Editing Kavad I (section)

{{Short description|Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire from 488 to 531}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{use British English|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox royalty
|name        = {{plainlist|
* Kavad I
* {{lang|pal|𐭪𐭥𐭠𐭲}}
}}
|title       = [[King of Kings of Iranians and non-Iranians]]
|image       = Plate with king hunting rams (white background).jpg
|image_size  = 250px
|caption     = Plate of a Sasanian king hunting rams, perhaps Kavad I
|succession  = [[List of monarchs of the Sasanian Empire|Shahanshah]] of the [[Sasanian Empire]]
|reign1      = 488–496
|reign-type1 = 1st reign
|predecessor1= [[Balash]]
|successor1  = [[Jamasp]]
|reign2      = 498/9–531
|reign-type2 = 2nd reign
|predecessor2= Jamasp
|successor2  = [[Khosrow I]]
|spouse      = {{plainlist|
* [[Sambice]]
* [[Hephthalite]] princess
* [[Ispahbudhan]] noblewoman
}}
|royal house = [[House of Sasan]]
|father      = [[Peroz I]]
|birth_date  = 473
|birth_place = 
|death_date  = {{death date and age|531|9|13|473|df=y}}
|death_place = 
|religion    = [[Zoroastrianism]]
|issue       = {{plainlist|
* [[Kawus]]
* [[Jamasp (son of Kavad I)|Jamasp]]
* [[Xerxes (Sasanian prince)|Xerxes]]
* [[Khosrow I]]
}}
}}
'''Kavad I''' ({{langx|pal|𐭪𐭥𐭠𐭲}} {{Transliteration|pal|Kawād}}; 473 – 13 September 531) was the [[Sasanian]] [[King of Kings]] of Iran from 488 to 531, with a two or three-year interruption. A son of [[Peroz I]] ({{reign|459|484}}), he was crowned by the nobles to replace his deposed and unpopular uncle [[Balash]] ({{reign|484|488|show=none}}).

Inheriting a declining empire where the authority and status of the Sasanian kings had largely ended, Kavad tried to reorganize his empire by introducing many reforms whose implementation was completed by his son and successor, [[Khosrow I]]. They were made possible by Kavad's use of the [[Mazdakite]] preacher [[Mazdak]], leading to a [[social revolution]] that weakened the authority of the nobility and the clergy. Because of this, and the execution of the powerful king-maker [[Sukhra]], Kavad was deposed and imprisoned in the [[Castle of Oblivion]]. He was replaced by his brother [[Jamasp]]. However, with the aid of his sister and an officer named [[Siyawush]], Kavad and some of his followers fled east to the territory of the [[Hephthalite]] king, who provided him with an army. This enabled Kavad to restore himself to the throne in 498/9.

Bankrupted by this hiatus, Kavad applied for subsidies from the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] emperor [[Anastasius I Dicorus|Anastasius I]]. The Byzantines had originally paid the Iranians voluntarily to maintain the defense of the [[Caucasus]] against attacks from the north. Anastasius refused the subsidies, which led Kavad to invade his domains, thus starting the [[Anastasian War]]. Kavad first seized [[Erzurum|Theodosiopolis]] and [[Silvan, Diyarbakır|Martyropolis]] respectively, and then [[Amida (Mesopotamia)|Amida]] after holding the city under [[siege]] for three months. The two empires made peace in 506, with the Byzantines agreeing to pay subsidies to Kavad for the maintenance of the fortifications on the Caucasus in return for Amida. Around this time, Kavad also fought a lengthy war against his former allies, the Hephthalites; by 513 he had re-taken the region of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] from them.

In 528, the [[Iberian War]] erupted between the Sasanians and Byzantines in what is now eastern [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] because the Byzantines refused to acknowledge Khosrow as Kavad's heir and because of a dispute over [[Lazica]]. Although Kavad's forces suffered two notable losses at the battles of [[Battle of Dara|Dara]] and [[Battle of Satala (530)|Satala]], the war was largely indecisive, with both sides suffering heavy losses. In 531, while the Sasanian army was [[Siege of Martyropolis (531)|besieging Martyropolis]], Kavad died from an illness. He was succeeded by Khosrow I, who inherited a reinvigorated and mighty empire equal to that of the Byzantines.

Because of the many challenges and issues Kavad successfully overcame, he is considered one of the most effective and successful kings to rule the Sasanian Empire. In the words of the [[Iranologist]] Nikolaus Schindel, he was "a genius in his own right, even if of a somewhat [[Niccolò Machiavelli|Machiavellian]] type."