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Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; and Khosrau), commonly known as Khosrow Parviz (Persian language: خسرو پرویز, "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian Empire Sasanian king (Shahanshah) of Pre-Islamic Iran, ruling from 590 to 628, with an interruption of one year.
Khosrow II was the son of Hormizd IV (reigned 579–590), and 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 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 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 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 a lengthy courtship strewn with mishaps and difficulties.
Meanwhile, Hormizd tried to come to terms with his brothers-in-law Vistahm and Vinduyih, who according to the Syriac language 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 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, 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 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 tried to support his cause with the Zoroastrianism Apocalypse 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 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 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, the Byzantines would re-gain sovereignty over the cities of Amida, Harran, Dara and Martyropolis. Furthermore, Iran was required to stop intervening in the affairs of Iberia and Armenia, effectively ceding control of Lazica to the Byzantines.
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 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 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 the rebellion of Vistahm (590/1–596 or 594/5–600).
The Iranians and the Byzantines enjoyed good relations with each other for the first eleven years. This 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 the Byzantines to deal with the issue.
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 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 610, Heraclius revolted against Phocas and killed him, crowning himself as Emperor of 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, 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 the diplomats executed.Sebeos, chapter 24
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 Byzantine Egypt in 618. The Byzantines could offer but little resistance, as they were torn apart by internal dissensions, and pressed by the Pannonian Avars and Slavs, who were invading the Empire from across the Danube River. In 622/3, Rhodes and several other islands in the eastern Aegean Sea 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.
Sebeos describes the event as:
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 Pannonian Avars and Early Slavs 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 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 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 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.
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 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 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 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 ( 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 the throne. The young king, however, inherited a disintegrating empire, which was dealt its last blow in 651 during the Arab conquest of Iran.
During his reign there was constant conflict between Monophysitism and Nestorianism 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 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. In 591, at the beginning of his reign, Byzantine-Sasanian negotiations resulted in an edict of toleration, based on the understanding that proselytization would be banned. According to Nina Garsoïan, Khosrow "returned to the normal pattern of alternate toleration and repression" of Christians after the death of his ally Maurice in 602. While individual Christians continued to enjoy his favor, a number of prominent Christian officials and prelates were put to death during this period. During Khosrow's war with the Byzantines, Christian elites and organizations were incorporated into 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 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 Hyrcania, 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 Bagratunis – was made 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."
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 Sasanian 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 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 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 was dead. As a consequence, he is said to have accepted Islam, and Muhammad kept him as a ruler over his people.
Of Khosrow's wives, the Christian Shirin played the most prominent public role. She bore Khosrow a son, Mardanshah, and unsuccessfully tried to secure the succession for him. Another one of Khosrow's wives was Maria, which some sources depict as the daughter of the Byzantine Empire emperor Maurice. However, this identification is generally not accepted by scholars. Maria may have been a Greek girl in Khosrow's harem, later remembered as a Byzantine princess. Maria was the mother of Khosrow's successor Kavad II. The 9th-century historian Dinawari claims that Khosrow married Gordiya, the sister of Bahram Chobin, after the latter's death, and that Gordiya bore him a son named Juvansher. Javanshir is supposed to have ruled before Khosrow's daughter Borandukht, but he is not represented in Sasanian coinage. Khosrow also had other children: daughters Borandukht and Azarmidokht and sons Shahriyar and Farrukhzad Khosrow V. All these persons except Shahriyar would later become the monarch of Iran during the Sasanian civil war of 628–632. Khosrow had a sister who was married to the Sasanian spahbed Shahrbaraz and bore him Shapur-i Shahrvaraz. She was called Mihran because she had married into the House of Mihran.
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