Peroz I

Template:Short description Template:Good article Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox royalty Peroz I (Template:Langx) was the Sasanian King of Kings (Template:Transliteration) of Iran from 459 to 484. A son of Yazdegerd II (Template:Reign), he disputed the rule of his elder brother and incumbent king Hormizd III (Template:Reign), eventually seizing the throne after a two-year struggle. His reign was marked by war and famine. Early in his reign, he successfully quelled a rebellion in Caucasian Albania in the west, and put an end to the Kidarites in the east, briefly expanding Sasanian rule into Tokharistan, where he issued gold coins with his likeness at Balkh. Simultaneously, Iran was suffering from a seven-year famine. He soon clashed with the former subjects of the Kidarites, the Hephthalites, who possibly had previously helped him to gain his throne. He was defeated and captured twice by the Hephthalites and lost his recently acquired possessions.

In 482, revolts broke out in the western provinces of Armenia and Iberia, led by Vahan Mamikonian and Vakhtang I respectively. Before Peroz could quell the unrest there, he was defeated and killed in his third war with the Hephthalites in 484, who seized the main Sasanian cities of the eastern region of Khorasan−Nishapur, Herat and Marw. Taking advantage of the weakened Sasanian authority in the east, the Nezak Huns subsequently seized the region of Zabulistan. Peroz was the last Template:Transliteration to mint unique gold coins in the Indian region of Sindh, which indicates that the region was lost around the same period. Albeit a devout Zoroastrian, Peroz supported the newly established Christian sect of Nestorianism, and just before his death, it was declared the official doctrine of the Iranian church.

Peroz's wars against the Hephthalites have been described as "foolhardy" in both contemporary and modern historiography. His defeat and death introduced a period of political, social and religious tumult. The empire reached its lowest ebb; the Template:Transliteration was now a client of the Hephthalites and was compelled to pay tribute, while the nobility and clergy exerted great influence and authority over the nation, being able to act as king-makers. The magnates—most notably Sukhra and Shapur Mihran—elected Peroz's brother, Balash, as the new Template:Transliteration. Order would first be restored under Peroz's son Kavad I (Template:Reign), who reformed the empire and defeated the Hephthalites, reconquering Khorasan. By 560, Peroz had been avenged by his grandson Khosrow I (Template:Reign), who in collaboration with the First Turkic Khaganate, destroyed the Hephthalites.

NameEdit

"Peroz" is a Middle Persian name, meaning "victorious".Template:Sfn It is attested in Parthian as Template:Transliteration, whilst its New Persian form is Template:Transliteration (Arabicized form: Template:Transliteration).Template:Sfn Peroz is transliterated in Greek as Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).Template:Sfn The Georgian transliteration of the name, Template:Transliteration, was introduced into Georgian twice; through its Middle Iranian form (Parthian/Middle Persian) and in the New Persian form.Template:Sfn The Armenian transliteration, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), follows the exact same spelling as the Middle Persian original.Template:Sfn The name Peroz had already been in use by members of the Sasanian family in the 3rd-century, namely by the Kushano-Sasanian ruler Peroz I Kushanshah.Template:Sfn

Rise to powerEdit

File:Sasanian Empire in the mid 5th-century.svg

The Sasanian Empire in the mid 5th-century

When Peroz's father Yazdegerd II (Template:Reign) died in 457, he had reportedly not designed a successor and instead—according to the medieval historian al-Tha'alibi—entrusted the task to the elite and the leading Template:Transliteration (margraves).Template:Sfn Civil war soon followed; Yazdegerd II's eldest son Hormizd III declared himself king at the city of Ray in northern Iran, while Peroz fled to the northeastern part of the empire and began raising an army in order to claim the throne for himself.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The brothers' mother, queen Denag, temporarily ruled as regent of the empire from its capital, Ctesiphon.Template:Sfn According to eastern sources, Peroz was more worthy for the throne than Hormizd, who they refer to as "unfair".Template:Sfn Only the anonymous source known as the Codex Sprenger 30 describes Hormizd as the "braver and better", while describing Peroz as "more learned in religion".Template:Sfn

Both brothers seemingly attempted to gain the support of the powers of the neighbouring eastern region of Tokharistan/Bactria in their struggle. The region was then controlled by the Kidarites, along with some of their local vassals, such as the Hephthalites.Template:Sfn According to three contemporary letters in the Bactrian language (the language of Tokharistan), the local ruler of the city of Rob (between Kabul and Balkh) Kirdir-Warahran, is given the honorific titles of "glorious through Hormizd" and "true to Peroz", which seemingly indicates that he shifted his allegiance between the two brothers.Template:Sfn According to the contemporary Armenian historians Elishe and Ghazar Parpetsi, Peroz was notably supported by the House of Mihran, one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran, while later Persian sources instead report that Peroz fled to the Hephthalites and enlisted their help.Template:Sfn

This version, however, has been called "legendary" and "somewhat fanciful" by modern historians.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The modern historians Parvaneh Pourshariati, Shapur Shahbazi and Michael Bonner prefer the Armenian version, with the latter suggesting that the Persian account may yield some authenticity, with Peroz enlisting Hephthalite aid through the Mihranids.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Elishe and Ghazar give two slightly different accounts of Peroz's struggle against Hormizd. According to the former, Peroz was aided by his Mihranid tutor Raham Mihran, who in 459 captured and executed Hormizd, and then crowned Peroz as Template:Transliteration. The same account is given by Ghazar, with the exception that the Mihranid is named Ashtad Mihran, and was not the tutor, but rather foster father of Peroz.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Efn

ReignEdit

Revolt in Caucasian Albania and famineEdit

During the dynastic struggle between Peroz and Hormizd III, the Arsacid king of Caucasian Albania, Vache II (Template:Reign), took advantage of the tumultuous situation and declared independence.Template:Sfn He allowed the Huns into the city of Derbent, and with their aid attacked the Iranian army. Peroz responded by allowing the Huns to pass through the Darial Gorge, and they subsequently ravaged Albania.Template:Sfn The two kings negotiated an accord; Vache II would return his mother (Peroz's sister) and daughter to Peroz, while he would receive the 1,000 families he had originally been given by his father as his share of the inheritance. Vache II abdicated in 462,Template:Sfn leaving Albania kingless until 485, when Vachagan III (Template:Reign) was installed on the throne by Peroz's brother and successor Balash (Template:Reign).Template:Sfn Peroz also freed some of the Armenian aristocrats who had been jailed by his father in the aftermath of the Armenian uprising in 451.Template:Sfn The previous year (461), Iran suffered from a severe drought, which caused a large-scale famine that would last until 467.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Relations with the Byzantine EmpireEdit

File:Roman-Persian Frontier, 5th century.png

Map of the Roman-Iranian frontier

Early in Peroz's reign, tensions began to rise between Iran and Byzantium. In the mid-460s, the Byzantines discovered that their general Ardaburius had been secretly corresponding with the Iranian court, urging Peroz to attack the Byzantines, with the promise of military support and presumably also intelligence. Ardaburius's letters were intercepted and given to Byzantine emperor Leo I (Template:Reign), who had him removed from office and summoned to the capital, Constantinople.Template:Sfn Ardaburius's fate is not known.Template:Sfn Leo responded to the Iranian activity by reinforcing his borders with them, which included the fortification of Callinicum in Syria.Template:Sfn

Since the Byzantine–Iranian peace treaty of 387, both empires had agreed that they were obligated to cooperate in the defense of the Caucasus against nomadic attacks from the northern steppes.Template:Sfn The Iranians took the major role in this, while the Byzantines contributed roughly Template:Convert of gold at irregular intervals.Template:Sfn The Byzantines saw this payment as a contribution to their mutual defense, but the Iranians saw it as tribute which established Byzantium as a subordinate of Iran.Template:Sfn Since the foundation of the Sasanian Empire, its rulers had demonstrated the sovereignty and power of their realm through collection of tribute, particularly from the Byzantines.Template:Sfn Retaliating for Iran's plot with Ardaburius, Leo stopped the payments. Repeated negotiations failed to resolve the issue.Template:Sfn The Byzantines also appealed for the return of the city of Nisibis, which had been ceded to Iran as part of a treaty in 363.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Tensions continued to increase until the accession of the Byzantine emperor Zeno (Template:Reign) in 474, who resumed payment to Iran and also ransomed Peroz from captivity by the Hephthalites.Template:Sfn Regardless, war almost erupted in the early 480s, when some Tayy clients of the Sasanians made incursions into Byzantine territory due to suffering from a two-year drought. The Iranian general Qardag Nakoragan, who was stationed at the frontier, quickly pacificed the Tayy raiders and ensured peace with the Byzantines.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

War with the KidaritesEdit

File:Kidarites ruler Kidara Circa 425-457 CE.jpg

5th-century drachma of the Kidarite ruler, Kidara. The legend, in Brahmi letters, reads: kidara kushana shah.

Since the reign of Shapur II (Template:Reign), Iran had to deal with nomadic invaders in the east known as "Iranian Huns" and made up of Hephthalites, Kidarites, Chionites and Alkhans.Template:Sfn They seized Tokharistan and Gandhara from Shapur II and his Kushano-Sasanian clients, and eventually Kabul from Shapur III (Template:Reign).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Archaeological, numismatic, and sigillographic evidence demonstrates that the Huns ruled a realm just as refined as that of the Sasanians. They swiftly adopted Iranian imperial symbolism and titulature, such as imitating Sasanian imperial coinage.Template:Sfn The modern historian Richard Payne states: "Far from the destructive xyonan of the Iranian accounts or the marauding barbarians of the Roman historians, the Hun kingdoms of post-Iranian Central Asia were city-based, tax-raising, ideologically innovative states the kings of kings found themselves hard pressed to unseat."Template:Sfn The loss of the Armenian cavalry contingent after the revolt of Armenia in 451 weakened Sasanian efforts to keep their eastern enemies in check.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Efn

File:Coin of Peroz I in Tukharistan.jpg

Gold dinar of Peroz I minted at Balkh in 466, shortly after he put an end to Kidarite rule in Tokharistan. He is depicted on the obverse, wearing his second crown

The Sasanian efforts were disrupted in the early 5th century by the Kidarites, who forced Yazdegerd I (Template:Reign), Bahram V (Template:Reign), and/or Yazdegerd II to pay them tribute.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Although this did not trouble the Iranian treasury, it was nevertheless humiliating.Template:Sfn Yazdegerd II eventually refused to pay tribute, which would later be used as a justification for the war that the Kidarites declared against Peroz in Template:Circa 464.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Peroz lacked enough manpower to fight, and therefore asked for financial aid from the Byzantine Empire, which declined.Template:Sfn He then offered peace to the king of the Kidarites, Kunkhas, and offered his sister in marriage, but sent a woman of low status instead.Template:Sfn

After some time Kunkhas found about Peroz's deception, and in turn attempted to trick him, by requesting him to send military experts to strengthen his army.Template:Sfn When a group of 300 military experts arrived at the court of Kunkhas at Balaam (possibly Balkh), they were either killed or disfigured and sent back to Iran, with the information that Kunkhas did this due to Peroz's false treaty.Template:Sfn Around this time, Peroz allied himself with the Hephthalites and other Huns, such as Mehama, the ruler of Kadag in eastern Tokharistan.Template:Sfn With their help, he finally vanquished the Kidarites in 466, and brought Tokharistan briefly under Sasanian control, issuing gold coins at Balkh.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The style of the gold coin was largely based on the Kidarite coins, and displayed Peroz wearing his second crown.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The legend of the coin displayed his name and title in Bactrian. The following year (467), an Iranian embassy journeyed to Constantinople, where the victory over the Kidarites was announced. An Iranian embassy sent to the Chinese Northern Wei dynasty in 468 may have done the same.Template:Sfn

The Kidarites continued to rule in Gandhara, and possibly Sogdia. They were eventually conquered by the Alkhans in Gandhara, and by the Hephthalites in Sogdia.Template:Sfn According to Bactrian chronicles, Mehama was subsequently promoted to the position of "governor of the famous and prosperous king of kings Peroz".Template:Sfn However, a power vacuum followed in Tokharistan, which allowed Mehama to gain autonomy, or possibly even independence.Template:Sfn

First and second war with the HephthalitesEdit

File:Hephthalites coinage imitating Peroz I Late 5th century CE.jpg

Drachma minted by a Hephthalite ruler, with the obverse showing a close imitation of the coinage of Peroz I wearing his third crown

Peroz's war with the Hephthalites is reported by at least two contemporary sources—the account of the Byzantine historian Procopius and the Syriac text of Pseudo-Joshua the Stylite. However, both sources are marred by errors and oversights. According to Pseudo-Joshua, Peroz fought three wars with the Hephthalites, but he only briefly mentions them. Procopius' report, although detailed, has only two wars.Template:Sfn Additionally, Peroz's war with the Hephthalites is also reported by the Mandaic Book of Kings.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Many modern historians agree that he fought the Hephthalites three times.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

With the fall of the Kidarites, their former subjects–the Hephthalites, who were based in eastern Tokharistan–took advantage of the power vacuum, extending their rule over all of Tokharistan.Template:Sfn Their capital was most likely near the city of Kunduz in eastern Tokharistan, which the medieval scholar al-Biruni calls War-Waliz.Template:Sfn The Hephthalite king is often given the name of Akhshunwar, which according to the Iranologist Khodadad Rezakhani was probably a title used by the Hephthalite kings, similar to other contemporary Central Asian titles such as Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn In order to halt the Hephthalite expansion, Peroz attacked them in 474, but was ambushed and captured near the border of Gurgan.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He was ransomed by Zeno, who helped him restore good relations between the Sasanians and the Hephthalites.Template:Sfn According to Procopius, Akhshunwar demanded that Peroz prostrate before him in exchange for his release. Following the advice of his priests, Peroz met Akhshunwar at dawn and pretended to prostrate before him, while in reality he was doing it before the rising sun, i.e. Mithra, the sun god.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref name="PROIII">Procopius, III.</ref>

In the late 470s or early 480s, Peroz launched a second campaign, which ended in his defeat and capture once more; he offered to pay thirty mule packs of silver drachms in ransom, but could only pay twenty. Unable to raise the rest, he sent his youngest son, Kavad, to the Hephthalite court in 482 as a hostage until this balance was paid.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Efn Payne notes that "The sums involved were modest in comparison with late antique diplomatic subsidies or state revenues. But rumors of a caravan delivering tribute from the Iranian court to the Huns spread across the Iran and the Mediterranean worlds, as far as Sidonius Apollinaris in Gaul."Template:Sfn After this, Akhshunwar minted coins of himself wearing a winged, triple-crescent crown, which was the third crown of Peroz, indicating that the Hephthalite king considered himself to be the legitimate ruler of Iran.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Peroz imposed a poll tax on his subjects to raise the ten mule packs of silver, and secured the release of Kavad before he mounted his third campaign.Template:Sfn

Revolts in Armenia and IberiaEdit

File:Map of Persian Armenia and its surroundings.svg

Map of the Caucasus Template:Sfn

Besides Caucasian Albania, the two other Iranian provinces in the Caucasus—Armenia and Iberia—were also dissatisfied with Zoroastrian Sasanian rule. In Armenia, Yazdegerd II's policy of integrating the Christian nobility into the bureaucracy by forcing them to convert to Zoroastrianism had resulted in a large-scale rebellion in 451, led by the Armenian military leader Vardan Mamikonian. Although the Sasanians defeated the rebels at the Battle of Avarayr, the impact of the rebellion was still felt, and tensions continued to grow.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Meanwhile, in Iberia, Peroz had favoured Varsken, the viceroy (Template:Transliteration) of the Armeno-Iberian frontier region of Gugark. A member of the Mihranids of Gugark, Varsken was born a Christian, but when he travelled to the Iranian court in 470, he converted to Zoroastrianism and shifted his allegiance from the Christian Iberian monarchy to the Sasanian Empire.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn As a reward for his conversion, he was given the viceroyalty of Albania and a daughter of Peroz in marriage.Template:Sfn Espousing his pro-Iranian position, he attempted to force his family to convert to Zoroastrianism, including his first wife Shushanik (a daughter of Vardan), whom he eventually killed, which made her a martyr.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Varsken's policies were unacceptable to the Iberian king Vakhtang I (Template:Reign), who had him killed and then revolted against Iran in 482.Template:Sfn Almost simultaneously, the Armenians rebelled under the leadership of Vahan Mamikonian, a nephew of Vardan.Template:Sfn

In the same year, the Template:Transliteration of Armenia, Adhur Gushnasp was defeated and killed by Vahan's forces, who installed Sahak II Bagratuni as the new Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Peroz sent an army under Zarmihr Hazarwuxt of the House of Karen to Armenia, while another army led by the Sasanian general Mihran, of the Mihranid family, was sent to Iberia.Template:Sfn During the summer, an army led by Shapur Mihran, the son of Mihran, inflicted a defeat on a combined Armenian-Iberian army at Akesga, resulting in the death of Sahak II Bagratuni and Vahan's brother Vasak,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn while Vakhtang fled to Byzantine-controlled Lazica.Template:Sfn The role of Shapur Mihran in command of the army in Iberia implies that Peroz may have recalled his father, Mihran, to participate in his Hephthalite war.Template:Sfn

Vahan retreated with the rest of his forces to the mountains in Tayk, from where they engaged in guerrilla warfare.Template:Sfn Shapur Mihran restored Sasanian rule in Armenia, but was summoned to the court in Ctesiphon, resulting in Vahan regaining control of over the Armenian capital of Dvin, where he fortified himself.Template:Sfn In 483, Iranian reinforcements arrived under Zarmihr Hazarwuxt, who laid siege to Dvin. Heavily outnumbered, Vahan mounted a surprise attack on the Iranians, defeating them at the Battle of Nerseapate, near Maku.Template:Sfn Vahan retreated to the mountains once more, close to the Byzantine border.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He hoped that the Iranians would not pursue and attack him there, in order to avoid risking a conflict with the Byzantines. However, after a night march, Zarmihr Hazarwuxt attacked the Armenian camp and managed to capture several princesses. Vahan and most of his men withdrew further into the mountains.Template:Sfn

An unexpected turn of events changed the tide of the war: Peroz's death in 484 during his war with the Hephthalites caused the Iranian army to withdraw from Armenia.Template:Sfn Peroz's brother and successor, Balash, made peace with Vahan, and appointed him as Template:Transliteration (minister) and later as Template:Transliteration of Armenia.Template:Sfn Peace was likewise made in Iberia, where Vakhtang was able to resume his rule.Template:Sfn

Third war with the Hephthalites and deathEdit

File:The Discomfiture and Death of Piroz, from a Manuscript of the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdawsi LACMA M.73.5.23.jpg

15th-century Template:Transliteration illustration of the defeat and death of Peroz I

Against the counsel of the aristocracy and the clergy, Peroz prepared in Gurgan for a third campaign against the Hephthalites.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Ghazar highlights the opposition amongst his men towards the campaign, stating that the Iranian forces were demoralised at the prospect of facing the Hepthalites to the point of near mutiny.<ref name="GH85">Ghazar Parpetsi, 85.</ref> Peroz left his brother Balash in charge of the empire,Template:Sfn launching his Hephthalite campaign at the head of a large army in 484.Template:Sfn When Akhshunwar learned of Peroz's campaign, he sent his deputy with the following message "You concluded peace with me in writing, under seal, and you promised not to make war against me. We defined common frontiers not to be crossed with hostile intent by either party."Template:Sfn

A tower erected as a boundary marker near the Oxus by Peroz's grandfather, Bahram V,Template:Sfn was destroyed by Peroz.Template:Sfn This event is reported by both Dinawari (d. 896) and al-Tabari (d. 923). The latter reported that Peroz had the tower tied to fifty elephants and three hundred men linked together and dragged it in front of his men, while he walked behind the tower, feigning not to have violated his grandfather's peace treaty.Template:Sfn Akhshunwar, unwilling to face Peroz directly, had a large trench dug across the battleground, concealing it with shrubbery and loose wood, and positioning his forces behind it. Charging at Akhshunwar's forces, Peroz and his army fell into the trench, where they were killed. Their bodies were not recovered by the Iranians.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Iranian dead included many distinguished aristocrats,Template:Sfn including four of Peroz's sons or brothers.Template:Sfn The site of the battle is uncertain; according to the modern historian Klaus Schippmann, it took place in present-day Afghanistan, possibly near Balkh.Template:Sfn

Pseudo-Joshua, who portrays Peroz in a hostile manner, proposed that Peroz may have been able to escape from the trench, but subsequently either died of hunger in a cleft in a mountain or was killed and eaten by wild animals in a forest.Template:Sfn

AftermathEdit

The main Sasanian cities of the eastern region of Khorasan−Nishapur, Herat and Marw were now under Hephthalite rule.Template:Sfn Peroz's retinue, including his daughter Perozdukht and his priests, were captured by Akhshunwar.Template:Sfn Perozdukht was married to Akhshunwar, and bore him a daughter, who would later marry Peroz's son Kavad I (Template:Reign).Template:Sfn Due to Peroz's defeat, a law was allegedly made that forbade pursuit of a withdrawing army.Template:Sfn His wars against the Hephthalites have been described as "foolhardy" in both contemporary and modern historiography.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn His defeat and death introduced a period of political, social and religious tumult.Template:Sfn The empire reached its lowest ebb: the Template:Transliteration was now a client of the Hephthalites and was compelled to pay tribute; while the nobility and clergy exerted great influence and authority over the nation, being able to act as king-makers.Template:Sfn According to Payne, "No other event in the history of the Sasanian dynasty so clearly vitiated the pretensions of [the Iranian Empire], and contemporaries were aghast at the foolhardiness of the king of kings."Template:Sfn Taking advantage of the weakened Sasanian authority in the east, the Nezak Huns seized the region of Zabulistan.Template:Sfn Peroz was the last Template:Transliteration to mint unique gold coins in the Indian region of Sindh, which indicates that the region was lost around the same period.Template:Sfn

The Iranian magnate Sukhra quickly raised a new army and prevented the Hephthalites from achieving further success.Template:Sfn A member of the House of Karen, Sukhra's family claimed descent from the mythological heroes Karen and Tus, who had saved Iran after its king Nowzar had been killed by the Turanian Afrasiab, which Payne calls "in circumstances too similar to those of Peroz's death for the resemblance to be coincidental."Template:Sfn According to the Iranologist Ehsan Yarshater, some of the Iranian–Turanian battles that are described in the medieval Persian epic Template:Transliteration ('The Book of Kings') were seemingly based on the Hephthalite wars of Peroz and his successors.Template:Sfn Peroz's brother, Balash, was elected as Template:Transliteration by the Iranian magnates, most notably Sukhra and Shapur Mihran.Template:Sfn Order was restored under Kavad I, who reformed the empire and defeated the Hephthalites, reconquering Khorasan.Template:Sfn Peroz was avenged by his grandson Khosrow I (Template:Reign), who in collaboration with the First Turkic Khaganate destroyed the Hephthalites in 560.Template:Sfn

Since Bahram I (Template:Reign), the Sasanian monarchs had primarily resided in Gundeshapur in southern Iran, due to its convenient position between the Iranian plateau and the Mesopotamian plain. Due to the increasing importance of the Tigris-Euphrates floodplains, the main residence of the Template:Transliteration was moved to Ctesiphon after Peroz.Template:Sfn

Religious policyEdit

File:Peroz I in the Chronology of Ancient Nations.jpg

14th-century illustration of Peroz I questioning a group of Zoroastrian priests

Peroz, like all other Sasanian rulers, was an adherent of Zoroastrianism.Template:Sfn According to al-Tabari, Peroz "displayed just rule and praiseworthy conduct, and showed piety," which according to Schippmann, indicates that he was most likely amenable to the demands of the Zoroastrian clergy.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Under Peroz, the Zoroastrian sect of Zurvanism was seemingly rejected, although he retained the staunch Zurvanite Mihr-Narseh as his minister (Template:Transliteration).Template:Sfn Under Peroz, the Iranian calendar was reformed; the New Year (Nowruz) and the epagomenal from the month Frawardin were moved to the month Adur.Template:Sfn

Unlike his father, Peroz did not attempt to convert the Caucasian Albanians and Armenians to Zoroastrianism.Template:Sfn Nevertheless, persecutions of Christians and Jews were reported to have occurred during Peroz's reign.Template:Sfn While Jewish accounts claim Iranian fanaticism as the reason behind the persecutions, Iranian accounts accuse the Jews of abusing the Zoroastrian priests. The modern historian Jacob Neusner suggested that there may be some truth in the Iranian accounts, and that the Jews may had done it due to anticipating the coming of the Messiah, who was to arrive 400 years after the destruction of the Second Temple (dated by the rabbis in 68 AD, thus in 468). He further adds that the Jews may have expected the country to become Jewish now with the coming of the Messiah.Template:Sfn According to the modern historian Eberhard Sauer, Sasanian monarchs only persecuted other religions when it was in their urgent political interests to do so.Template:Sfn

Peroz supported the new Christian sect of Nestorianism as the official doctrine of the Iranian Christian church. In 484, shortly before Peroz's death, a council took place in Gundeshapur, where Nestorianism was announced as the official doctrine of the church.Template:Sfn

Building projectsEdit

File:Bolnisi.jpg

The basilica of Bolnisi Sioni, located in Bolnisi, Georgia

Peroz was notable for founding many cities. According to The History of the Country of Albania, Peroz ordered his vassal the Caucasian Albanian king Vache II to have the city of Perozapat ("the city of Peroz" or "Prosperous Peroz") built. However, this is unlikely as the Kingdom of Caucasian Albania had been abolished by Peroz after a suppressing a revolt by Vache II in the mid-460s.Template:Sfn The city was seemingly founded by Peroz himself after the removal of the ruling family in Caucasian Albania. Due to its more secure location, it was made the new residence of the Iranian Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Peroz also founded Shahram Peroz (Ardabil) in Adurbadagan; Ram Peroz near Ray; and Rowshan Peroz between Gurgan and Derbent.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

The basilica of Bolnisi Sioni in Iberia is a testimony of the growing Sasanian influence there. It was constructed in 478/479 in the southern part of the country, which had fallen under the local control of the Mihranids of Gugark.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The iconography of the basilica showed Iranian characteristics, while its inscription, written in Old Georgian, mentions Peroz:Template:Sfn

Template:Cquote

Although the basilica was not commissioned by Peroz, the builders of Bolnisi Sioni might have been inspired by the royal constructions of the Sasanians.Template:Sfn

Peroz's reign marks the latest possible date for the completion of the Great Wall of Gorgan, whose construction had started in the late 4th-century.Template:Sfn Additional fortifications were later made to the wall, possibly as late as the reigns of Kavad I and Khosrow I.Template:Sfn The wall, stretching from the Caspian coast to Pishkamar, was the largest of its time, and the biggest Iranian investment in military infrastructure in the late antique and medieval periods.Template:Sfn

Coinage and imperial ideologyEdit

File:PerozICoinHistoryofIran.jpg

Silver drachma of Peroz I, Darabgerd mint

On Peroz's coinage the traditional Sasanian titulature of Template:Transliteration ("King of Kings") is omitted, and only the two aspects of Template:Transliteration ("King Peroz") are displayed.Template:Sfn One of Peroz's seals demonstrates that the traditional titulature was still used, which indicates that coins do not with certainty display the full formal titulature of the Sasanian monarchs.Template:Sfn The use of the mythological Kayanian title of Template:Transliteration, first used by Peroz's father Yazdegerd II, was due to a shift in the political perspective of the Sasanian Empire. Originally disposed towards the west, this now changed to the east.Template:Sfn This shift, which had already started under Yazdegerd I and Bahram V, reached its zenith under Peroz I and his father.Template:Sfn It may have been triggered by the aggression of the tribes on the eastern frontier.Template:Sfn The war against the Hunnic tribes may have awakened the mythical rivalry existing between the Iranian Kayanian rulers and their Turanian enemies, which is demonstrated in the Younger Avesta.Template:Sfn

File:Perozi.jpg

Gold dinar of Peroz I, Ardashir-Khwarrah mint

This conflict between Iran and its eastern enemies may have resulted in the adoption of the title of Template:Transliteration, used by the Iranian mythical kings in their war against the Turanians in the east.Template:Sfn It is probable that it was during this period that legendary and epic texts were collected by the Sasanians, including the legend of the Iranian hero-king Fereydun (Frēdōn in Middle Persian), who divided his kingdom between his three sons: his eldest son Salm received the empire of the west, Rome; the second eldest Tur received the empire of the east, Turan; and the youngest, Iraj, received the heartland of the empire, Iran.Template:Sfn Influenced by these tales of the Kayanians, the Sasanians may have believed themselves to be the heirs of the Fereydun and Iraj, and so possibly considered both the Byzantine domains in west and the eastern domains of the Hephthalites as belonging to Iran.Template:Sfn The Sasanians may therefore have been symbolically asserting their rights over these lands by assuming the title of Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn

Peroz depicted himself with three different crowns on his coins. The first consists of a diadem, a crown with crenellations in the middle, and the korymbos, with a moon crescent at the front. The second crown is similar to the first, with the exception that crenellations have been extended to the back of the cap. On the third crown, two wings are added, which is a reference to Verethragna, the god of victory.Template:Sfn Peroz and Shapur II (Template:Reign) were the only two Sasanian monarchs to regularly mint gold coins. The Austrian historian and numismatist Nikolaus Schindel has suggested that gold coins were generally not used in daily lives, but instead used as a form of donation given to high-ranking Iranian magnates by the Template:Transliteration, seemingly during festivities.Template:Sfn

In Persian literatureEdit

Peroz is included in a legendary romantic story narrated by the 13th-century Iranian historian Ibn Isfandiyar. The story begins with Peroz dreaming about a beautiful woman whom he falls in love with. Peroz then sends one of his relatives who is also a close friend, Mihrfiruz from the Mihran family, to find her.Template:Sfn Mihrfiruz finds the woman and discovers her to be the daughter of the Mihranid general Ashtad Mihran. Peroz marries her and, at her request, lays the foundations of the city of Amol in Tabaristan.Template:Sfn

Family treeEdit

**Legend**
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Peroz I

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