Bahram I
Encyclopedia
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
. He was the eldest son of Shapur I
Shapur I
Shapur I or also known as Shapur I the Great was the second Sassanid King of the Second Persian Empire. The dates of his reign are commonly given as 240/42 - 270/72, but it is likely that he also reigned as co-regent prior to his father's death in 242 .-Early years:Shapur was the son of Ardashir I...
and succeeded his brother Hormizd I
Hormizd I
Hormizd I was the third Sassanid King of Persia from 270/72 to 273.He was the youngest son of Shapur I , under whom he was governor of Khorasan, and appears in his wars against Rome Hormizd I was the third Sassanid King of Persia from 270/72 to 273.He was the youngest son of Shapur I...
(r. 272–273), who had reigned for only a year.
His person
The theophoric nameTheophoric names
A theophoric name embeds the name of a god, both invoking and displaying the protection of that deity. Instances of theophoric names embedding Apollo, will be familiar among the many men named Apollonios or Apollodorus in Greek Antiquity.Theophoric names were also exceedingly common in the...
Bahram comes from middle Persian
Middle Persian
Middle Persian , indigenously known as "Pârsig" sometimes referred to as Pahlavi or Pehlevi, is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well. Middle Persian is classified as a...
Varahrän, 'victory', that is represented by the Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
divinity of the same name (see Vahram
Vahram
Verethragna is an Avestan language neuter noun literally meaning "smiting of resistance" . Representing this concept is the divinity Verethragna, who is the hypostasis of "victory", and "as a giver of victory Verethragna plainly enjoyed the greatest popularity of old" .The neuter noun verethragna...
).
According to a Pahlavi
Pahlavi scripts
Pahlavi or Pahlevi denotes a particular and exclusively written form of various Middle Iranian languages. The essential characteristics of Pahlavi are*the use of a specific Aramaic-derived script, the Pahlavi script;...
inscription, Bahram I was the son (not, as the Greek
Roman and Byzantine Greece
The history of Byzantine Greece mainly coincides with the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire.-Roman Greece:The Greek peninsula became a Roman protectorate in 146 BC, and the Aegean islands were added to this territory in 133. Athens and other Greek cities revolted in 88, and the peninsula was...
historiographers and Tabari
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari was a prominent and influential Sunni scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Persia...
note, the grandson) of Shapur I
Shapur I
Shapur I or also known as Shapur I the Great was the second Sassanid King of the Second Persian Empire. The dates of his reign are commonly given as 240/42 - 270/72, but it is likely that he also reigned as co-regent prior to his father's death in 242 .-Early years:Shapur was the son of Ardashir I...
(r. 241–272).
The earliest reference to Bahram I occurs in the coronation monument of Bahram's grandfather Ardeshir I at Naqsh-e Rajab
Naqsh-e Rajab
Naqsh-e Rajab is an archaeological site just east of Istakhr and about 12 km north of Persepolis.Together with Naqsh-e Rustam, which lies less than a kilometer away, the site is part of the Marvdasht cultural complex...
. There, the future king appears as a smaller figure between Ardeshir and Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
, and Bahram is seen bowing before the divinity after whom he is named. Similar iconography, such as the boar motifs in the seals and crown of Bahram, apparently reinforced the association with the yazata
Yazata
Yazata is the Avestan language word for a Zoroastrian concept. The word has a wide range of meanings but generally signifies a divinity...
of victory.
Bahram II
Bahram II was the fifth Sassanid King of Persia in 276–293. He was the son of Bahram I .Bahram II is said to have ruled at first tyrannically, and to have greatly disgusted all his principal nobles, who went so far as to form a conspiracy against him, and intended to put him to death...
.
Persecution of Manichaeism
Under the guidance of KartirKartir
Kartir Hangirpe was a highly influential Zoroastrian high-priest of the late 3rd century CE and served as advisor to at least three Sassanid emperors....
, Bahram I had the prophet Mani
Mani (prophet)
Mani , of Iranian origin was the prophet and the founder of Manichaeism, a gnostic religion of Late Antiquity which was once widespread but is now extinct...
, the founder of Manichaeism
Manichaeism
Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
(and the author of the Shapurgan, which was dedicated to Bahram's father Shapur I
Shapur I
Shapur I or also known as Shapur I the Great was the second Sassanid King of the Second Persian Empire. The dates of his reign are commonly given as 240/42 - 270/72, but it is likely that he also reigned as co-regent prior to his father's death in 242 .-Early years:Shapur was the son of Ardashir I...
) sentenced to death. Mani died in his cell shortly before his execution. However, rumors persist that Mani might have been flayed alive: his skin, stuffed with straw, is said to have been suspended for some time over one of the gates of the great city of Shahpur.
On orders of Bahram I, the prophet's death was followed by the persecution of his disciples. Manichaeism was relatively well established by that time, and was supported by numerous priests under a hierarchy of religious leaders that including twelve apostles and seventy-two bishops. Nearly all of them were handed over to the Zoroastrian clergy, who - under Kartir
Kartir
Kartir Hangirpe was a highly influential Zoroastrian high-priest of the late 3rd century CE and served as advisor to at least three Sassanid emperors....
- considered Manichaeism a heresy and caused the followers of Mani to be executed or otherwise punished.
Relations with Rome
Bahram I did not have good relations with Rome. ZenobiaZenobia
Zenobia was a 3rd-century Queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Roman Syria. She led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire. The second wife of King Septimius Odaenathus, Zenobia became queen of the Palmyrene Empire following Odaenathus' death in 267...
, the wife of Odenathus had established herself the regent of Palmyra
Palmyra
Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert...
in the name of Odenathus minor son. However, Odenathus had expanded his little kingdom to such a large extent that it now arouse the jealousy of the Roman Emperor. Hence despite the fact that the dealings between Rome and Palmyra were friendly, the Roman Emperor Aurelian
Aurelian
Aurelian , was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following...
still commissioned a force to capture Palmyra in the year 273. Zenobia appealed to Bahram for help, who then provided her with an armed contingent.
Despite this assistance, Zenobia lost the battle and was forced to flee. She once again appealed to Bahram I for asylum but was overtaken and captured before she could cross into Sassanid-controlled territory.
Bahram I appealed to the Roman Emperor for peace and dispatched envoys to Rome. Aurelian accepted Bahram I's gifts and the terms of peace offered. Hence, in the triumph which Aurelian celebrated at Rome in the year 274, no Persian captives appeared in the procession, but Persian envoys were exhibited instead, who bore with them the presents wherewith their master had appeased the anger of the emperor.
Less than a year later, in 275, Aurelian declared war and advanced towards Sassanid territory. He had almost reached the Bosporus
Bosporus
The Bosphorus or Bosporus , also known as the Istanbul Strait , is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with the Dardanelles...
when a conspiracy fomented by one of his secretaries cut short the expedition. Aurelian was murdered in the spring of 275 at a small station between Perinthus and Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
.