for original n , w and r , for original ʾ and ḥ and for original d , g and y , besides having some ligatures that coincide in shape with certain individual letters, these are all transliterated differently. For instance, the spelling of gōspand 'domestic animal' is transliterated gwspnd in spite of the fact that

13846-512: The conversation like that, he went back on-topic and asked them to come back to him the next day. When they did, he informed them that Khosrow II had been killed by his son. Badhan's men responded angrily, threatening Muhammad to tell Badhan what he is saying about Khosrow II. To that, he responded by encouraging them to write to Badhan and to also tell him that Islam and its power will reach all that Khosrow II has ever ruled over. A few days later, Badhan received confirmation from Persia that Khosrow II

14007-609: The country". Jews and (notably) Christians had accepted the concept of Iran and considered themselves part of the nation. During his reign there was constant conflict between Monophysite and Nestorian Christians. Khosrow favored the Monophysites, and ordered all his subjects to adhere to Monophysitism, perhaps under the influence of Shirin and the royal physician Gabriel of Sinjar , who both supported this faith. Khosrow also dispensed money or gifts to Christian shrines. Khosrow's great tolerance to Christianity and friendship with

14168-554: The country. Thereafter, the king of Iberia had only nominal power, while the country was effectively ruled by the Persians. In 580, Hormizd IV (578–590) abolished the monarchy after the death of King Bacurius III of Iberia , and Iberia became a Persian province ruled by a marzpan (governor). Georgian nobles urged the Byzantine emperor Maurice to revive the kingdom of Iberia in 582, but in 591 Byzantium and Persia agreed to divide Iberia between them, with Tbilisi to be in Persian hands and Mtskheta to be under Byzantine control. At

14329-481: The crown given to the Armenian prince Artaxias who ascended the Iberian throne in 93 BC, establishing the Artaxiad dynasty of Iberia . This close association with Armenia and Pontus brought upon the country an invasion (65 BC) by the Roman general Pompey , who was then at war with Mithradates VI of Pontus , and Armenia; but Rome did not establish her power permanently over Iberia. Twenty-nine years later,

14490-529: The cult of the Sun, gradually came to merge with ancient Georgian beliefs. It is even thought that Mithras must have been the precursor of St. George in pagan Georgia. Step by step, Iranian beliefs and ways of life penetrated deeply the practices of the Iberian court and elite: the Armazian script and “language,” which is based on Aramaic (see Tsereteli), was adopted officially (a number of inscriptions in Aramaic of

14651-593: The destruction of Khosrow II stating, "Even so, Allah shall destroy his kingdom." Later, Badhan's men arrived in Medina and talked to Muhammad, ordering him to accompany them back to Khosrow II. Muhammad reportedly changed the subject, made it obvious he did not like their appearance, and responded by asking why they shave their beards and leave their mustaches to grow and be that large. When they said that's what their god orders them to do, he said his god orders him to cut his mustache and grow his beard. After he took control of

14812-518: The diadem that we even expected to rule over other worlds, if this were possible.... If you wish your welfare, think about what is to be done." Bahram Chobin, however, ignored his warning—a few days later, he reached the Nahrawan Canal near Ctesiphon, where he fought Khosrow's men, who were heavily outnumbered, but managed to hold Bahram Chobin's men back in several clashes. However, Khosrow's men eventually began losing their morale, and were in

14973-548: The diplomats executed. In 613 and 614, General Shahrbaraz besieged and captured Damascus and Jerusalem , and the True Cross was carried away in triumph. Soon afterwards, Shahin marched through Anatolia , defeating the Byzantines numerous times; he conquered Egypt in 618. The Byzantines could offer but little resistance, as they were torn apart by internal dissensions, and pressed by the Avars and Slavs , who were invading

15134-531: The early Middle Persian of the Arsacid period (until the 3rd century CE) and the Middle Persian of the Sassanid period (3rd – 7th century CE) is due to a process of consonant lenition after voiced sounds that took place during the transition between the two. Its effects were as follows: 1. Voiced stops, when occurring after vowels, became semivowels : This process may have taken place very early, but it

15295-403: The end defeated by Bahram Chobin's forces. Khosrow, together with his two uncles, his wives, and a retinue of 30 nobles, thereafter fled to Byzantine territory, while Ctesiphon fell to Bahram Chobin. Bahram Chobin declared himself king of kings in the summer of 590, asserting that the first Sasanian king Ardashir I ( r.  224–242 ) had usurped the throne of the Arsacids , and that he now

15456-577: The end of Zoroaster's millennium, he was therefore hailed by many as the promised savior Kay Bahram Varjavand. Bahram was to re-establish the Arsacid Empire and commenced a new millennium of dynastic rule. He started minting coins, where he is on the front imitated as an exalted figure, bearded and wearing a crenellation -shaped crown with two crescents of the moon, whilst the reverse shows the traditional fire altar flanked by two attendants. Regardless, many nobles and priests still chose to side with

15617-401: The event as: He [Khosrow] ordered that a huge elephant be adorned and brought to the chamber. He commanded that [Smbat's son] Varaztirots' (who was called Javitean Khosrow by the king), be seated atop [the elephant]. And he ordered treasures scattered on the crowd. He wrote [to Smbat] a hrovartak [expressing] great satisfaction and summoned him to court with great honor and pomp. [Smbat] died in

15778-470: The extent that Pharsman is said to have even visited Rome , where Dio Cassius reports that a statue was erected in his honor and that rights to sacrifice were given. The period brought a major change to the political status of Iberia with Rome recognizing them as an ally, rather than their former status as a subject state, a political situation which remained the same, even during the Empire's hostilities with

15939-558: The fall of the Achaemenid Empire in the fourth century BCE up to the fall of the Sasanian Empire in the seventh century CE. The most important and distinct development in the structure of Iranian languages of this period is the transformation from the synthetic form of the Old Period ( Old Persian and Avestan ) to an analytic form: The modern-day descendants of Middle Persian are New Persian and Luri . The changes between late Middle and Early New Persian were very gradual, and in

16100-467: The first king of Iberia (c. 302 – c. 237 BC). According to the later Georgian chronicles, after driving back an invasion, he subjugated the neighboring areas, including a significant part of the western Georgian state of Colchis (locally known as Egrisi ), and seems to have secured recognition of the newly founded state by the Seleucids of Syria . Pharnavaz is also said to have built a major citadel,

16261-479: The following: It has been doubted whether the Middle Persian short mid vowels /e/ and /o/ were phonemic , since they do not appear to have a unique continuation in later forms of Persian and no minimal pairs have been found. The evidence for them is variation between spelling with and without the matres lectionis y and w , as well as etymological considerations. They are thought to have arisen from earlier /a/ in certain conditions, including, for /e/ ,

16422-588: The grandson of Khosrow I (reigned 531–579). He was the last king of Iran to have a lengthy reign before the Muslim conquest of Iran , which began five years after his execution. He lost his throne, then recovered it with the help of the Byzantine emperor Maurice , and, a decade later, went on to emulate the feats of the Achaemenids , conquering the rich Roman provinces of the Middle East; much of his reign

16583-575: The great (leader/head) of the Persians. Peace be upon him, who seeks truth and expresses belief in Allah and in His Prophet and testifies that there is no god but Allah and that He has no partner, and who believes that Muhammad is His servant and Prophet. Under the Command of Allah, I invite you to Him. He has sent me for the guidance of all people so that I may warn them all of His wrath and may present

16744-558: The house of a certain Mehr-Sepand (also known as Maraspand). Sheroe, who had now assumed the dynastic name of Kavad II, then ordered Aspad Gushnasp to lead the charge of accusations against the deposed shah. Khosrow, however, dismissed all accusations one by one. Kavad shortly proceeded to have all his brothers and half-brothers executed, including the heir Mardanshah, who was Khosrow's favourite son. The murder of all his brothers, "all well-educated, valiant, and chivalrous men", stripped

16905-432: The inexperienced and less dominant Khosrow II. In order to get the attention of the Byzantine emperor Maurice (r. 582–602), Khosrow II went to Syria , and sent a message to the Sasanian occupied city of Martyropolis to stop their resistance against the Byzantines, but with no avail. He then sent a message to Maurice, and requested his help to regain the Sasanian throne, which the Byzantine emperor agreed with; in return,

17066-640: The invasion of the Caucasus by the Arabs . The Arabs reached Iberia about 645 and forced its eristavi (prince), Stephanoz II (637 – c. 650), to abandon his allegiance to Byzantium and recognize the Caliph as his suzerain. Iberia thus became a tributary state and an Arab emir was installed in Tbilisi about 653. At the beginning of the 9th century, eristavi Ashot I (813–830) of the new Bagrationi dynasty, from his base in southwestern Georgia, took advantage of

17227-421: The last one being erected under Shapur III ( r.  383–388 ). At Taq-e Bostan , Khosrow mimicked and magnified the rock relief of Shapur III. His relief, known as the "Great Ayvan ", is in a barrel vault carved in a cliff. The ayvan is split into an upper and lower section; the upper section depicts a divine investiture scene, with the Zoroastrian divinities Ahura Mazda and Anahita each giving Khosrow

17388-467: The later forms are an (Manichaean ՚n ), and meh (Pahlavi ms and Manichaean myh ); indeed, some scholars have reconstructed them as monosyllabic any , mahy even for Middle Persian. Middle Persian has been written in a number of different scripts. The corpora in different scripts also exhibit other linguistic differences that are partly due to their different ages, dialects and scribal traditions. The Pahlavi scripts are abjads derived from

17549-496: The letter p to express /f/ , and ṣ to express z after a vowel. The widespread use of Aramaeograms in Pahlavi, often existing in parallel with 'phonetic' spellings, has already been mentioned: thus, the same word hašt 'eight' can be spelt hšt or TWMNYA . A curious feature of the system is that simple word stems sometimes have spellings derived from Aramaic inflected forms: the spellings of verb stems include Aramaic inflectional affixes such as -WN , -TWN or -N and Y- ;

17710-538: The monarch of Iran during the Sasanian civil war of 628-632 . Khosrow had a sister named Mirhran, who was married to the Sasanian spahbed Shahrbaraz , and later bore him Shapur-i Shahrvaraz . Middle Persian language "Middle Iranian" is the name given to the middle stage of development of the numerous Iranian languages and dialects . The middle stage of the Iranian languages begins around 450 BCE and ends around 650 CE. One of those Middle Iranian languages

17871-459: The observation of the Byzantine commander John Mystacon , who was also raising an army in Armenia. After some time, Khosrow, along with the Byzantine commander of the south, Comentiolus , invaded Mesopotamia. During this invasion, Nisibis and Martyropolis quickly defected to them, and Bahram Chobin's commander Zatsparham was defeated and killed. One of Bahram Chobin's other commanders, Bryzacius,

18032-515: The old inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula , the 'Western' Iberians , has led to an idea of ethnogenetical kinship between them and the people of Caucasian Iberia (called the 'Eastern' Iberians). It has been advocated by various ancient and medieval authors, although they differed in approach to the problem of the initial place of their origin. The theory seems to have been popular in medieval Georgia . The prominent Georgian religious writer George

18193-455: The one who rises with the sun and who lends the night his eyesight, the one famed through his ancestors, the king who hates, the benefactor who engaged the Sasanians and saved the Iranians their kingship—to Bahram, the general of the Iranians, our friend.... We have also taken over the royal throne in a lawful manner and have upset no Iranian customs.... We have so firmly decided not to take off

18354-437: The other hand, is sometimes rendered as ẖ . For original ṭ , the sign ṯ is used. The special Manichaean letters for /x/ , /f/ , [β] , /ɣ/ and [ð] are transcribed in accordance with their pronunciation as x , f , β , γ and δ . Unlike Pahlavi, the Manichaean script uses the letter Ayin also in Iranian words (see below) and it is transliterated in the usual Semitological way as ՙ . Since, like most abjads, even

18515-545: The pairs [x] – [h] and [r] – [l] . Since knowledge of Pahlavi decreased after the Muslim conquest of Iran , the Zoroastrians occasionally transcribed their religious texts into other, more accessible or unambiguous scripts. One approach was to use the Avestan alphabet , a practice known as Pazand ; another was to resort to the same Perso-Arabic script that was already being used for New Persian , and that

18676-465: The palace in Ctesiphon, which was used to receive a portion of the treasury for the wages of the clergy and their vestments. The Arab Lakhmids/Nasrids , a client state located at al-Hira and its surroundings, could now openly convert to Nestorian Christianity without angering the Sasanian court. The Iranians and the Byzantines enjoyed good relations with each other for the first eleven years. This

18837-483: The patience or technology to conquer the city. On top of that, the Iranians, who were siege warfare experts, were unable to transport their troops and equipment to the other side of the Bosphorus where their Slavic and Avar allies were located, due to heavy guarding of the strait by the Byzantine navy . Furthermore, the walls of Constantinople were easily defended against the siege towers and engines. Another reason

18998-402: The pillar of Sasanian authority in the area. Khosrow also paid attention to the Zoroastrians, and had various fire temples constructed. However, this did not help the Zoroastrian church, which was in a heavy decline during his reign. According to Richard N. Frye , the Zoroastrian church under Khosrow "was noted for its devotion to luxury more than its devotion to thought." Khosrow II's reign

19159-529: The pre-591 frontier before Khosrow gave Maurice territory in return for military aid against Bahram Chobin . After having reclaimed lost territory, Khosrow withdrew from the battlefield and handed military operations to Shahrbaraz and Shahin Vahmanzadegan . The Sasanian armies then invaded and plundered Syria and Asia Minor , and in 608 advanced into Chalcedon . In 610, Heraclius revolted against Phocas and killed him, crowning himself as Emperor of

19320-479: The presence of a following /n/ , sibilant or front vowel in the next syllable, and for /o/ , the presence of a following labial consonant or the vowel /u/ in the next syllable. Long /eː/ and /oː/ had appeared first in Middle Persian, since they had developed from the Old Persian diphthongs /ai/ and /aw/ . The consonant phonemes were the following: A major distinction between the pronunciation of

19481-406: The pretext of claiming to avenge Hormizd. Khosrow then took a carrot and stick attitude, and wrote a message to Bahram Chobin, stressing his rightful claim to the Sasanian kingship: "Khosrow, kings of kings, ruler over the ruling, lord of the peoples, prince of peace, salvation of men, among gods the good and eternally living man, among men the most esteemed god, the highly illustrious, the victor,

19642-468: The reign of Peroz I ( r.  459–484 )–was also restored on his coins. According to Shayegan, Khosrow's adoption of the title was "undoubtedly a consequence of his Byzantine policy," and was signifying a resurrection of the ancient Achaemenid Empire . His two successors, Kavad II ( r.  628–628 ) and Ardashir III ( r.  628–630 ), refrained from using the title, seemingly in order distance themselves from him. Islamic tradition tells

19803-442: The same position, possibly earlier; not only was it weakened to a fricative [ʒ] , but it was also depalatalised to [z] . In fact, old Persian [d͡ʒ] and [ʒ] in any position also produced [z] . Unlike the case with the spirantisation of stops, this change is uncontroversially recognised for Sassanid times. The lenition of voiceless stops and affricates remained largely unexpressed in Pahlavi spelling, which continues to reflect

19964-595: The same root vrk/varka ( 𐎺𐎼𐎣 ) meaning wolf . Historian Adolfo Domínguez Monedero  [ es ] argues that the name Iberian was given by Ancient Greeks to two different peoples located at the extremities of their world (in the Iberian Peninsula and the Caucasus) due to the mythical wealth associated with them ( Tartessos and the Golden Fleece of Colchis). In earliest times ,

20125-523: The same time a force of 8,000 Iranians under Vistahm and Vinduyih and 12,000 Armenians under Mushegh II Mamikonian invaded Adurbadagan. Bahram Chobin tried to disrupt the force by writing a letter to Mushegh II, the letter said: "As for you Armenians who demonstrate an unseasonable loyalty, did not the house of Sasan destroy your land and sovereignty? Why otherwise did your fathers rebel and extricate themselves from their service, fighting up until today for your country?" Bahram Chobin in his letter promised that

20286-411: The spellings of pronouns are often derived from Aramaic prepositional phrases ( tо̄ 'you' is LK , originally Aramaic lk 'to you', о̄y 'he' is OLE , originally Aramaic ʿlh 'onto him'); and inalienable nouns are often noun phrases with pronominal modifiers ( pidar 'father' is ABYtl , originally Aramaic ʾby 'my father', pāy 'foot' is LGLE , originally Aramaic rglh 'his foot'). Furthermore,

20447-471: The state of affairs in living Middle Persian only indirectly. The surviving manuscripts are usually 14th-century copies. Other, less abundantly attested varieties are Manichaean Middle Persian , used for a sizable amount of Manichaean religious writings, including many theological texts, homilies and hymns (3rd–9th, possibly 13th century), and the Middle Persian of the Church of the East , evidenced in

20608-471: The support of the Iranian nobles, Kavad then made peace with the Byzantine emperor Heraclius , which made the Byzantines regain all their lost territories, their captured soldiers, a war indemnity , along with the True Cross and other relics that were lost in Jerusalem in 614. Due to Kavad's actions, his reign is seen as a turning point in Sasanian history, and has been argued by some scholars as playing

20769-399: The throne. In 590, Hormizd IV had his prominent general Bahram Chobin disgraced and dismissed. Bahram, infuriated by Hormizd's actions, responded by rebelling , and due to his noble status and great military knowledge, was joined by his soldiers and many others. He then appointed a new governor for Khorasan , and afterwards set out for the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon . The legitimacy of

20930-607: The throne. The young king, however, inherited a disintegrating empire, which was dealt its last blow in 651 during the Arab conquest of Iran . Khosrow II, like all other Sasanian rulers, was an adherent of Zoroastrianism. Since the 5th-century, the Sasanian monarchs had been made aware of the significance of the religious minorities in the realm, and as a result tried to homogenize them into a structure of administration where according to legal principles, all would be treated straightforwardly as mard / zan ī šahr , i.e. "man/woman [citizen] of

21091-451: The transition of /θ/ to /h/ in some words (in front of /r/ this reflex is due to Parthian influence, since the Middle Persian reflex should have been /s/ ). In such words, the spelling may have s or, in front of r – t . For example, gāh 'place, time' is spelt gʾs (cf. Old Persian gāθu ) and nigāh '(a) look' is spelt nkʾs ; šahr 'country, town' is spelt štr' (cf. Avestan xsaθra ) and mihr 'Mithra, contract, friendship'

21252-635: The transliteration). Similarly, the letter d may stand for /j/ after a vowel, e.g. pʾd for pāy 'foot' – this is no longer apparent in Book Pahlavi due to the coincidence of the shapes of the original letters y , d and g , but is already clearly seen in Inscriptional and Psalter Pahlavi. Indeed, it even appears to have been the general rule word-finally, regardless of the word's origins, although modern transliterations of words like xwadāy ( xwtʾd ) and mēnōy ( mynwd ) do not always reflect this analogical / pseudo-historical spelling. Final īy

21413-658: The unbelievers with an ultimatum. Embrace Islam so that you may remain safe (in this life and the next). And if you refuse to accept Islam, you will be responsible for the sins of the Magi ." Islamic tradition further states that Khosrow II tore up Muhammad's letter saying, "A pitiful slave among my subjects dares write his name before mine" and commanded Badhan , his vassal ruler of Yemen , to dispatch two valiant men to identify, seize and bring this man from Hijaz (Muhammad) to him. When Abdullah ibn Hudhafah as-Sahmi told Muhammad how Khosrow had torn his letter to pieces, Muhammad promised

21574-475: The use of original Aramaic h is restricted to heterograms (transliterated E in MacKenzie's system, e.g. LGLE for pāy 'foot'). Not only /p/ , but also the frequent sound /f/ is expressed by the letter p , e.g. plhw' for farrox 'fortunate'. While the original letter r is retained in some words as an expression of the sound /r/ , especially in older frequent words and Aramaeograms (e.g. štr' for šahr 'country, town', BRTE for duxt 'daughter'), it

21735-505: The war against the Byzantines. In works of Persian literature such as the Ferdowsi 's Shahnameh and Nizami Ganjavi 's (1141–1209) Khosrow and Shirin , a famous tragic romance and a highly elaborated fictional version of Khosrow's life made him one of the greatest heroes of the culture, as much a lover as a king. Khosrow and Shirin tells the story of his love for the originally Aramean princess Shirin , who becomes his queen after

21896-401: The weakening of the Arab rule to establish himself as hereditary prince (with the Byzantine title kouropalates ) of Iberia. A successor, Adarnase IV of Iberia , formally a vassal of Byzantium, was crowned as the “king of Iberia” in 888. His descendant Bagrat III (r. 975–1014), brought the various principalities together to form a united Georgian monarchy . The similarity of the name with

22057-630: The west, Caucasian Albania in the east and Armenia in the south. Its population, the Iberians , formed the nucleus of the Kartvelians (i.e. Georgians ). Iberia, ruled by the Pharnavazid , Artaxiad , Arsacid and Chosroid royal dynasties , together with Colchis to its west, would form the nucleus of the unified medieval Kingdom of Georgia under the Bagrationi dynasty . In

22218-594: The year 800) and in Armenian as Aprouēž Xosrov . Khosrow II was born in c.  570 ; he was the son of Hormizd IV and an unnamed noblewoman from the House of Ispahbudhan , one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran . Her brothers, Vinduyih and Vistahm , were to have a profound influence in Khosrow II's early life. Khosrow's paternal grandfather was the famed Sasanian shah Khosrow I Anushirvan ( r.  531–579 ), whilst his paternal grandmother

22379-545: Was Mtskheta , the future capital of the Kingdom of Iberia. The Mtskheta tribe was later ruled by a prince locally known as mamasakhlisi (“father of the household” in Georgian). The written sources for the early periods of Iberia's history are mostly medieval Georgian chronicles, that modern scholarship interpret as a semi-legendary narrative. One such chronicle, Moktsevay Kartlisay (“ Conversion of Kartli ”) mentions that

22540-529: Was adopted for at least four other Middle Iranian languages, one of which was Middle Persian. In the 3rd-century CE, the Parthian Arsacids were overthrown by the Sassanids , who were natives of the south-west and thus spoke Middle Persian as their native language. Under Sassanid hegemony, the Middle Persian language became a prestige dialect and thus also came to be used by non-Persian Iranians. In

22701-480: Was an exonym for the Georgian kingdom of Kartli ( Georgian : ქართლი), known after its core province , which during Classical Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages was a significant monarchy in the Caucasus , either as an independent state or as a dependent of larger empires, notably the Sassanid and Roman empires. Iberia, centered on present-day Eastern Georgia , was bordered by Colchis in

22862-422: Was apparent in their management of the issues that had risen in Armenia. In the 590s, many Armenian nobles and their supporters sought asylum in Iran to avoid being conscripted for Maurice's Balkan campaigns . The open borders between the two empires meant that nobles could freely immigrate to Iran and get promoted. However, when they showed signs of aspiring to fight the Byzantines, the Iranians worked together with

23023-530: Was captured in Mosil and had his nose and ears cut off, and was thereafter sent to Khosrow, where he was killed. Khosrow II and the Byzantine general Narses then penetrated deeper into Bahram's territory, seizing Dara and then Mardin in February, where Khosrow was re-proclaimed king. Shortly after this, Khosrow sent one of his Iranian supporters, Mahbodh, to capture Ctesiphon, which he managed to accomplish. At

23184-431: Was considered a golden age in music . Before Khosrow II there were many other Sasanian kings that showed particular interest in music, like Khosrow I , Bahram Gur , and even Ardashir I . Notable musicians during the reign of Khosrow II were Barbad (Khosrow's favorite court musician), Bamshad , Sarkash , and Nagisa . Khosrow restored the practice of erecting rock reliefs, after an absence of nearly three centuries,

23345-547: Was dead. As a consequence, he is said to have accepted Islam, and Muhammad kept him as a ruler over his people. The battles between Heraclius and Khosrow are depicted in a famous early Renaissance fresco by Piero della Francesca , part of the History of the True Cross cycle in the church of San Francesco, Arezzo . Many Persian miniature paintings depict events in his life, like his battles or his assassination. Khosrow

23506-527: Was forced to defend against numerous invasions into its territories. Some southern parts of Iberia, that were conquered from the Kingdom of Armenia , in the 2nd century BC were reunited to Armenia and the Colchian lands seceded to form separate princedoms ( sceptuchoi ). At the end of the 2nd century BC, the Pharnavazid king Pharnajom was dethroned by his own subjects, after converting to Zoroastrianism, and

23667-419: Was no more than a shepherd." Vistahm's revolt, like Bahrams's shortly before, found support and spread quickly. Local magnates as well as the remnants of Bahram Chobin's armies flocked to him, especially after he married Bahram's sister Gordiya . Vistahm repelled several loyalist efforts to subdue him, and he soon held sway in the entire eastern and northern quadrants of the Iranian realm, a domain stretching from

23828-419: Was on the last syllable. That was due to the fact that any Old Persian post-stress syllables had been apocopated : It has been suggested that words such as anīy 'other' (Pahlavi spelling AHRN , AHRNy d , Manichaean ՚ny ) and mahīy 'bigger' (Manichaean mhy ) may have been exceptionally stressed on the first syllable, since the last one was apocopated already in the course of the Middle Persian period:

23989-457: Was referred to as Pārsī. Since these methods were used at a relatively late linguistic stage, these transcriptions often reflect a very late pronunciation close to New Persian. In general, Inscriptional Pahlavi texts have the most archaic linguistic features, Manichaean texts and the Psalter exhibit slightly later, but still relatively early language stages, and while the Pahlavi translations of

24150-425: Was regularly written y d . In the same way, (w)b may also correspond to a w in the pronunciation after a vowel. The fortition of initial /j/ to /d͡ʒ/ (or /ʒ/ ) is not reflected either, so y can express initial /d͡ʒ/ , e.g. yʾm for ǰām 'glass' (while it still expresses /j/ in the learned word y z dt' for yazd 'god'). Some even earlier sound changes are not consistently reflected either, such as

24311-528: Was restoring their rule. Bahram Chobin tried to support his cause with the Zoroastrian apocalyptic belief that by the end of Zoroaster 's millennium, chaos and destructive wars with the Hephthalites/Huns and the Romans occurs and then a savior would appear. Indeed, the Sasanians had misidentified Zoroaster's era with that of the Seleucids (312 BC), which put Bahram Chobin's life almost at

24472-555: Was retained/reintroduced in learned borrowings from Avestan . Furthermore, some forms of Middle Persian appear to have preserved ǰ (from Proto-Iranian /d͡ʒ/ or /t͡ʃ/ ) after n due to Parthian influence, instead of the usual weakening to z . This pronunciation is reflected in Book Pahlavi, but not in Manichaean texts: Judging from the spelling, the consonant /θ/ may have been pronounced before /r/ in certain borrowings from Parthian in Arsacid times (unlike native words, which had /h/ for earlier *θ in general and /s/ for

24633-659: Was soon put to death, according to a Syriac source captured while trying to flee to his brother in the East. At the news of his brother's murder, Vistahm rose in open revolt. According to Dinawari , Vistahm sent a letter to Khosrow announcing his claim to the throne through his Parthian ( Arsacid ) heritage: "You are not worthier to rule than I am. Indeed, I am more deserving on account of my descent from Darius, son of Darius , who fought Alexander . You Sasanians deceitfully gained superiority over us [the Arsacids] and usurped our right, and treated us with injustice. Your ancestor Sasan

24794-473: Was spent in wars with the Byzantine Empire and struggling against usurpers such as Bahram Chobin and Vistahm . Khosrow II began a war against the Byzantines in 602, ostensibly to avenge the murder of his ally Maurice. Persian forces captured much of the Byzantine Empire's territories, earning Khosrow II the epithet "the Victorious". A siege of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople in 626

24955-446: Was still relatively rare as well, especially so in Manichaean texts, mostly resulting from Proto-Iranian *rd, *rz and, more rarely, *r. It also occurred in the combination /hl/ , which was a reflex of Old Persian /rθ/ and /rs/ (cf. the words 'Pahlavi' and 'Parthian'). The sound /xw/ may be viewed as a phoneme or merely as a combination of /x/ and /w/ . Usually /x/ , /xw/ and /ɣ/ are considered to have been velar ;

25116-538: Was that the Persians and Slavs did not have a strong enough navy to skirt the sea walls and establish a channel of communication. The lack of supplies for the Avars eventually caused them to abandon the siege. As this maneuver failed, Shahrbaraz' forces were defeated, and he withdrew his army from Anatolia later in 628. Following the Third Perso-Turkic War in 627, Heraclius defeated the Iranian army at

25277-536: Was the daughter of the khagan of the Khazars . Khosrow is first mentioned in the 580s, when he was at Partaw , the capital of Caucasian Albania . During his stay there, he served as the governor of the kingdom, and managed to put an end to the Kingdom of Iberia and make it into a Sasanian province . Furthermore, Khosrow II also served as the governor of Arbela in Mesopotamia sometime before his accession to

25438-440: Was the foundation of the Sasanian (or Sassanid) Empire in 224 by Ardashir I . By replacing the weak Parthian realm with a strong, centralized state, it changed the political orientation of Iberia away from Rome. Iberia became a tributary of the Sasanian state during the reign of Shapur I (241–272). Relations between the two countries seem to have been friendly at first, as Iberia cooperated in Persian campaigns against Rome, and

25599-414: Was the son of Hormizd IV , and an unnamed Ispahbudhan noblewoman who was the sister of Vistahm and Vinduyih . Khosrow also had two cousins from the Ispahbudhan family whom were named Mah-Adhur Gushnasp and Narsi . He had a brother-in-law named Hormuzan , a Sasanian nobleman from one of the seven Parthian clans , who later fought against the Arabs during the Muslim invasion of Persia . However, this

25760-502: Was the state religion of Sasanian Iran (224 to c. 650) before the Muslim conquest of Persia . The earliest texts in Zoroastrian Middle Persian were probably written down in late Sasanian times (6th–7th centuries), although they represent the codification of earlier oral tradition. However, most texts date from the ninth to the 11th century, when Middle Persian had long ceased to be a spoken language, so they reflect

25921-412: Was unsuccessful, and Heraclius , now allied with Turks , started a risky but successful counterattack deep into Persia's heartland. Dissatisfied with the war, the feudal families of the empire supported a coup in which Khosrow II was deposed and killed by his estranged son Sheroe, who took power as Kavad II . This led to a civil war and interregnum in the empire and the reversal of all Sasanian gains in

#935064