VOL 5.7

120

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

When the news of Fayruz's death reached the Persian lands, the

people were thrown into perturbation and terror. However, when

Suldira became convinced of the exact truth of Fayruz's fate, he

got ready and advanced with the greater part of the troops at his

disposal against the Hephthalite lands. When Sukhra reached Jurjan,

Akhshunwar received news of his expedition to attack him, so

he prepared for war and moved toward engaging Sukhra in battle,-

and at the same time he sent to Sukhra asking him about his

intentions and enquiring what his name and his official position

were. Sukhra sent back the message that he was a man with the

personal name of Sukhra and the official rank of Qarin, and that

his intention in marching against Akhshunwar was to take vengeance

on him for Fayruz's death. Akhshunwar returned a message

to him: "Your way of proceeding in this affair you have under-

taken is exactly like Fayruz's was, since despite the numerousness

of his troops, the sole consequence of his attacking me was his

own destruction and perdition." But Akhshunwar's words did not

deter Sukhra, and he paid no heed to them. He gave orders to his

troops, and they got ready for battle and girded on their weapons.

He moved forward against Akhshunwar, advancing with firm

determination and a keen mind (literally, "heart"). Akhshunwar

sought a truce and a peace agreement with Sukhra, but the latter

refused to contemplate any peace agreement with him unless he

could recover everything Akhshunwar had appropriated from

Fayruz's encampment. So Akhshunwar returned to him everything

he had seized from Fayruz's camp, including his treasuries,

the contents of his stables, and his womenfolk, including

Fayruzdukht, and he handed back to him the Chief Mobadh and

every single one of the great men of the Persians in his possession.

Sukhra then went back to the land of the Persians with all that. 308

308. The Arabic sources on Firuz's last campaign and Sukhra's putative campaign of vengeance include Ibn Qutaybah, Ma'arif, 661-62; idem, 'l/yun al-

akhbar, I, 1 17-21 (from the Kitab siyai al-'Ajam), al-Ya'qubi, Ta'rikh, I, 184-85;

al-Dinawari, al-Akhbai al-%iwal, 6o ; al-Mas'udi, Muruj, n, 195 - § 617, placing the battle in which the Persian monarch was killed at Marw al-Rudh, whereas Firdawsi places it in the vicinity of Marw; Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, I, 408-409. The

Persian ones include Tabari-Bal'ami, trans. II, 131-44. Noldeke, trans. 131 n. 2,

saw in the campaign of Sukhra a reminiscence of Bahram Gur's campaigns in the

East, and in his Das iianische Nationalepos, 9, drew attention to the role of Sukhra

as retriever of the military situation and restorer of Persian national honor after

Firuz's ill-omen actions had abased it, and he mentioned the parallel role of the

house of Qarin (to which al-Tabari attaches Sukhri; see above) in Iranian legendary history, possibly an attempt to glorify the house of Qarin by giving it a splendid part in the nation's remote past. Christensen, Sassanides, 296, notes that the whole episode of Sukhra's campaign of revenge against the Hephthalite Wing is unmentioned in the contemporary sources (i.e., the Christian chroniclers), and

may likewise have been a patriotic Persian invention by circles unw illing to accept the possibility of such a dismal defeat for Firuz, especially when the latter had been the darling of the Zoroastrian clergy. Of Byzantine sources on the wars with the Hepthalites, Procopius, The Persian War, I.iii.i— iv.35 is detailed but inclined very much to the anecdotal, with undue space devoted to, e.g., the story of a pearl earring of Firuz's; see Cameron, Procopius and the Sixth Century, 154-55. Agathias, however, has a more lively account, influenced by Syrian and Armenian traditions very hostile to Firuz; see Cameron, "Agathias on the Sassanians," 152- 54. Of modem studies on the wars, see Ghirshman, Les Chionites-Hephthalites, 87-90; K. Hannestad, "Les relations de Byzance avec la Transcaucasie et l'Asie Centrale aux 5' et 6 e sifecles," 438- 40; Litvinsky, "The Hephthalite Empire," 138- 14 0-

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

121

The authorities differ concerning [the length of] Fayruz's reign.

Some say it was twenty-six years, others twenty-one years . 309

Mention of Events in the Reigns of Yazdajird (II), Son

of Bahram (V), and Fayruz and the Relations of Their

Respective Governors with the Arabs and the People

of Yemen 310

Information was transmitted to me from Hisham b. Muhammad,

who said: The sons of the nobles of Himyar and others from

the Arab tribes used to serve the kings of Himyar during their

309. Firuz I's reign was 459-84; hence more like twenty-six (lunar) years. His

name appears on his coins as (KDY) PYRWCY, i.e., (Kay) Per&z. See on his coins Paruck, Sasanian Coins, 63, 367-70, 452-57, Plate XVI, Table XIV; G6bl, Sasanian Numismatics, 49-50, Table IX, Plate io ; Sellwood, Whitting, and Williams, An Introduction to Sasanian Coins, 21, 123-27; Malek, "A Survey of Research on Sasanian Numismatics," 236.

The other Arabic sources for his reign include Ibn Qutaybah, Ma'arif, 66 1 -62; al-

Ya'qubi, Ta’rikh, I, 184-85; al-Dlnawari, al-Akhbar al-iiwal, 58-60; al-Mas'udi,

Muruj, II, 195 - § 617; idem, Tanbih, 101, trans. 145; Hamzah al-I$fahani, Ta'rikh, 50; Ibn al-Athir, I, 407-11. Of Persian sources, see Tabari-Bal'ami, trans. n, 128- 44. For modem studies of his reign in general, see Christensen, Sassanides, 290- 9 6; Frye, "The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians," 147-8, 178.

310. From this point, 1, 880 1. 17 to 882, 1. 4, Ndldeke did not bother to translate,

considering the events narrated there as too "fabelhafte" (but see regarding such

omissions, Translator's Foreword, p. xvi above).

122

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

period of royal power. 311 Among those who served Hassan b.

Tubba' was 'Amr b. Hujr al-Kindi, the chief of Kindah during his

time. 312 When Hassan b. Tubba' led an expedition against the

Jadis, 313 he appointed 'Amr as his deputy over certain affairs 314

When 'Amr b. Tubba' killed his brother Hassan b. Tubba' and

311. The earliest firm mention of Himyar (Sabaic hmyr ) and the Himyarites

comes from Pliny the Elder in the late first century a.d., but it is unclear whether

the term originally denoted an ethnic identity or a grouping of diverse ethnic

elements. It then appears, in what is probably the next century, in the Periplus of

the Erythraean Sea, where is mentioned Charibael "king of the two nations [eth-

ne ), the Homeritae and the Sabaeans." In the first centuries a.d., the Himyarites

seem to have been led by minor princes, qayls, and chiefs, rather than kings. Only

in the sixth century do we find epigraphic evidence for kings of Himyar, when the

Hisn al-Ghurab inscription (CIH 621) speaks of their being killed by the Abyssi-

nians. See Beeston, "The Himyarite Problem," 1-7.

312 Kindah [kdt - kndt in the South Arabian inscriptions, with assimilation of

the intervocalic n) was the great Arabian tribe which, according to Arab tradition,

migrated from Hadramawt to central Arabia, though this may be an inversion of

what actually happened. It was accordingly accounted South Arabian in nasab by

the overwhelming majority of genealogists (see for certain exceptions to these,

KisterandPlessner, "Notes onCaskel'sGamharatan-nasab," 58-59). Certainly, in

the third century a.d., Kindah was established in southwestern Najd with their

center at Qaryat al-Faw, an important settlement on the main caravan route from

Yemen and Najran northward to Najd (see A. R. al-Ansary, Qaryat al-Fau. A

Portrait of Pre-Islamic Civilisation in Saudi Arabia)-, they appear in recorded his-

tory as nomad auxiliaries of the kings of Saba, and then, after ca. a.d. 275, of the

Himyarite kings. In the second half of the fifth century, Kindah are found further to the north in Najd, with what seems to have been a semipermanent camp/capital at Batn 'Aqil (localized by U. Thilo, Die Ortsnamen in der altarabischen Poesie, 29, in the wadi of that name, an affluent of the Wadi al-Rummah, to the west of

modem 'Unayzah and Buraydah) under the celebrated Hujr b. 'Amr, called Akil al- Murar (on this cognomen, n. 408 see below). It seems that, as part of the general policy of extending Himyarite power into central Arabia at this time, this chief of Kindah was placed in power as a "king" (in fact, merely a tribal chief ) over the local Arab tribes there of Ma'add. The Arab historical tradition makes the Himyarite ruler involved here either the Tubba' As'ad Abu Karib or his son Hassan (in the South Arabian inscriptions, hs 3 n) Yuha'min, whose reigns should be placed, according to the inscriptions, in the second quarter of the fifth century. As well as appearing in the Arabian historical tradition, it now seems likely that Akil al- Murar is the "Hujr b. 'Amr, king ( mlk ] of Kiddat" of a Sabaean rock inscription

found near Kawkab, roughly half-way between Najran and al-Faw (see Iwona Ga-

jda, "Hugr b. 'Amr roi de Kinda et l'6tablissement de la domination himyarite en

Arabie centrale," 65-73). The fortunes of Kindah were thus for long connected

with the rulers of South Arabia, until the fall of the Himyarites under Abyssinian

pressure deflected many elements of the tribe in southwestern Najd into

Hadramawt. See, in general, Ibn al-Kalbi-Caskel-Strenziok, Jamharat al-nasab, I,

fables 176, 233, II, 47-53, 371-2; G. Olinder, The Kings of Kinda of the Family of

Akil al-Murar, 32-50; Chr. Robin, in idem (ed.), L’Arabie antique de Karib’il a

Mahomet. Nouvelles donates sur l’histoire des Aiabes gz&ce aux inscriptions, 80-

8i; idem, "Le royaume hujride, dit «royaume de Kinda», entre Himyar et By-

zance," 666-68; idem, in Supplement au Dictionnaire de la Bible, s.v. Sheba. 2,

col. 1141; EP, s.v. Kinda (Irfan Shahid).

Hub's son 'Amr, mentioned here, had the cognomen al-Maq$ur, apparently be-

cause he was "limited, confined" to his father's sphere of power and unable to

expand it (regarding his personal qualities, al-Tabari, below, stresses his judgment

and sagacity). He succeeded Hujr in the main center of Kindi authority, Najd, with another branch of the family under his brother Mu'lwiyah al-Jawn controling the eastern Najd regions of Yamamah, Hajar and Bahrayn. See Olinder, op. cit., 47-50, and nn. 314, 408 below.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 123

assumed the royal power in his stead, he took 'Amr b. Hujr al-

Kindl into his personal service. 'Amr b. Hujr was a man of sound

judgment and sagacity. 'Amr b. Tubba' intended to honor him and

at the same time to diminish the status of his brother Hassan's

sons, and as part of this policy he gave Hassan b. Tubba''s daughter

in marriage to 'Amr b. Hujr. The Himyarites grumbled at this, and

among them were some young men who were concerned about

her, because none of the Arabs had previously been bold enough to

desire a marriage alliance with that house (sc., the Himyarites).

313. This was one of the extinct tribes of the Arabs, al-Arab al-ba'idah, accord-

ing to Arabic lore and legend, which relates that Jadls and his brother Thamad were three generations after Sam b. Nuh, i.e., Noah's son Shem. The story goes that Jadis, living in Yamamah, rebelled against the tyranny of a sister tribe, Jasm, but that the sole survivors of the latter called in Hassan Tubba', whose army exterminated the Jadis. See al-Tabari, I, 215, 217, 2is>-2r, 77^75; Ibn al-Kalbl-Caskel- Strenziok, famharat al-nasab, I. 40; EP, s.v. Tasm (W. P. Heinrichs).

314. Tubba', with the Arabic broken plural Tababi'ah, is used by writers of

Islamic times as a dynastic title (comparable to Fir'awn, pi. Fara’inah, for the

Pharaohs of Egypt and Kisra, pi. Akasirah, for the Sasanid kings (on this last title,

see n. 374 below), etc.) for this line of Himyarite rulers who controled the south-

western part of Arabia from the late third century a.d. to the early sixth century. It

is probably true that Tubba' was a title rather than a personal name, but its meaning and/or etymology are unknown; the explanations of the Arabic lexicographers

(see Lane, Lexicon, 29sb-c) can be disregarded. At all events, ca. 275 the Himyarite Shamir Yur'ish or Yuhar'ish overthrew the Sabaean rulers in Yemen, together with the independent rulers in Ha<jramawt, and constituted himself "king of Saba and Dhu Raydan and of Hacjramawt and Ymnt" (see further on him, al-Tabari, 1, 890, p. 142 and n. 364 below). Almost all the Tubba' rulers mentioned by Islamic authors, most notably by al-Hasan b. Ahmad al-Hamdani (d. 334/945) in his Iklil, can be validated from South Arabian inscriptions, but there remain lacunae, and a definitive dynastic list cannot be worked out. See Beeston, "HamdanI and the Tababi'ah," 5-15; EP, s.v. Tubba' (A. F. L. Beeston).

'Amr b. Tubba"s patronage of 'Amr b. Hujr ai-Kindi further illustrates the close-

ness of the links between Kindah and the kings of Himyar, as does his giving in

marriage his own niece to 'Amr b. Hujr, mentioned a few lines below. Cf . Olinder, The Kings of Kinda, 48, who is unnecessarily skeptical about this marriage.

124

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

Hassan b. Tubba''s daughter bore al-Harith b. 'Amr to 'Amr b.

Hujr.

After 'Amr b. Tubba', 'Abd Kulal b. Muthawwib succeeded to

the royal power. This was because the sons of Hassan were only

small, except for Tubba' b. Hassan, whom the jinn had rendered

mentally unbalanced. Hence Abu Kulal b. Muthawwib assumed

the royal power [temporarily], fearing lest someone outside the

royal house of the kingdom might covet it. He was qualified to

exercise this power through his mature years, his experience, and

his excellent powers of governing. According to what has been

mentioned, he was an adherent of the original form of Christianity

['ala din al-Nasraniyyah al-ula), but used to conceal this from his

people. He had been converted to that faith by a man of Ghassan

who had come from Syria, but whom the Himyarites had then

attacked and killed. 315

At that point, Tubba' b. Hassan recovered his sanity and was

restored to health. He was highly knowledgeable about the stars,

the most intelligent among those who had learned [the sciences]

in his time, and the one with the most information and lore concerning

both the past and what was to come after him in the

future. Hence Tubba' b. Hassan b. Tubba' b. Malikay Karib b.

Tubba' al-Aqran was raised to the kingship. Himyar and the Arabs

stood in intense awe of him. He then sent his sister's son al-Harith

b. 'Amr b. Hujr al-Kindi at the head of a powerful army against the

[882] lands of Ma'add, 316 al-HIrah , and the districts adjacent to them

both. Al-Harith marched against al-Nu'man b. Imri’ al-Qays b. al-

Shaqiqah and fought with him; al-Nu'man and a number of his

family were killed, and his companions were routed. Only al-

Mundhir b. al-Nu'man al-Akbar, 317 whose mother was -

315. That is, by al-Nu'man I b. Imri’ al-Qays II |r. ca. 400-18). See Rothstein,

Lahmiden, 52, 63-68, 70.

316. Ma'add is a general designation for the North Arab tribes in Islamic times,

as is also that of his father 'Adnan and his son Nizar. Ma'add was originally, in pre- Islamic times, a tribal group in central Arabia, presumably the Nizar of the

Namarah inscription of a.d. 328, and then in the early sixth century the Ma'add are

mentioned in South Arabian inscriptions as the North Arab subjects of Kindah. See Ibn al-Kalbi-Caskel-Strenziok, Jamhaiat al-nasab, I, Table r, II, 1-2, 379; El 2 , s.v. Ma'add (W. M. Watt).

317. That is, al-Mundhir I b. al-Nu'man I (r. ca. 4r8-76). See Rothstein,

Lahmiden, 53, 68-70.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

125

Ma’ al Sama’, a woman of the Banu al-Namir , 318 managed to escape from

al-Harith. In this way the royal power of the house of al-Nu'man

passed away, and al-Harith b. 'Amr al-Kindi succeeded to their

former power and possessions . 319

Hisham related: After al-Nu'man, his son al-Mundhir b. al-

Nu'man succeeded to the royal power, al-Mundhir's mother being

Hind bt. Zayd Manat b. Zayd Allah b. 'Amr al-Ghassani , 320 for

forty-four years, of which eight years and nine months fell within

318. The Namir b. Qasi* were a minor tribe of Rabi'ah. See Ibn al-Kalbi-Caskel-

Strenziok, Jamharat al-nasab, I, Table 141, n, 444; Ibn Durayd, Kitab al-Ishtiqaq,

334 - 35 -

319. Al-Harith b. 'Amr al-Maq?ur [fl. in the first thirty years or so of the sixth

century) was a dominating personality on the political and military scene of Arabia and the adjacent fringes of the Byzantine and Persian lands. The Lakhmids and the chiefs of Kindah had had connections, despite being rivals for the control of northern and eastern Arabia; already in the later fifth century al-Aswad b. al-Mundhir I had married a daughter, Umm al-Malik, of the Kindi 'Amr b. Hujr Akil al-Murar.

The campaign against the Lakhmids mentioned here was preceded by an attack

on the Byzantine frontiers in Syria led by two of al-Harith's sons, Hujr and Ma'di

Karib, in ca. 500, forcing the Greeks to agree to a peace treaty in 302. According to the South Arabian tradition of Ibn al-Kalbi and the Bakri tribal one set forth in Abu Muhammad al-Qasim b. Muhammad al-Anbari's commentary on the Mufad-

daliyyat poetical anthology, al-Harith and the Rabi'ah attacked al-Nu'man al-

Akbar, al-Mundhir's father, and then al-Harith became head of the Arabs of Iraq.

This accords gtosso modo wiith the South Arabian tradition of Ibn al-Kalbi also

given here by al-Tabari, that al-Nu'man was killed but his son al-Mundhir HI b. al- Nu'man II b. Ma’ al-Sama’ managed to escape. All other Arabic traditions are

concerned only with al-Mundhir, variously described as the son of Imru’ al-Qays,

of al-Nu'man, and of Ma’ al-Sama’, and not with his father. Concerning the date of the event, the Ps.-Joshua the Stylite, Chronicle, trans. 45-46, states that the Arab (i.e., Kindi) invasion of the Lakhmid lands took place when al-Nu'man was away with the Persian army combatting the Greeks, which would place an attack by al- Harith on al-Hirah in 503. It is probable that the Kindi ruler was then able to control the greater part of the Lakhmid dominions from 503 till 506, the years

when the Byzantine-Persian war was at its most intense, and Kawad was unable to afford the Lakhmids any assistance. According to the Bakri tradition again, al-

Mundhir, bereft of Persian help, had to agree to marry al-Harith's daughter Hind,

who, as a Christian, was subsequently held in great honor at al-Hirah and was the

founder of a monastery in the region of al-Hirah, the Dayr Hind (al-$ughra); see al- Shabushti, Kitab al-diydrdt, 244-46, and n. 914 below. See for these events, Rothstein, Lahmiden, 69-71, 87ft.; Olinder, The Kings of Kinda, 57-63; S. Smith,

"Events in Arabia in the 6th Century a.d.," 445-46; EP-, s.v. Kinda (Irfan Shahid).

For the general background of relations between Byzantium and Kindah, Shahid,

"Byzantium and Kinda," 57-63.

320. As Rothstein pointed out, Lahmiden, 68, this nasab does not necessarily

imply that Hind was a princess of the~Jafnid/Ghassanid royal house in Syria; there were members of Ghassan living in al-Hirah, e.g., the Al Buqaylah.

1 26

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

the time of Bahram (V) Jur, son of Yazdajird (I), eighteen years fell

within the time of Yazdajird (II)/ son of Bahram, and seventeen

years within the time of Fayruz b. Yazdajird (n). After him there

reigned his son al-Aswad b. al-Mundhir, whose mother was Hirr

bt. al-Nu'man from the descendants of al-Hayjumanah bt. 'Amr b.

Abi Rabi’ah b. Dhuhl b. Shayban 321 It was he whom the Persians

imprisoned. [He reigned for] twenty years, of which ten years fell

within the time of Fayruz, son of Yazdajird (II), four years in the

time of Balash, son of Yazdajird (II), and six years in the time of

Qubadh, son of Fayruz. 322

[Balash]

Then there succeeded to the royal power after Fayruz, son of

Yazdajird (II), his son Balash. 323

(He was) the son of Fayruz, son of Yazdajird (II), son of Bahram

(V) Jur. His brother Qubadh had disputed the succession with him,

but Balash had emerged victorious and Qubadh had fled to Khaqan,

king of the Turks, seeking his help and military aid. 324 When

the crown was placed on Balash's head, the great men of state and

the nobles gathered round him, hailed him with congratulations,

and invoked divine blessings on him. They requested him to -

321. Noldeke, trans. 133 n. 1, thought that the unusual name al-Hayjumanah

(found in ancient Arab onomastic in both masculine and femine forms) stemmed

from Greek hegoumene or hegemon, and this seems very probable.

322. The reign of al-Aswad b. al-Mundhir I is poorly documented, but must have

fallen substantially within the third quarter of the fifth century and just beyond it,

apparently from 462 onward in Rothstein's computation.. The lists of the Lakhmid

kings in the Arabic sources, where they mention al-Aswad (here from Ibn al-Kalbi, and also in al-Mas'udl, Muruj, in, 200 - § 1060) accord in giving him a reign of twenty years, which would take his reign up to 482. See Rothstein, Lahmiden, 55, 70.

323. Correctly, the brother of Fayruz and not his son. See Frye, The Heritage of

Persia, 295. On the name Balash/Walash, see n. 31 above.

324. Some sources, both Christian and Muslim, mention two flights of Kawad

from Walash to the rulers of the East, others only one. He had certainly been a

hostage for two years with the Hephthalite king Akhshunwar, according to al-

Ya'qubi and other authorities. Further sources state, however, that Walash had to

struggle for the succession of his father's death with another brother, Zarer. See

Noldeke, trans. 133 n. 6.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak 127

reward Sukhra for what he had done, so Balash marked him out as

one of his special favorites, honored him and gave him rich presents. 325

Balash invariably behaved in a praiseworthy manner and

had an intense care for the prosperity of the land. His laudable

concern for this reached the extent that, whenever he heard of the

ruin of a house and the flight of its inhabitants, he would punish

the owner of the village 326 because of his lack of lively concern for

them and lack of relief for their need, so that they would not have

been compelled to abandon their homes. He built in the Sawad a

city he called Balashawadh, which is Sabat near al-Mada’in. 327 His

reign lasted four years. 328

325. Sukhra was clearly a dominant influence during Walish's short reign. It

may well be that Sukhra and his son Zarmihr, mentioned just below, are one and

the same person. See Ndledke, trans. 134 n. 1.

326. $ahib al-qaiyah, i.e., the dihqan, a member of the lesser nobility of rural

and small-town landowners.

327. This is a false equation of the two places mentioned, which extracts a

fictitious name from the later port of Balashabid; a genuine Saba*, Sabat al-

Madi’in, in Persian, Walashabad, existed as the port of Ctesiphon from Arsacid

times, having been founded by Vologeses I (r. ca. a.d. 5 1-80), whose name really

lies behind al-Tabari's Balashawadh. See Ndldeke, trans. 134 n. 4 ; Fiey, "To-

pographic chr6tienne de Mahozfi," 398-99.

328. Walash's reign was 484-88. His name appears on his coins as (HWKDYJ

WLK’S, i.e., Hu Kay Walakhsh. See on his coins Paruck, Sasanian Coins, 63-64,

370-73/ 457-59/ Plates XVI-XV11, Table XVI; GObl, Sasanian Numismatics, 50-

5 1, Table X, Plate 1 1; Sellwood, Whitting, and Williams, An Introduction to Sasanian Coins, 21, 128-29,- Malek, "A Survey of Research on Sasanian Numismatics," 236.

Of the other Arabic sources on his reign, al-Ya'qubl, al-Dinawari, and al-Mas'udi

merely give his name and the length of his reign. Ibn Qutaybah, Ma'arif, 610,

mentions him in connection with a popular proverb, hijam Sabat, and 662-63 hi

regard to his brief reign and his deposition in favor of his brother Qubadh. Hamzah al-I$fahani, Ta'rikh, 50, notes that he built Balishabad and another town near Hulwan called Balashfarr (read thus for the text's Balash.'. z). See also Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, 1, 411. Of Persian sources, see Jabari-Bal’ami, trans. n, 144-46. For modem studies of his reign, see Christensen, Sassanides, 295-96; Frye, "The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians," 149, 178.

Despite Walash's good rule, he was overthrown and blinded by a conspiracy of

the great men of state and the Zoroastrian clergy; Ps.-Joshua the Stylite, Chronicle, trans. 12-13, says that the clergy hated him and condemned him for introducing public baths into Persia, presumably because it was a foreign, Roman practice and such use of water profaned one of the sacred elements of creation. His measures had perhaps clashed with the interests of the aristocracy and the dihqan s, while his conciliatory policy toward the Christians had aroused the ire of the priesthood of the state church. See Ndldeke, trans. 134 n. 5; Labourt, Le Christianisme dans V empire perse, 154.

128

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

[Qubadh I]

Then there succeeded to the royal power Qubadh, son of Fayruz,

son of Yazdajird (II), son of Bahrain (V) Jur 329 Before Qubadh attained

the throne, he had fled to Khaqan, seeking help from him

against his brother Balash. On his way there, he passed through

the vicinity of Naysabur, accompanied by a small band of companions

fleeing with him in disguise. Among these was Zarmihr, son

of Sukhra. Qubadh had an intense desire for sexual satisfaction,

complained about this to Zarmihr, and asked the latter to seek out

a wife of good family [dhat hasab ) for him. 330 Zarmihr did that,

and went along to the wife of his major-domo ( sahib manzilihi ),

who was one of his cavalrymen; she had a virgin daughter, of

outst andin g beauty. He asked her, as a sincere friend, for her

daughter, and indicated to her that he would send her along to

Qubadh. The wife told her husband about that, while Zarmihr

kept on setting forth to the two of them how attractive a proposition

it was and spelling out to them how alluring a prospect it was

for them, until finally they consented. The girl, who was called

Nlwandukht, 33 1 came to Qubadh; he lay with her that very night,

and she became pregnant with Anusharwan. 332 He ordered for her

329. Qubadh is the Arabized form of MP Kawad, Greek form Kabates, on his

coins KWT and KDY KWT, i.e., (Kay) Kawad, which goes back to Kawi Kawata, the legendary founder of the Kayanid dynasty. Following Noldeke, Christensen, Les Kayanides, 40-41, and Sassanides, 350-31, noted the increasing popularity from the fifth century onward of personal names from Persian legendary history and that it was from this time that the legendary, epic history assumed the form as we know it in the Xwaddy-namag. See Noldeke, trans. 135 n. 1, 147 n. i; Justi, Namenbuch, 159-60; Mayrhofer, Die altiianischen Namen, no. 209; Gignoux, Noms piopres sassanides, no. 493; Yarshater, "Iranian National History," 374.

330. Necessary for her, since she was to be the mother of the great Anusharwan.

For the name Zarmihr ("golden Mithra"), see Justi, Namenbuch, 383; P. Gignoux,

Noms piopies sassanides, no. 1082. The historicity of this whole episode of Kawad's flight to the Khaqan of the Turks during his brother Balash's reign is, however, difficult to accept, and may be a confusion arising from the fact of Kawad's undoubted one, probably two, stays among the Hephthalites. The begetting of Anusharwan at Nishabur must, at all events, be pure fable.

331. Following the reading of this name by Noldeke in text, n. a; cf. his trans.

502. Justi, Namenbuch, 228-29, interpreted Newandukht as "daughter of heroes."

332. Anushrawan or Anusharwan (the most common form of the name in later

Islamic times), in its original form Andshag-ruwan, literally "of immortal soul";

see Justi, Namenbuch, 17-18; Gignoux, Noms propres sassanides, no. 102. According to Noldeke, 1 36 n. 2, we do not possess any contemporary evidence for this cognomen of the future Khusraw I, hence we cannot say whether this original form of the by-name was used for him or whether a shorter form was current. De Blois has, moreover, pointed out that this epithet is commonly used in Middle Persian with the simple meaning of "deceased" (hence the equivalent of Arabic al- marhiim "the one on whom [God] has had mercy"), thus strengthening the probability that it was not applied to Khusraw till after his death; see Burzoy’s Voyage to India and the Origin of the Book of Kalilah wa Dimnah, 96.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

129

a handsome present and gave her a noble reward. It has been said

that the mother of that girl asked her about Qubadh's appearance

and bodily form: The girl told her that she knew nothing about

that except that she noticed that his trousers were embroidered

with gold . 333 Her mother knew thereby that he was a royal prince,

and this gave her happiness.

Qubadh traveled on to Khaqan, and when he reached him, he

told him that he was the son of the king of Persia and that his

brother had contested the throne with him and had gained the

upper hand. Hence he was now coming to Khaqan seeking help.

The latter gave him fine promises, but Qubadh remained at Khaqan's

 court for four years, during which Khaqan kept putting off

his promise to Qubadh. Qubadh became tired of waiting and sent a

message to Khaqan's wife requesting her to adopt him as her own

child, and requesting her to speak with her husband regarding him

and ask him to fulfill his promise. She did this, and kept on at

length pressing Khaqan until he dispatched an army with

Qubadh . 334

333. Trousers were regarded by classical writers as a characteristic garment for

the Persians (according to Herodotus, History, I.71, adopted by the Persians from

the Scythians, steppe people of Inner Asia). A Byzantine author like Theophylactus Simocatta speaks of the "gold-embroidered trousers" of the Persian kings. Hamzah al-I?fahanx, Ta’rikh, 50, says that Kawad's trousers were red. The Arabic word for trousers, sirwal is of doubtful etymology, though often assumed to be a loanword from Persian (cf. Siddiqi, Studien iibet die persischen Fremdworter, 18, 24; the parallel Persian form shalwar is often derived from a word shal said to mean "thigh," but an origin in a putative OP word zarawaro, as asserted by W. Bjorkman in his El 2 article "Sirwal," is impossible (personal communication from Professor N. Sims- Williams).

334. According to some Western sources, when Kawad was in exile among the

Hephthalites, he married the king's daughter, the offspring of the ruler and

Firuzdukht (see n. 307 above). This would appear to be the basis for the story here

in al-Tabari's text, in which he becomes the adoptive son of the Khaqan's wife and, by extension, of the Khaqan himself. He would in any case now be in a strong position to secure military help from a father-in-law/adoptive father in gaining the Persian throne.

130 Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

When Qubadh departed with the military force and reached the

vicinity of Naysabur, he asked the man who had brought the girl

to him about what had happened to her. The man made enquiries

of the girl's mother, who told him that she had given birth to a

boy. Qubadh gave orders for the child to be brought to him. She

came to him, bringing Anusharwan by her hand. When she en-

tered his presence, he asked her about the boy's history, and she

informed him that he was his own son, that the boy resembled

him in his bodily form and handsomeness. It is said that the news

of Balash's death reached him on that very spot. He regarded the

child's birth as a good augury, and ordered him and his mother to

be conveyed in wagons of the type customary for royal

womenfolk. 335

When Qubadh reached al-Mada’in and had gathered together

firmly in his hands all the reins of royal power, he sought out

Sukhra for special honor, delegated to him all his executive

powers, and gave him thanks for the service rendered to him by his

son (sc., by Zarmihr). He then sent out troops to the distant fron-

tiers, which inflicted hurt on his enemies and brought back nu-

merous captive women and children. 336 Between al-Ahwaz and

Fars he built the town of Arrajan, and likewise he built the town of

Hulwan, and, in the administrative district ( kurah ) of Ardashir

Khurrah, in the neighborhood of Karazin, a town called Qubadh

Khurrah. All this was in addition to [other] towns and villages he

founded and to [other] canals he had dug and bridges he had

constructed. 337

335. Carts and wagons, originally with two wheels and shafts for the animals

drawing them, are known to have been used by the steppe peoples of Inner Asia

from early Christian times onward, hence this form of transport would be familiar

to Kawad from his residence among the Hephthalites; but they seem in any case to have been employed in Persia, on the testimony of classical authors, from

Achaemenid times onward for conveying royal consorts. See also EP-, s.v. 'Araba. n. (M. Rodinson).

336. According to al-Baladhuri, Futuh, 194, Kawad sent one of his commanders

into the region of Arran in Transcaucasia to secure the Caucasus passes against the Khazars (at this early period, this is probably an anachronism, and the steppe

peoples to the north of the Caucasus were probably Huns, the Turkish Onughurs,

and/or Avars, since it is only ca. 630 that a distinct Khazar state begins to emerge;

see P. B. Golden, Khazar Studies, I, 28ff., 58-59). Kawad then ordered the building in Arran of various towns and defences between Shirwan and the Alan Gates.

337. For Arrajan, see al-Tabari, I, 818, p. 12 and n. 45 above. Hulwan, at the

entrance from the Iraq plain to the pass through the Zagros mountains and thence

to Khurasan, is a much older town than this, being known in Assyrian times as

Khalmanu; at most, Kawadh can only have refounded it. Karzin, to the southwest

of Jahrum, within the bend of the Sakkan river in southern Fare, was still in early

Islamic times a town of significance, with the surrounding region still known as

"the glory of Qubadh." See Yaqut, Buldan, II, 290-93, IV, 428-29; Noldeke, trans.

138 n. 3; Le Strange, Lands, 191, 254; Schwarz, Iran, 70-71, 677-83; Barthold,

Historical Geography, 198-99; EP, s.v. Hulwan |L. Lockhart).

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 1 3 1

Now when the greater part of Qubadh's days had gone by, with

Sukhra in charge of the government of the kingdom and the management

of affairs, the people came to Sukhra and undertook all

their dealings with him, treating Qubadh as a person of no importance

and regarding his commands with contempt . 338 At last,

Qubadh became desirous of resuming power and was no longer

able to endure that state of affairs or remain content with it. He

wrote to Sabur of al-Rayy, [a man] from the house called Mihran,

who was Supreme Commander of the Land ( i§bahbadh al-

bilad ) 339 to come to him with the troops under his command 340

Sabur came to him with these, and Qubadh sketched out for him

the position regarding Sukhra and gave him the necessary orders

concerning this last. The next morning, Sabur went into Qubadh's

presence and found Sukhra seated there with the king. He walked

toward Qubadh, passing before Sukhra and paying no attention to

him. Sukhra [for his part] gave no heed to this part of Sabur's

338. Noldeke, trans. 138 n. 4, thought that the opening words "when the greater

part of Qubadh's days had gone by . . ." required emendation, since they would

place the fall of Sukhra in the later part of his reign, well after his exile among the

Hephthalites and his restoration. On this analysis, the obvious sense of the episode would be that the newly acceeded Kawad was at first under the tutelage of Sukhra but grew to resent this tutelage once he had acquired experience and the will to govern independently. This view is ostensibly confirmed by such Arabic sources as al-Ya'qubi, Ta’rikh, I, 185, and al-Dinawari, al-Akhbdr al-fiwdl, 64-65, which state that Kawad was fifteen years old on his accession and remained under

Sukhra's dominance for the first five years of his reign, i.e., till 493, until he

rebelled against this control. On the other hand, further sources make Kawad

eventually die as an old man (FirdawsI, at the age of eighty; the Byzantine historian John Malalas, at the age of eighty-two), who must therefore have begun a reign spanning forty-three years in his late thirties; also, the account in al-Tabari, 1, 886, places the fall of Zarmihr-Sukhra after Kawad's restoration, see nn. 342-43, 345 below.

339. An attempt to render the title Eran-spahbed; see n. 237 above.

340. The Mihrans were one of the greatest noble families at this time, in part at

least descended from the Arsacid royal house, and Bahrain Chubln (see al-Tabari, I, 992ff., pp. 30iff. below) was to be one of their most illustrious members. See the references gathered together in Noldeke, trans. 139 n. 3, 438-39 Excursus 3, and also Lukonin, "Political, Social and Administrative Institutions: Taxes and

Trade," 704.

132

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

cunning plan, until Sabur threw round his neck a noose he had

with him and then dragged him off. He was taken away, loaded

with fetters, and consigned to gaol. People commented at that

time, "Sukhra's wind has died away, and a wind belonging to

Mihran has now started to blow," and this became proverbial.

After that, Qubadh ordered Sukhra to be executed, and this was

done. 341

When ten years had elapsed of Qubadh's reign, the Chief

Mobadh and the great men of state agreed together on deposing

Qubadh from his throne, so they did this and imprisoned him.

This was because he had become a follower of a man named

Mazdak and his partisans, who proclaimed, "God has established

[886] daily sustenance in the earth for His servants to divide out among

themselves with equal shares, but men have oppressed each other

regarding it." They further asserted that they were going to take

from the rich for the poor and give to those possessing little out of

the share of those possessing much; moreover, [they asserted that]

those who had an excessive amount of wealth, womenfolk, and

goods had no more right to them than anyone else. The lower

ranks of society took advantage of this and seized the opportunity;

they rallied to Mazdak and his partisans and banded together with

them. The people ( al-nas , i.e., the higher levels of society) suffered

from the activities of the Mazdakites, and these last grew strong

until they would burst in on a man in his own house and appropriate

his dwelling, his womenfolk, and his possessions without the

owner being able to stop them. They contrived to make all these

doctrines attractive to Qubadh, but also threatened him with

deposition (if he did not cooperate with them). Very soon it came

to pass that a man among them (i.e., the Mazdakites?) no longer

knew his own son, nor a child his father, nor did a man any longer

possess anything with which he could enjoy ampleness of life. 342

341 . As Noldeke observed, 140 n. 2, Kawad's seeming ingratitude here may have

sprung from fear of Sukhra's ascendancy in the state and of his behavior as an over- mighty subject; if so, it would accord with the information given in n. 338 above.

342. No episode in Sasanid history has engendered so much discussion by mod-

em scholars, from Noldeke himself (in his trans., 455-67 Excursus 3 on Mazdak

and the Mazdakites) through Christensen to recent scholars like F. Altheim and

Ruth Stiehl, N. V. Pigulevskaya, O. Klfma, Mansour Shaki (viewing the Mazdakite revolt as an upsurge of oppressed peasantry had obvious attractions for scholars writing behind the Iron Curtain), H. Gaube, and Patricia Crone, as the appearance

of the Mazdakite movement and Kawad's involvement in it. Two recent summations of the problem are Ehsan Yarshater's chapter "Mazdakism" and, more controversially, Patricia Crone's article "Kavad's Heresy and Mazdak's Revolt." In brief, it seems unlikely that Mazdak espoused a thoroughgoing program of communism of property and wives, entailing a total upheaval in society, or that Kawad would adopt such a program in its entirety, thereby subverting the hierarchy of classes on which Persian monarchy and society had rested from time immemorial and laying a disordered land open to attacks from the Byzantines on one side and the Hepthalites on the other.

What Yarshater and Crone bring out, despite their different emphases, is that,

when Mazdakism came to prominence in the first part of Kawad's reign (488-96),

at a time when the emperor was still a youth or young man, it clearly appeared as a Zoroastrian heresy. As such it stemmed from the ideas of a third century a.d.

heresiarch, Zaradusht of Fasa in Firs (the Zaradhusht, son of Khurrakin, of al-

Tabari, I, 893, p. 148 below), not connected in any way with Manichaeism, and in

Weltanschauung and ethos directly opposed to Mani's asceticism and suspicion of

the present world. Kawad could never have become, by definition as a Sasanid

monarch, a fervid communist, but did see the utility of some of Mazdak's ideas in

his endeavors to reduce the excessive power of the nobility, to modernize the

Sasanid state, to make its social structure more flexible, and to render it more able

to withstand attacks from its powerful external enemies in both east and west. His

proposed reform of marriage practices did not involve co mmunis m of wives,

ibahat al-nisa’, but rather a widening of such existing practices as wife lending, a

redistribution of women immured within princely and noble harems, and the

allowing of women to marry outside their own class. Regarding property, some

redistribution, rather than confiscation, was probably envisaged. Such policies

would have reduced social distinctions and destroyed the purity of noble lineages.

They must have been anathema to the Persian nobility, and only Kawad's youth

explains how he thought he could enforce such measures, given that the only

coercive power at his disposal was that of an army staffed by the great nobility and dihqdns themselves, members of the classes most likely to be directly affected by the reforms. Hence the ending of what was apparently the first phase of the Mazdakite movement with Kawad's deposition in 496 by a conspiracy of the nobility, who replaced him by what was hoped would be a more pliant famasb/ Zamasp, is wholly explicable.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

133

They now consigned Qubadh to a place to which only they had

access and set up in his place a brother of his called Jamasb 343

They told Qubadh, "You have incurred sin by what you have done

in the past, and the only thing that can purify you from it is

handing over your womenfolk." They even wanted him to make

343. N6ldeke, 142 n. 1, noted that all is straightforward in the narrative up to

this point, but that it now becomes illogical and absurd, with Kawad dethroned by

the Mazdakites but with them influential enough once more after his restoration

to procure the killing of Sukhra/Zarmihr. Noldeke attributed this section to Ibn al-

Muqaffa*.

Jamaspa- is in Persian legendary history a son of Kay Khusraw. Whether this is

the name appearing here as Jamasb/Z&masp, Greek form Zamaspes, on his coins

Z’M’SP, i.e., Zamasp, is unclear. See on Jamasb's coins Paruck, Sasanian Coins, 64, 375-76, 461-63, Plate XVn, Table XVIII; Gobi, Sasanian Numismatics, 51, Table X, Plate 1 1; Sellwood, Whitting, and Williams, An Introduction to Sasanian Coins, 21, 137-39; Malek, "A Survey of Research on Sasanian Numismatics," 236-37. See on the name, Noldeke, trans. 142 n. 2; Justi, Namenbuch, 109. His brief reign, separating the two parts of Kawadh's one, was 496-98. See on it, Christensen, Sassanides, 349-5 1; Frye, "The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians," r 50.

134

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

over himself to them as a sacrifice, so that they could kill him and

make him an offering to the fire. When Zarmihr, son of Sukhra,

perceived this, he went forth with an accompanying group of the

nobles, ready to expend his own life, and then killed a great num-

ber of the Mazdakites, restored Qubadh to his royal power and

drove out his brother Jamasb. After this, however, the Mazdakites

kept on inciting Qubadh against Zarmihr to the point that

Qubadh killed him . 344 Qubadh was always one of the best of the

Persian kings until Mazdak seduced him into reprehensible ways.

As a result, the bonds linking the outlying parts of the realm

became loosened and the defense of the frontiers fell into

neglect . 345

344. It is strange, as pointed out by Noldeke, trans. 140 n. 2, that after putting

Sukhra to death, Kawad should take into his service the son Zarmihr and that

Zarmihr should then take a leading part in the release and restoration of Kawad

after the Mazdakite ascendancy, only to be killed in his turn by the emperor. He

suggested that we do not need to assume that Kawad killed successively father and son, but that we have to deal instead with one minister only, Sukhra Zarmihr, who had been with Kawad in exile among the Hephthalites but who now, after the

emperor's return, had arrogated too much power in the state to himself, leading to

his elimination in the usual fashion. This event would have been split into two

episodes corresponding to the two elements making up Sukhra Zarmihr's name.

The actual occasion of the execution must, on this analysis, be accordingly pushed back to the second part of Kawad's reign; but see n. 338 above.

345. That Kawad was a weakling who allowed his empire to fall apart as alleged

here (and in al-Tabari, I, 888-89, pp. 139-41 below, in regard to Kawad's relations

with the Kindi chief al-Harith b. 'Amr| could well be a slanderous report going back to the Zoroastrian priestly and Persian aristocratic tradition exemplified in the Book of Kings which Ibn al-Muqaffa' made available for later Arabic authors, and reflecting Kawad's involvement early in his reign with Mazdakite doctrines and attempts to curb the Zoroastrian clergy and the nobility (see n. 342 above and n. 349 below). It is further reflected, for instance in the report of al-Baladhuri, Futuh, 292, that in Kawad's reign the irrigation channels in the district of Kaskar on the Tigris in Lower Iraq were allowed to fall into disrepair.

Noldeke, trans. 142 n. 3, endeavored at length to refute this partisan verdict,

pointing out that Kawad held the throne, with just a two or three years' break, for

the lengthy period of forty-three years. During this time he undertook two protracted wars against the Greeks (see al-Tabari, I, 887, p. 137 and n. 351 below).

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

135

A certain person knowledgeable about the history of the Persians

 has [on the other hand] mentioned that it was the great men

of state of the Persians who imprisoned Qubadh when he became

a partisan of Mazdak and one of the followers of his doctrines, and

who raised to the royal power in his stead his brother Jamasb, son

of Fayruz. Now a sister of Qubadh's went to the prison where he

was incarcerated 346 and tried to gain entry, but the offical responsible

 for guarding the prison and its inmates prevented her from

entering. This man became roused by the desire to ravish her at

that opportunity, and told her how much he desired her,- she informed

 him that she would not resist him in anything he might

desire of her, so he let her in. She entered the prison, and spent a

day with Qubadh. Then at her bidding, Qubadh was rolled up in

one of the carpets in the gaol, and this was borne by one of his male

attendants, a strong and hardy youth, and brought out of the

prison. When the lad went past the prison commander, the latter

asked him what he was carrying. He was unable to answer, but

Qubadh's sister came up behind the lad and told the prison commander

that it was a bed roll she had slept on during her menstrual

periods and that she was only going forth to purify herself and

would then return. The man believed her, and did not touch the

carpet or go near it, fearing lest he become polluted by it, and he

allowed the lad who was bearing Qubadh to pass freely out. So he

went along with Qubadh, the sister following after him.

346. According to Greek sources, Kawad's fortress-prison lay in Susiana. Pro-

copius, who makes the ingenious woman here Kawad's wife and not his daughter

(followed in this by Agathias, see Cameron, "Agathias on the Sassanians," 128-29, t57-58), simply calls it "the fortress of oblivion" and has a lengthy digression on its past history within his already extended account of Kawad's enforced interreg- num, imprisonment, and escape. See The Persian War, Lv.1-vi.19; Cameron, Procopius and the Sixth Century, 155. Theophrastes, however, calls the fortress Giligerda, which led the nineteenth-century traveler and historian Sir Henry Rawlinson to identify it with Gilgird in the mountains to the east of Shushtar. See Noldeke, trans. 144 n. 1.

Procopius regarded Kawad as exceptionally clever and energetic. He also maintained a general peace with the Hephthalites in the east; see n. 348 below. Similarly, Crone, "Kawad's Heresy and Mazdak's Revolt," 25-26, stresses that, while Kawad ruled in a mild and pacific fashion, and abstained during his pro-Mazdakite phase from meat (al-Tabari, 1 , 889, p. 142 below), after his restoration he behaved in a bellicose enough manner and in his warfare with the Byzantines was as savage as any of his predecessors.

136

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

Qubadh now took to flight until he reached the land of the

Hepththalites, in order to ask their king to help him and to provide

him with an army, so that he might make war on those who had

rebelled against him and deposed him. It has been further related

that, on his outward journey to the Hepththalites, he halted at

Abarshahr at the house of one of its leading citizens, who had a

daughter of marriageable age, and it was on the occasion of this

journey that he had sexual relations with the mother of Kisra

Anusharwan 347 It has been also related that Qubadh returned

from that journey with his son Anusharwan and the latter's

mother . 348

He defeated his brother Jamasb in the contest for royal power

after the latter had reigned for six years . 349 Then after that.

347. Abarshahr was the district around NIshabur, see al-Tabari, I, 819, p. 1 5 and

n. 59 above. Al-Ya'qubI, Ta’rlkh, 1 , 185-86, has Abatrshar here, but al-Dinawari, al- Akhbai al-tiwal, 65-66, in a more detailed account than that of al-Tabari, has

Kawad fleeing for refuge in the house of a dihqan, whose ancestry went back to

Faridun, on the borders of Khuzistan and Isfahan, and Firdawsi follows al-Dmawari substantially. The emperor's flight to a refuge in southwestern-western Persia obviously accords better with his incarceration just before this in Susiana. Cf. Noldeke, trans. 145 nn. 2-4.

348. There is little information in the Arabic sources on Kawad's stay among

the Hephthalites (with whom he already had links from his time as a hostage at the Hephthalite court during his father's reign), but useful information in Procopius and the Western sources. The fugitive Kawad was sheltered — after what must have been a lengthy journey right across Persia — by the king of the Hephthalites (whose personal name is unknown, unless Akhshunwar was still ruling). The king gave to Kawad in marriage his daughters, actually the child of the Persian princess who had been captured by the Hepththalites on the defeat of her father FIruz, hence Kawad's niece; such a union would not have been regarded in Zoroastrian custom as at all incestuous. Kawad regained his throne with Hephthalite assistance, but at the price of continued dependence on them. He tiwal, 66). The Christian Arabic Chronicle of Se'ert does, however, record a purge

of the Zoroastrian priesthood by Kawad, with executions and imprisonments. See

Noldeke, trans. 145 n. 5; Christensen, Sassanides, 350-5 i? Cameron, "Agathias on the Sassanians," 130-31; eadem, Procopius on the Sixth Century, 155 (Procopius in his The Persian War confuses Jimasb with FIruz's successor Balash/Blases); Frye, "The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians," 150.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

137

Qubadh led an expedition against the land of the Romans, conquered

 one of their towns in al-fazirah called Amid 350 and carried

off the women and children as captives. 351 He gave orders for a

town to be built in the borderland between Fars and the land of al-

Ahwaz and named it Warn Qubadh; 352 this is the town named

350. Amid, classical Amida, was a key point in the fighting between the Byzan-

tines and Sasanids. It lay on the west bank of the upper Tigris, in what was in early Islamic times the district of Diyar Bakr in the province of Jazirah, and is now the modem Turkish city of Diyarbakir. See PW, I/a, col. 1833, s.v. Amida

(Baumgartner) Le Strange, Lands, 108-11; Canard, H’amdanides, 79-81; Eh, s.v.

Amida (D. Sellwood). Al-Dinawari, al-Akhbar al-tiwal, 66, adds that Kawad also

captured another town of the region, Mayyafariqin (the Greek Martyropoplis}.

351. These are the sole details in the oriental sources on the great four years' war

launched by Kawid against the Byzantines (summer 502-autumn 506) soon after

his regaining the Persian throne. Kawad's pretext for opening hostilities was the

emperor Anastasius's refusal to contribute to Kawad's expenses in financing the

Hephthalite army, which had backed him, and in paying the ongoing tribute to the

Hephthalites. The Byzantines must have had the hope that, if Kawad were unable

to pay his former allies, a rapture between these two latter powers would occur. It

seems that the Byzantine frontier fortresses and fortified towns had not been kept

in good repair during the fifth century and, as a result, were at this time inadequate to withstand the Persians, especially as the Persians had acquired important stretches of territory in the later fourth century, above all the important

bridgehead of Ni?ibin (see al-Tabari, 1 , 826, p. 28, and nn. 90-9 1 above). Hence early successes for Kawad's army, which included Hephthalite contingents, were the sack of Theodosiopolis (the later Erzerum) in western Armenia, this capture of

Amida/ Amid (see n. 3 50 above), and that of Martyropolis or Mayyafariqin (the bare information recorded in al-Dinawari, al-Akhbar al-tiwal, 66, and Yaqut, Buldan, I, 143). However, the war is fully documented in Greek and Syriac sources, such as Procopius's The Persian War, I.vii.i-I.x.19; cf. Cameron, Procopius and the Sixth Century, 155-56; Ps. Joshua the Stylite's Chronicle, trans. 37-62, 63-75. See Noldeke, trans. 146 n. i; Bury, A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, I, 307-309; idem, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, 1 , 10-15; Christensen, Sassanides, 352; Ghirshman, Les Chionites-HephtaUtes, 92-93; Hannestad, "Les relations de Byzance avec la Transcaucasie et l'Asie Centrale aux 5* et 6 e si&cles," 442; Stein, Histoire du Bas-Empire, n, 267-72? Frye, "The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians," 150-5 1; M. Whitby, "Procopius and the Development of Roman Defences in Upper Mesopotamia," 725-26; Greatrex, Rome and Persia at War, 50 2- 532, 73-H9- had stirred up with their hands the glistening swords of Amid. ( Diwan , 124 no. 41)

The fame of the Persian victory at Amida resonated several decades later in a

verse of the Hlran poet 'Adi b. Zayd:

We struck to the ground Qubadh, the lord of all the Persians, even though they

138

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

Buqubadh , 353 also called Arrajan . 354 He laid out an administrative

division ( kurah ) and added to it rural districts ( iasdtiq ) from the

kurah of Surraq and that of Ram Hurmuz 355 He then nominated

his son Kisra as his successor in the royal power, and wrote this

out in a document, which he sealed with his seal ring . 356 When

352. Following Addenda et emendanda, p. dxci, as being a crasis of *Weh-

Amid-Kawad for the text's Ram Qubadh.

353. Following Addenda et emendanda, loc. cit., for the text's Barqubadh.

354. These two alternative names for Arrajan are somewhat dubious; the second

one should be read as *Abar qubadh, as the consonant ductus in al-Dinawari, al-

Akhbdi al-tiwal, 66, and Yaqut, Buldan, 1 , 143, allows. Cf. Noldeke, trans. 146 n. 2.

355. Al-Dmawarl, al-Akhbar al-tiwal, 66-67, mentions a number of changes in

administrative geography carried out by Kawad in the provinces of *Abarqubadh

(locating this, however, in central Iraq), Bihqubadh al-Awsaf and al-Asfal, and

Isfahan. These may have been connected with the cadastral survey of the Sawad of Iraq instituted by Kawad, accompanied by a new tax system, to be continued by his successor Khusraw Anusharwan, which is mentioned in the Arabic sources. See Crone, "Kawad's Heresy and Mazdak's Revolt," 33-34.

356. According to al-Dinawari, al-Akhbar al-tiwal, 67, Kawad had several sons,

out of whom Khusraw was the most favored, despite the emperor's having certain

grounds for suspicion ( zinnah ) regarding him. According to Procopius, Kawad's

eldest son was Kaoses, i.e., Kawus (called by Theophanes Pthasouaisan in an

attempt to render Padashkhwar-shah, this being Kawus's title as provincial ruler

of Tabaristan), and there was another son Zames, i.e., Jam. But Kawad wished his

third, younger son Khusraw to succeed him, since, according to Theophanes, Kawus had been brought up (in the first part of his father's reign?) as a Mazdakite.

Toward the end of his reign, Kawad was in a stronger position vis-^-vis the

nobility, and was able to make these succession arrangements himself rather than

leave the choice and the election of his successor to the nobles and clergy; but he

cannot have wished to provoke a strong reaction by nominating Kawus if the latter was still indeed an adherent of the Mazdakites. Procopius, The Persian War, I.x.i- 18, further relates that Kawad had sought from the Byzantine emperor Justin I (518-27) that the latter should adopt Khusraw (just as, at the end of the fourth

century, the emperor Arcadius had made the Sasanid Yazdagird I protector of his

son and desired heir Theodosius (II) (see n. r9i above). No doubt Kawad had the

intention of strengthening Khusraw's claim to the succession, which might then

have been backed, if necessary, by Byzantine arms; but Justin had refused. The

second son Jamasb (= Procopius's Zames/Jam) was disqualified from succeeding to the throne through the loss of an eye. Hence when Kawad fell mortally ill in 531, he wrote out this succession document (al-Tabari's kitab, al-Ya'qubi's wa$iyyah ( for Khusraw. According to the Byzantine chronicler John Malalas, he actually had him crowned. Again according to Procopius, ibid., I.xxi.20-22, Kawus laid claim to the throne on his father's death, and according to the later historian of Tabaristan Ibn Isfandiyar, raised a rebellion, which failed and caused him to lose his life. See Noldeke, trans. 147 n. i; Christensen, Sassanides, 353 - 55 ; Frye "The Political History of Iran under the Sasanians," 151; Crone, "Kawad's Heresy and Mazdak's Revolt," 31-32.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

139

Qubadh died after having reigned for forty-three years, including

the years of his brother Jamasb, Kisra put into execution the mea-

sures which Qubadh had commended to him . 357

Mention of What Has Been Recorded Concerning the

Events Taking Place among the Arabs in Qubadh’ s

Reign in His Kingdom and Involving His Governors

There was related to me a narrative going back to Hisham b.

Muhammad, who said: Al-Harith b. 'Amr b. Hujr b. 'Adi al-Kindl

met al-Nu'man b. al-Mundhir b. Imri’ al-Qays b. al-Shaqlqah in

battle and killed him, with al-Mundhir b. al-Nu'man al-Akbar

escaping from al-Harith. Al-Harith b. 'Amr al-Kindl then assumed

power over the lands al-Nu'man had ruled. At this point, Qubadh,

son of Fayruz, the ruler of Persia, sent a message to al-Harith b.

'Amr, informing him that there had been formerly an agreement

between him and his predecessor as king [among the Arabs] and

that he would welcome a meeting with al-Harith 358

Qubadh was a Zindiq who did only good deeds, who abhorred

shedding blood and who, in his dislike for shedding blood, treated

3S7- Kawid I's reign was 488-531, with the interlude of Jamasb/Zamasp's two

or three years from 496 to 498 or 499. Concerning his possible age at death, see n.

338 above. Concerning his name on his coins, see n. 329 above. See on his coins,

Paruck, Sasanian Coins, 64-65, 373-75, 376-80, 459-61, 464-70, Plates XVII-

XVHI, Tables XVH, XIX > G6bl, Sasanian Numismatics, 51-51, Table X, Plate it; Sellwood, Whitting, and Williams, An Introduction to Sasanian Coins, 21, 130-

36 > Malek, "A Survey of Research on Sasanian Numismatics," 236.

The other Arabic sources for his reign include Ibn Qutaybah, Ma'dzif, 663; al-

Ya'qubi, Ta'rikh, I, 185-86 (mainly on Kawad's flight to the Hephthalites and the

circumstance of Khusraw's birth); al-Dinawari, al-Akhbdz al-tiwal, 64-67 (considerable detail on Mazdak's movement); al-Mas'udi, Muruj, II, 195-96 - §§ 6r7- r8 (brief note of Mazdak); idem, Tanbih, 101, trans. 145; Hamzah al-I§fahani, Ta’rikh, 50-51 (concentrates on his foundation of cities); Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, I, 412-14, 421. Of the Persian sources, see Jabari-Bal'aml, trans. n, 146-55.

Of modem studies on his reign in general, see Christensen, Le rdgne du roi

Kawadh I et le communisme mazdakite-, idem, Sassanides, 336-62; Frye, "The

Political History of Iran under the Sasanians," 149-s 1, 178; El 2 , s.v. Sasanids (M. J. Morony); also references on the Mazdakite movement in n. 338.

358. This is a repetition grosso modo of the events treated by al-Tabari at 1, 881-

82, pp. 124-25 above, but bringing in Kawad at the end causes chronological

difficulties, since Kawad only acceeded to power in 488, and the events involving

al-Nu'man I's death and the succession of his son al-Mundhir I are probably to be

placed in the second decade of the century, hence some seventy years earlier; see

nn. 315, 3x9 above.

140

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

his enemies with leniency. 359 In his time, heretical opinions ( al -

ahwd’) became rife, and the people came to regard Qubadh as a

weak ruler. Al-Harith b. 'Amr al-Kindl, however, set out with a

numerous and well-equipped army, until the two forces met at the

bridge of al-Fayyum. 360 Qubadh ordered a dish of dates and extracted

their stones. Then he ordered another dish and placed in it

dates in which the stones had been left. These two dishes were

placed before them (sc., Qubadh and al-Harith). The dish of dates

 with stones by al-Harith b. 'Amr, and the one with no date stones

in it was placed by Qubadh. Al-Harith began to eat the dates and to

spit out the stones. Qubadh set about eating [everything in] the

dish in front of him, and said to al-Harith, "What's the matter

with you? Why aren't you eating exactly what I'm eating?" Al-

Harith replied, "Among us, only camels and sheep eat date

stones," and he realized that Qubadh was deriding him. After this,

the two of them made peace on the basis that al-Harith b. 'Amr

and those he wished of his followers should bring their horses to

drink from the Tigris up to their saddle girths but not pass any

further beyond that point 361

But when al-Harith saw Qubadh's weakness, he began to covet

the Sawad, and ordered the men in his garrison posts ( masalihihi )

to cross the Euphrates and carry out raids into the Sawad. 362 The

359. See on the term Zindiq, n. 118 above.

360. According to Yaqut, Buldan, IV, 286, this was in central Iraq, near Hit on

the Euphrates; cf. Musil, The Middle Euphrates, 330. As a bridge, it would be

regarded as neutral ground, hence suitable for a meeting between the two opposing sides. Cf. Noldeke, trans. 149 n. 1.

361. According to Noldeke, trans. 149 n. 3, citing the Talmud, this occurs as a

formulaic legal expression.

362. These garrison posts must in reality have been part of the Sasanid defenses

along the desert fringes against Arabs from the interior of the peninsula like those

of Kindah. From this point onward, al-Tabari's account slides into legend, as recognized by Noldeke, trans. 150 nn. 1-2, and Rothstein, Lahmiden, 88-89. What is, nevertheless, firmly historical is that between approximately 525 and 528 al-

Harith was indeed able to expel the Lakhmids from al-HIrah, having taken over

parts of the Iraqi borderlands some twenty years before (see al-Tabari, I, 88r-82, pp. 124-25 and n. 319 above). From 528 till his death in 531, Kawad was preoccupied with warfare with the Byzantines, with the emperor Justin I at the outset and then with the great Justinian I, this warfare being centered on Georgia and Transcaucasia on one front and on the Upper Mesopotamian frontier on another one (see Bury, A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, I, 372-80; idem, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak 141

cries for help [of the local people] reached Qubadh when he was at

al-Mada’in, and he exclaimed: "This has occurred under the protection

of their king," and he then sent a message to al-Harith b.

'Amr that some robbers of the Arabs had mounted raids and that

he wanted a meeting with him. When al-Harith came, Qubadh

said to him, "You have done something which no one before you

has ever done," but al-Harith replied, "I haven't done anything,

and don't know anything about it; it was some Arab robbers, and I

myself cannot keep a firm hand over the Arabs except by financial

subsidies and regular troops." Qubadh said to him, "What do you

want, then?" and he replied, "I want you to make over to me a

grant of part of the Sawad so that I can get weapons ready by means

of it." So Qubadh made over to him the side of the lower Euphrates

 bordering on the Arabs, comprising six tassujs. Al-Harith b.

'Amr al-Kindl at that point sent a messenger to Tubba' in Yemen,

Death of Justinian, I, 79-89; Stein, Histoiie du Bas-Empire, n, 267-71, 283-84,

287-94; Greatrex, Rome and Persia at War, 502-532, 139-212). It seems, however, to have been a withdrawal of support from al-Mundhir HI by Kawad that allowed al-Harith to take over al-Hirah. Al-Mundhir had apparently been negotiating with the Persians' enemy, Byzantium. Hence credence should not be placed in the information retailed in some Arabic sources (e.g., Abu al-Faraj al-I?fahini, Aghani 1 - ym, 63 - AghanP, 78-79; Ibn al-Athir, Kamil, I, 434) that Kawad tried first to impose Mazdakism on al-Mundhir but failed, whereupon al-Harith b. 'Amr agreed to accept Mazdakism, and was rewarded by a grant of the fonner Lakhmid lands.

See Christensen, Le r&gne du roi Kawadh I et le communisme mazdakite, and

(regarding the tale with skepticism), Olinder, The Kings of Kinda, 63-64. In any

case, Kawad had broken decisively with the Mazdakites on his restoration in 498

or 499, and it seems highly unlikely that he would make adherence to the heresy

an instrument of diplomacy nearly thirty years later. Abu al-Baqa’, al-Manaqib al-

mazyadiyyah, 121, simply states that KawSd was unable to answer al-Mundhir's

appeal for help because his kingdom was disturbed by the Mazdakites

Al-Mundhir regained control of al-Hlrah in 5 28. The sources all state that it was

Khusraw Anusharwan who restored him, but Khusraw did n«t come to the throne

until 53 1; it thus seems that al-Mundhir had somehow regained possession of his

capital and that Khusraw merely confirmed this. At all events, Lakhmid power was now firmly reestablished on the Iraq fringes, backed by the might of their traditional patrons and supporters, the Sasanids. At some unspecified point, al-Mundhir managed to get hold of al-Harith b. 'Amr, who had had to retreat into die interior of northern Arabia after clashing with the Byzantines and Ghassanids on the Syrian frontiers. Al-Mundhir seized the Kindi leader's camels, killed al-Harith himself, and massacred forty-eight members of the ruling house of Kindah, an event alluded to in the Diwan of al-Harith's grandson Imru’ al-Qays ( Diwan , ed. Muhamma d Abu al-Fadl Ibrahim, 200, no. 37 w. 1-2). Other traditions make al-Harith's death at the hands of the Kalb. See Rothstein, Lahmiden, 89-90, • Olinder, The Kings of Kinda, 63-68.

142 Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

saying, "I covet strongly the kingdom of the Persians, and have

already acquired six tassujs of it. So gather your troops together

and advance, for there is nothing between you and their kingdom,

since the king does not eat meat and does not consider the shedding
of blood lawful, for he is a Zindlq." So Tubba' assembled his

troops and advanced until he encamped at al-HIrah. He drew near

to the Euphrates, where the midges plagued him. Al-Harith b.

'Amr ordered a canal to be dug for him as far as al-Najaf, and this

was done: this is the Canal of al-Hirah. He encamped against there

and sent his nephew Shamir Dhu al-Janah ("Shamir of the Wing")

against Qubadh 363 He fought with Qubadh and routed him, compelling

him to flee as far as al-Rayy. He then caught up with

Qubadh there and killed him. 364

Tubba' now sent Shamir Dhu al-Janah to Khurasan and his son

Hassan to Sogdia (al-Sughd), telling them, "Whichever of you

363. See on Shamir Yur'ish or Yuhar'ish, n. 314 above and n. 364 below, and al-

Tabari, I, 910, pp. 176-77 and n. 451 below.

364. All this is pure fantasy. As implied by al-Tabari in 1 , 888, pp. 138-39 above,

Kawad died a natural death, doubtless at an advanced age after such a long reign.

Ibn al-Athlr, Kamil , I, 411, criticizes al-Tabari for his confusion here and lack of

critical acumen, such defects of an absense of discrimination and discernment

being common, he says, to all writers dealing with the ancient Arabs,- Noldeke in

his translation omitted this passage on the legendary exploits of the Tubba' kings,

that from I, 890 1 . 4 to 892 1 . 14. The only genuine feature in al-Tabari's account is that the Tubba' prince Shamir Yur'ish mentioned in al-Tabari, I, n. 910, pp. 176-77 below, the first recorded Tubba' king (on this dynasty, see n. 314 above), really did exist.

For the king's name, Sh.m.r, the vocalization is of course speculative, there being

no indication of vowels in the South Arabian script with the probable exception of

wand y used both consonantally and vocalically (see Beeston, Sabaic Giammai, 6 - 7). But Shamir or Shimr seem to have better claims that Shammar for the vocalization of the first component of the king's full name, despite the fact that the rather late author Nashwan b. Sa'Id al-Himyari (d. 573/1178) expressly gives Shammar in his Shams al-'ulum (see 'Azimuddin Alimad, Die auf Sudarabien beziiglichen Angaben NaSwdns im Sams al-'ulum, 56-57). The choice of this latter form by such later writers as Nashwan was probably influenced by the rise of the North Arabian tribe of Shammar and their home, the Jabal Shammar, since there is no orthographic sign in the South Arabian script to indicate gemination (Beeston, ibid., 7-8). G. Ryckmans, Les noms propres sud-simitiques, I, 210, has Simr, comparing this with Classical Arabic shimr, "energetic, capable"; G. Lankester Harding, An Index and Concordance of Pre-Islamic Names and Inscriptions, 357, has Samir; and Robin, Supplement d la dictiormaire du Bible, s.v. Sheba. 2., writes Shammir. In the line of verse (apocryphal, naturally) placed in Shamir's mouth in al-Tabari, I, n. 910, p. 177 below, the wafir metre does require ShVmVr ua or ShVmr un -

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

143

reaches China first shall become ruler over it." Each one headed a

mighty army, said to be of 640,000 men. He further sent his

nephew Ya'fur against the Romans; it was he who recited:

O my companion, you may well be full of wonder at Himyar,

when they encamped at al-fabiyah! 365

Eighty thousand is the number of their chiefs, 366 and for each

group of eight men there is a chief!

Ya'fur proceeded until he reached Constantinople (al-

Qustantjlniyyah), whose people then gave him their obedience and

promised to pay tribute, and then went on to Rome (Rumiyyah), a

journey of four months, and besieged it. The troops accompanying

him suffered great hunger, were afflicted by plague, and became

weakened. The Romans perceived what had hit them, so fell upon

them and killed them, with not a single man escaping. Shamir

Dhu al-Janah traveled on until he reached Samarqand. 367 He besieged

it but was unable to capture any part of it. When he realized

that, he went round to the city guard, captured one man of it, and

interrogated him about the city and its ruler. The man told him

that, regarding its ruler, he was the most stupid of mankind, with

no interest except in drinking and eating, but that he had a daughter

and it was she who decided the affairs of the populace. Hence

Shamir sent the man back to her with a present, telling him,

"Inform her that I have only come from the land of the Arabs

because of what I have heard about her intelligence, and in order

that she might marry me and I might acquire through her a boy

365. This settlement in the Jawlan or Golan region south of Damascus was a

main residence of the Byzantines' allies, the chiefs of the Jafnid family of Ghassan, probably their summer encampment, and it was further important in the periods of the Arab conquest of Syria and of the early Umayyads as a military encampment and concentration point for troops. See Yaqut, Buldan, II, 91-92; Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, 460-61; Ndldeke, Die Ghass&nischen Fiizsten, 47-49; H. Lammens, "L'evfcnement des Marwanides et le califat de Marwan I er ," 77-79) Donner, The Early Islamic Conquests, 44.; EP, s.v. Djabiya (H. Lammens-J. Sourdel-Thomine).

366. Thus interpreting rawayahum, pi. of rdwiyah, "a camel used for drawing

water," such a camel being likened to the chief who bears the burden of blood

money, to be paid in camels by his tribe. See Lane, Lexicon, 1196c; Glossarium, p. cclxxiu: rawiyah - dux.

367. Presumably to Transoxania via Khurasan, Hassan having, as it later appears, preceded him to Sogdia and then China.

144

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

who will rule over both the Persians and the Arabs. [Tell her also]

that I have not come seeking wealth but that I have here with me

four thousand chests of gold and silver and that I will hand it over

to her and proceed onward to China. If I succeed in gaining the

land, she will become my wife; but if I perish, all that wealth will

be hers."