Siyavakhsh
Siyavakhsh (also spelled Siyavash) was a Iranian aristocrat from the Mihran family, who was descended from Bahram Chobin, the famous Sasanian spahbed and briefly shahanshah.
Biography
Siyavakhsh was the son Mihran Bahram-i Chubin, whose father was Bahram Chobin. Siyavakhsh is first mentioned during the Sasanian civil war of 628-632, where he is said to have ruled Ray as a vassal king of the Sasanians. When Azarmidokht ascended the Sasanian throne in 630, the powerful army chief (spahbed) Farrukh Hormizd asked her to marry him. Not daring to refuse, Azarmidokht requested Siyavakhsh's aid, who then murdered Farrukh Hormizd.[1] In 632, the civil war ended and the grandees (wuzurgan) of the empire agreed to make Yazdegerd III the king of the empire. However, during the same time, the Arabs, united under the banner of Islam, invaded the Sasanian Empire. Although there were still numerous pagan and Christian Arabs who opposed the Muslim Arabs.
By 651, most of the Sasanian Empire had been conquered by the Arabs, Ray being one of the last Sasanian major cities left. Thus the Arab Nu'aym b. Muqarrin marched towards Ray, and sent a message to them; "The Arab army has set out toward Rayy, and the Arabs have spread elsewhere. None can stand up to them. And Yazdegerd III is far from us."[2] Siyavakhsh then requested help from the people of Damavand, Tabaristan, Qumis, and Gorgan. Mardanshah, the ruler of Damavand, including some other petty rulers agreed to help and sent reinforcements to Siyavakhsh.[3][4] However, unfortunately for Siyavakhsh, Farrukh Hormizd's son Farrukhzad, who had mutinied against Yazdegerd III and knew the environments of Ray very well, made a peace treaty with Nu'yam at Qazvin and agreed to help him against Siyavakhsh.[3]
The combined Ispahbudhan-Arab then engaged in a night battle against Siyavakhsh's army at the foot of the mountain just outside Ray. Farrukhzad led some of Nu'aym's cavalry by a little-known way into the city, from where they attacked the Mihranid army's rear, causing great bloodshed. Siyavakhsh's army was in the end defeated and he was himself killed.[5] To set an example, Nu'aym then ordered the destruction of the aristocratic quarter of Ray. However, the town was later rebuilt by Farrukhzad, who became the ruler of Ray.[3]
Family tree
| Bahram Gushnasp | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mardansina | Unknown | Bahram Chobin | Gorduya | Gordiya | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Noshrad | Mihran Bahram-i Chubin | Shapur | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Siyavakhsh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Toghmath | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jotman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saman Khuda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- ↑ Pourshariati 2008, p. 206.
- ↑ Pourshariati 2008, p. 250.
- 1 2 3 Pourshariati 2008, pp. 251-252.
- ↑ Zarrinkub 1975, p. 19.
- ↑ Shahbazi 1988, pp. 514-522.
Sources
- Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008). Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.
- Zarrinkub, Abd al-Husain (1975). "The Arab conquest of Iran and its aftermath". The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–57. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6.
- Daryaee, Touraj (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–432. ISBN 0199875758.
- Shahbazi, A. Sh. (1988). "BAHRĀM (2)". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 5. pp. 514–522.