A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

720 SASSANIDAE. SASSANIDAE.
his turn, seized upon the great defiles of the out, and put themselves under the authority of t:he
Caucasus and fortified them, although less as a pre- emperor, so that Khosrew also had a fair pretext for
caution against the Romans than the Huns and war. This war, of which Khosrew did not see the
other northern barbarians. These are the cele- end, broke out in 571, and as its details are given
brated Iberian and Albanian gates, the latter of in the lives of the emperors Justin II., Tiberius II.,
which are now called Demir Kapu, " the Iron Mauritius, and of Justinian, the second son of GerGates," or the gates of Derbend. The war with manus, we shall not dwell further upon these
Constantinople was renewed in 5221, in the reign of topics.
the emperor Justin I., and success was rather on the VWe must consider Khosrew as one of the greatest
side of the Persians, till Narses and his brothers, all kings of Persia. In his protracted wars with the
of whom were among the most distinguished gene- Romans he disputed the field with the conquerors
rals of Cobades, deserted their master for political of Africa and Italy, and with those very generals,
motives which it is not the place here to discuss, Tiberius and Mauritius, who brought Persia to the
and joined the army of Justin. The great Beli- brink of ruin but a few years after his death.
sarius appears in these wars as a skilful and suc- His empire extended from the Indus to the Red
cessful general. Cobades left several sons, but Sea, and large tracts in Central Asia, perhaps a
bequeathed his empire to his favourite son Chos- portion of eastern Europe, recognised him for a
roes. time as their sovereign. He received embassies
21. KHosRu, or KHOSREW I., called CHOS- and presents from the remotest kings of Asia and
ROES I. (Xo-po'rs) by the Greeks, surnamed Africa. His internal government was despotic and
ANUSHIRWAN (Nushirwvan), or "the generous cruel, but of that firm description which pleases
mind," one of the greatest monarchs of Persia, Orientals, so that he still lives in the memory of
reigned from A. D. 531 till 579. He inherited the the Persians as,a model of justice. The comwar against the Greeks. We have spoken above munist Mazdak was put to death by his order,
of the strange story that Khosrew was to be adopted after his doctrines had caused a dangerous revoby Justin. He was already on his way to Con- lution in the habits and minds of the people, as is
stantinople, when le was informed that the quaes- shown by the fact that his doctrine of community
tor Proclus had raised objections of so grave a of women, so utterly adverse to the views of the
nature against the adoption that the ceremony Oriental nations, had taken a firm root among the
could not take place. Khosrew consequently re- Persians. His heart bled when Nushirad, his son
turned, and it is said that he felt the insult so by a Christian woman, and a Christian himself,
deeply as to seek revenge in carrying destruction rose in arms against him, but he quelled the rebelover the Roman empire. The first war was lion vigorously, and Nushirad perished.
finished in 532 or 533, Justinian having purchased The administration of Khosrew provided for all
peace by an annual tribute of 440,000 pieces of the wants of his subjects; and agriculture, trade, and
gold. One of the conditions of Khosrew was, that learning were equally protected by him. He beseven Greek, but Pagan, sages or philosophers stowed the greatest care upon re-populating ravaged
who had stayed some time at the Persian court, provinces, and rebuilding destroyed cities and vilshould be allowed to live in the Roman empire lages; so that every body could be happy in Persia,
without being subject to the imperial laws against provided he obe3 ed the king's will without oppoPagans. This reflects great credit upon the king. sition. At Gondi Sapor, near Susa, he founded
The conquests of Belisarius excited the jealousy-of an academy apparently on the model of the Greek
Khosrew, and although he received a considerable schools at Athens, Alexandria, &c. He caused the
portion of the treasures which the Greek found at best Greek, Latin, and Indian works to be transCarthage, he thought it prudent to draw the lated into Persian; and had he been an Arsacid
Greek arms into a field where laurels were not so instead of a Sassanid, Persia might have become
easily gained as in Africa. To this effect he under him an Eastern Greece.
roused the Arab Almondar, king of Hira, to make 22. HORMUZ or IIORMISDAS IV., the son of
an inroad into the empire, and as he supported Khosrew, reigned from A.D. 579 till 590. Hecarried
him, hostilities soon broke out between Con- on his father's war with the Greeks, to the disadvan.
stantinople and Ctesiphon also. The details of tage, though not to the disgrace, of Persia. Some
this war, which lasted from 540 to 561, have time before Khosrew died, the general Justinian
been given in the life of Justinian I. The em- had advanced as far as the Caspian, which he experor promised an annual tribute of 40,000 plored by means of a Greek navy, the first that
pieces of gold, and received the cession of the was seen on those waters since the time of Seleucus
Persian claims upon Colchis and Lazica. The Nicator and Antiochus I. Soter, kings of Syria,
third war arose out of the conquest of Yemen and whose admiral Patrocles first displayed the Greek
other parts of Arabia, from which country the flag on the Caspian. Seventy thousand prisoners
Persians drove out an Abyssinian usurper, and were sent by Justinian to Cyprus, where they
placed a king of the ancient royal family on the settled. Upon this Justinian penetrated into
Homeritic throne, who remained consequently a Assyria. In consequence of a defeat sustained by
vassal of Khosrew. The power of the Persian king the Persian Tamchosroes, Justinian was recalled,
was already sufficiently great to inspire fear to the and replaced by Mauritius, who soon retrieved the
emperor Justin II., and as the conquest of Arabia fortune of the Greek arms, and in the very year
afforded Khosrew an opportunity of continually when Chosroes died (579) he took up his winterannoying Syria and Mesopotamia by means of the quarters in Mesopotamia, from whence, in the folroving tribes on the northern borders of Arabia, lowing year, he penetrated into lower Mesopotamia
the emperor resolved upon war. Turks of Cen- and routed a Persian army. He gained another
tral Asia, and Abyssinians from the sources of victory in 581, and Tamchosroes perished in the
the Nile, were his allies. At the same time (569) battle. But Maurice having succeeded the emperor
the Persarmenians drove their Persian governors Tiberius in that year, his general in the East,