Khosrau II
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Khosrau II or Khosrow II (Chosroes II in classical sources, sometimes called Parvez, "the ever Victorious" – in Persian: خسرو پرویز) was a King of Persia from 590 to 628. He was the son of Hormizd IV (579–590) and grandson of Khosrau I (531–579).
Khosrau II was raised to the throne by the magnates who had rebelled against Hormizd IV, who soon after had his father blinded and killed. But at the same time the general Bahram Chobin had proclaimed himself King Bahram VI (590–591), and Khosrau II was not able to maintain himself.
The war with the Romans, which had begun in 571, had not yet come to an end. Khosrau II fled to Syria, and persuaded the Emperor Maurice (582–602) to send help. Many leading men and part of the troops acknowledged Khosrau II, and in 591 he was brought back to Ctesiphon. Bahram VI was defeated and he fled to the Turks of Central Asia, among whom he was murdered. Peace with Rome was then concluded.
Maurice made no use of his advantage; he merely restored the former frontier and abolished the subsidies which had formerly been paid to the Persians. Khosrau II was much inferior to his grandfather. He was haughty and cruel, rapacious and given to luxury; he was neither a general nor an administrator. At the beginning of his reign he favoured the Christians; but when in 602 Maurice had been murdered by Phocas (602–610), he began war with Rome to avenge his death. His armies plundered Syria and Asia Minor, and in 608 advanced to Chalcedon.
In 613 and 614 Damascus and Jerusalem were taken by the general Shahrbaraz, and the True Cross was carried away in triumph. Soon after, General Shahin marched trough Anatolia and conquered Egypt in 618. The Romans could offer but little resistance, as they were torn by internal dissensions, and pressed by the Avars and Slavs. At last, in 622, the Emperor Heraclius (who had succeeded Phocas in 610 and ruled until 641) was able to take the field. In 624 he advanced into northern Media, where he destroyed the great fire-temple of Gandzak (Gazaca); in 626 he fought in Lazistan (Colchis), while Shahrbaraz advanced to Chalcedon, and tried in vain, united with the Avars, to conquer Constantinople.
In 627 Heraclius defeated the Persian army at the Battle of Nineveh and advanced towards Ctesiphon. Khosrau II fled from his favourite residence, Dastagei (near Baghdad), without offering resistance; and as his despotism and indolence had roused opposition everywhere, his eldest son Kavadh II (he ruled briefly in 628), whom Khosrau II had imprisoned, was set free by some of the leading men and proclaimed King (night of 23-4 February, 628).[1] Four days afterwards, Khosrau II was murdered in his palace. Meanwhile, Heraclius returned in triumph to Constantinople; in 629 the Cross was given back to him and Egypt evacuated, while the Persian empire, from the apparent greatness which it had reached ten years ago, sank into hopeless anarchy. It was overtaken by the armies of the first Islamic Caliphs beginning in 634.
In reality, the Sassanid empire had been brought on the verge of anarchy and disintegration as a result of warmongering and ambitious exploitations of Khosrau II and a decade-long intrigue of courtiers and Zoroastrian magi attempting to occupy the throne following his murder.
Khosrau II is also remembered to be one of the powerful kings of the Persian Empire to whom the Islamic prophet Muhammed had sent messengers to preach the religion of Islam, like he sent messengers to other emperors near the Arabian Peninsula including Heraclius. His letter read:
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful. From Muhammad, Messenger of Allah, to Chosroes, Chief of Iran. Peace be on him who follows the guidance, believes in Allah and His Messenger and bears witness that there is no one worthy of worship save Allah, the One, without associate, and that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. I invite you to the Call of Allah, as I am the Messenger of Allah to the whole of mankind, so that I may warn every living person and so that the truth may become clear and the judgment of God may overtake the disbelievers. I call upon you to accept Islam and thus make yourself secure. If you turn away, you will bear the responsibility for your subjects also.
However, Khosrau II is said to have torn Muhammed's letter preaching Islam to him. He told to the messengers that they should be glad that the Persian court is taking care of them and is giving them food. So the Emperor called his soldiers to put sand bags on the shoulders of the messengers and sent them back to Muhammed. He also gave them a letter in which he told the Muslim Arabs that Persia will never convert to their religion. [2]
[edit] In art
The battles between Heraclius and Khosrau 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.
[edit] See also
- Shirin Beloved wife of Khosrau
- Non-Muslims Interactants with Muslims During Muhammad's Era
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ According James Howard-Johnston in his notes to The Armenian History attributed to Sebeos (trans. R.W. Thomson; Liverpool: University Press, 1999), p. 221
- ^ According to History of Tabari by Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
| Preceded by Hormizd IV |
Sassanid Ruler 590–628 |
Succeeded by Bahram Chobin (590–591), Kavadh II |
