Khosrau II
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Egyptian woven pattern woolen curtain or trousers, which was a copy of a Sassanid silk import, which was in turn based on a fresco of Persian King Khosrau II fighting Ethiopian forces in Yemen, 5-6th century. |
Khosrau II (sometimes called
Parvez, "the ever Victorious" â€" in
Persian: خسرو پرویز) was a King of
Persia, son of
Hormizd IV (579–590), grandson of
Khosrau I (531–579). He ruled from
590 to
628.
Khosrau II was raised to the throne by the magnates who had rebelled against Hormizd IV, who soon after had his father blinded and killed. But at the same time the general
Bahram Chobin had proclaimed himself King Bahram VI (590–591), and Khosrau II was not able to maintain himself.
Khosrau II is also remembered to be one of the powerful kings of the Persian Empire to whom Mohammed had sent messengers to preach the religion of Islam, like he sent messengers to other emperors near the Arabian Peninsula. However, Khosrau II is said to have torn Mohammed's letter preaching Islam to him, and insulting the messenger and the teachings of Islam. It is narrated by some Islamic traditions that his disrespect of various religions, was one of the reasons for the kings' downfall.
The war with the
Romans, which had begun in
571, had not yet come to an end. Khosrau II fled to
Syria, and persuaded the Emperor
Maurice (582–602) to send help. Many leading men and part of the troops acknowledged Khosrau II, and in 591 he was brought back to
Ctesiphon. Bahram VI was defeated and he fled to the
Turkics, among whom he was murdered. Peace with Rome was then concluded.
Maurice made no use of his advantage; he merely restored the former frontier and abolished the subsidies which had formerly been paid to the Persians. Khosrau II was much inferior to his grandfather. He was haughty and cruel, rapacious and given to luxury; he was neither a
general nor an
administrator. At the beginning of his reign he favoured the
Christians; but when in
602 Maurice had been murdered by
Phocas (602–610), he began war with Rome to avenge his death. His armies plundered
Syria and
Asia Minor, and in
608 advanced to
Chalcedon.
In
613 and
614 Damascus and
Jerusalem were taken by the general
Shahrbaraz, and the
True Cross was carried away in triumph. Soon after, even
Egypt was conquered. The Romans could offer but little resistance, as they were torn by internal dissensions, and pressed by the
Avars and
Slavs. At last, in
622, the Emperor
Heraclius (who had succeeded
Phocas in
610 and ruled until 641) was able to take the field. In
624 he advanced into northern
Media, where he destroyed the great fire-temple of
Gandzak (Gazaca); in
626 he fought in Lazistan (
Colchis), while Shahrbaraz advanced to Chalcedon, and tried in vain, united with the Avars, to conquer
Constantinople.
In
627 Heraclius defeated the Persian army at the
Battle of Nineveh and advanced towards
Ctesiphon. Khosrau II fled from his favourite residence, Dastagei (near
Baghdad), without offering resistance; and as his despotism and indolence had roused opposition everywhere, his eldest son
Kavadh II (he ruled briefly in 628), whom Khosrau II had imprisoned, was set free by some of the leading men and proclaimed King (night of
23-4 February, 628).
[According James Howard-Johnston in his notes to The Armenian History attributed to Sebeos (trans. R.W. Thomson; Liverpool: University Press, 1999), p. 221] Four days afterwards, Khosrau II was murdered in his palace. Meanwhile, Heraclius returned in triumph to Constantinople; in
629 the Cross was given back to him and Egypt evacuated, while the Persian empire, from the apparent greatness which it had reached ten years ago, sank into hopeless anarchy.
*
Shirin Beloved wife of Khosrau*
Non-Muslims Interactants with Muslims During Muhammad's Era
