A Revised History of Persia

  Introduction In the annals of imperial collapse, few transformations have been as swift or as comprehensive as the fall of the Sasanian Empire between 628 and 651 CE. The empire that had for four centuries stood as Rome's great rival in the East, the self-proclaimed guardian of Zoroastrian civilization and the embodiment of Iranian royal glory, dissolved with a rapidity that stunned contemporaries and continues to fascinate historians. The Byzantine chronicler Theophanes, writing in the early ninth century, captured something of this bewilderment when he noted that "the kingdom of the Iranians, which had endured for so many generations, was utterly overthrown in the space of fourteen years." Yet this was no mere military conquest by a superior force. The collapse of Iranshahr—as the Iranians themselves called their realm—represented something far more profound: the systematic breakdown of an entire imperial order that had shaped the political, cultural, and religious...

Introduction The late sixth and early seventh centuries were a decisive phase in the centuries-old rivalry between the Iranian and Byzantine Empires. The reigns of  Hormizd IV  (579–590 CE) and his son  Khosrow II Parviz  (590–628 CE) brought the two powers into an unprecedented combination of alliance, total war, and mutual exhaustion. At stake was more than just territorial control; the contest encompassed Armenia and the Caucasus, mastery of the lucrative Silk Road routes, influence over client states in Arabia and the steppe, and the projection of imperial prestige. It was also a period when both courts were embroiled in dangerous domestic politics, where powerful generals, noble factions, and religious communities influenced imperial strategy as much as kings and emperors. Armenia  stood at the center of this story—not merely as a border province, but as a decisive strategic hinge and a cultural crossroads where Iranian, Roman, and native Armenian interests...

  Justice and Empire in a Divided World The Making of a Great King (531-540 CE) The Blood-Soaked Path to Power When Khosrow I ascended the throne in 531 CE, two great empires stood poised on the precipice of momentous change. In Constantinople, Justinian I harbored dreams of  renovatio imperii —the restoration of Rome's ancient glory through the reconquest of the western Mediterranean. Meanwhile, in Ctesiphon, the young Sasanian  shahanshah  inherited a realm still bleeding from the ideological wounds of the Mazdakite revolution, yet pregnant with possibilities for reform and resurgence. But before Khosrow could reshape his empire, he had to secure his own survival. The succession was far from assured—rival brothers, backed by powerful noble factions, threatened to plunge the kingdom into civil war. Khosrow’s response was swift and merciless. He executed his brothers along with the nobles who had supported them, demonstrating from the outset that his reign would tole...