Bahram V.,
Gor.

Zoroastrianism was punished with death, and therefore also the proselytizing of the Christians, though the Syrian martyrologies prove that the kings frequently ignored these proceedings so long as it was at all possible to do so.

Chosroes I. was one of the most illustrious sovereigns of the Sassanian Empire. From him dates a new and equitable adjustment of the imperial taxation, which was later adopted by the Arabs. His reputation as an enlightened ruler stood so high that when Justinian, in 529, closed the school of Athens, the last Neoplatonists bent their steps: to him in hopes of finding in him the true philosopher-king. Their disillusionment, indeed, was speedy and complete, and their gratitude was great, when, by the conditions of the armistice of 549, he allowed their return. From 540 onward he conducted a great war against Justinian (527-565), which, though interrupted by several armistices, lasted till the fifty years' peace of 562. The net result, indeed, was merely to restore the status quo; but during the campaigni Chosroes sacked Antioch and transplanted the population to a new quarter of Ctesiphon (540). He also extended his power to the Black Sea and the Caucasus; on the other hand, a siege of Edessa failed (544). A second war broke out in 577, chiefly on the question of Armenia and the Caucasus territory. In this Chosroes ravaged Cappadocia in 575; but the campaign in Mesopotamia was unsuccessful. In the interval between these two struggles (570) he despatched assistance to the Arabs of Yemen, who had been assailed and subdued by the Abyssinian Christians; after which period Yemen remained nominally under Persian suzerainty till its fate was sealed by the conquests of Mahomet and Islam.

put an end to the persecutions, and allowed the Persian Christians | (Pahlavi), and declared its contents binding. Defection from an individual organization, In the Persian tradition he is consequently known as "the sinner.". In the end he was probably assassinated. So great was the bitterness against him that the magnates would admit none of his sons to the throne. One of them, however, Bahram V., found an auxiliary in the Arab chief Mondhir, who had founded a principality in Hira, west of the lower Euphrates; and, as he pledged himself to govern otherwise than his father, he received general recognition. This pledge he redeemed, and This pledge he redeemed, and he is, in consequence, the darling of Persian tradition, which bestows on him the title of Gor (" the wild ass "), and is eloquent on his adventures in the chase and in love. This reversal of policy led to a Christian persecution and a new war with Rome. Bahram, however, was worsted; and in the peace of 422 Persia agreed to allow the Christians free exercise of their religion in the empire, while the same privilege was accorded to Zoroastrianism by Rome. Under his son, Yazdegerd II. (438-457), who once more revived the persecutions of the Christians and the Jews, a short conflict with Rome again ensued (441): while at the same time war prevailed in the east against the remnants of the Kushan Empire and the tribe of Kidarites, also named Huns. Here a new foe soon arose in the shape of the Ephthalites (Haitab), also known as the "White Huns," a barbaric tribe The Ephtha- which shortly after A.D. 450 raided Bactria and ter minated the Kushana dominion (Procop. Pers. i. 3). White Huns. These Ephthalite attacks harassed and weakened the Sassanids, exactly as the Tocharians had harassed and weakened the Arsacids after Phraates II. Peroz (457-484) fell in battle against them; his treasures and family were captured and the country devastated far and near. His brother Balash (484-488), being unable to repel them, was deposed and blinded, and the crown was bestowed on Kavadh I. (488-531), the son of Peroz. As the external and internal distress still continued he was dethroned and imprisoned, but took refuge among the Ephthalites and was restored in 499 by their assistance-like so many Arsacids by the arms of the Dahae and Sacae. To these struggles obviously must be attributed mainly the fact that in the whole of this period no Roman war broke out. But, at the same time, the religious duel had lost in intensity, since, among the Persian Christians, the Nestorian doctrine was now dominant. Peroz had already favoured the diffusion of Nestorianism, and in 483 it was officially adopted by a synod, after which it remained the Christian Church of the Persian Empire, its head being the patriarch of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.

lites or

Kavadh I.

The Mazdakite Sect.

Kavadh proved himself a vigorous ruler. On his return he restored order in the interior. In 502 he attacked the Romans and captured and destroyed Amida (mod. Diarbekr), but was compelled to ratify a peace owing to an inroad of the Huns. Toward the close of his reign (527) he resumed the war, defeating Belisarius at Callinicum (531), with the zealous support of the wild Arab Mondhir II. of Hira. On his death his son Chosroes I. concluded a peace with Justinian (532), pledging the Romans to an annual subsidy for the maintenance of the Caucasus fortresses. In his home policy Kavadh is reminiscent of Yazdegerd I. Like him he had little inclination to the orthodox church, and favoured Mazdak, the founder of a communistic sect which had made headway among the people and might be used as a weapon against the nobles, of whom Mazdak demanded that they should cut down their luxury and distribute their superfluous wealth. Another feature of his programme was the community of wives. The crown-prince, Chosroes, was, on the other hand, wholly orthodox; and, towards the close of his father's reign, in conjunction with the chief Magian, he carried through a sacrifice of the Mazdakites, who were butchered in a great massacre (528). Chosroes I. (531-579), surnamed Anushirvan ("the blessed"), then restored the orthodox doctrine in Chosroes I., full, publishing his decision in a religious edict. Anushirvan. At the same time he produced the official exposition of the Avesta, an exegetical translation in the popular tongue

Meanwhile, about A.D. 560, a new nation had sprung up in the East, the Turks. Chosroes concluded an alliance with them against the Ephthalites and so conquered First ApBactria south of the Oxus, with its capital Balkh. pearance of Thus this province, which, since the insurrection the Turks, of Diodotus in 250 B.C., had undergone, entirely Sassanid Conquest of different vicissitudes from the rest of Iran, was Bactria. once more united to an Iranian Empire, and the Sassanid dominions, for the first time, passed the frontiers of the Arsacids. This, however, was the limit of their expansion. Neither the territories north of the Oxus, nor eastern Afghanistan and the Indus provinces, were ever subject to them. That the alliance with the Turks should soon change to hostility and mutual attack was inevitable from the nature of the case; in the second Roman war the Turkish Khan was leagued with Rome.

Chosroes bequeathed this war to his son Hormizd IV. (579590), who, in spite of repeated negotiations, failed to re-establish peace. Hormizd had not the ability to retain the authority of his father, and he further affronted the Magian priesthood by declining to proceed against the Christians and by requiring that, in his empire, both religions should dwell together in peace. Eventually he succumbed to a conspiracy of his magnates, at whose head stood the general Bahram Cobin, who had defeated the Turks, but afterwards was beaten by the Romans. Hormizd's son, Chosroes II., was set up against his father and forced to acquiesce in his execution. But immediately new risings broke out, in which Bahram Cobin-though not of the royal line attempted to secure the crown, while simultaneously a Prince Chosroes II. Bistam entered the lists. Chosroes fled to the Romans and the emperor Maurice undertook his restoration at the head of a great army. The people flocked to his standard; Bahram Cobin was routed (591) and fled to the Turks, who slew him, and Chosroes once more ascended the throne of Ctesiphon; Bistam held out in Media till 596. Maurice made no attempt to turn the opportunity to Roman advantage, and in the peace then concluded he even abandoned Nisibis to the Persians.

Chosroes II. (590-628) is distinguished by the surname of Parvez ("the conqueror "), though, in point of fact, he was immeasurably inferior to a powerful sovereign like his grandfather, or even to a competent general. He lived, however, to witness unparalleled vicissitudes of fortune. The assassination

1

The empire of the Seljuks was essentially military. Their authority over their own officers was so precarious that they preferred to entrust the command to Turkish slaves. These officers, however, were far from loyal to their lords. In every part of the empire they gradually superseded the Seljuk princes, and the minor dynasties above mentioned all owed their existence to the ambition of the Turkish regents or atabegs. The last important dynasty in Persia prior to the Mongol invasion was that of the Salgharids in Fars, founded by the descendants of a Turkish general Salaghar, who had formerly been a Turkoman leader and ultimately became chamberlain to Toghrul Beg. The first ruler was Sonkor b. Modud, who made himself independent in Fars in 1148. The fourth, Sa'd, became tributary to the Khwarizm shahs in 1195, and the fifth acknowledged allegiance to the Mongol Ogotai and received the title Kutbegh Khan. His successors were vassals of the Mongols, and the last, the Princess 'Abish (d. 1287), was the wife of Hulagu's son Mangu Timur.

Kerman, and Irak with Kurdistan. Sinjar himself lost all his | Empire stretching from the Caspian to the Yellow Sea was dominions except Khorasan in wars with the Karakitai. The divided up among his sons. Persia itself fell partly in the sultans of Kerman were rarely independent in the full sense, domain of Jagatai and partly in that of the Golden Horde. but they enjoyed comparative peace and prosperity till the The actual governor of Persia was Tului or Tule, whose son death of Toghrul Shah (1170), after which their power fell Hulagu or Hulaku is the first who can be rightly regarded as before the Ghuzz tribes; Kerman was finally captured in 1195 the sovereign of Persia. His accession occurred in 1256, and by the Khwarizm shahs. Meanwhile an independent dynasty henceforward Persia becomes after 600 years of spasmodic was formed about 1136 in Azerbaijan by the governors (atabegs) government a national unit. Hulagu at once proceeded to appointed by the Seljuks; this dynasty was overthrown by the destroy a number of nascent dynasties which endeavoured to Khwarizm shahs in 1225. Similar dynasties existed in Laristan establish themselves on the ruins of the Khwarizm Empire; and Fars. about 1255 he destroyed the dynasty of the Assassins by the capture of their stronghold of Alamut (Eagle's Nest), and finally in 1258 captured Bagdad. The thirty-eighth and last Abbasid caliph, Mostasim, was brutally murdered, and thus the Mahommedan caliphate ceased to exist even as an emasculated pontificate. The Persian Empire under Hulagu and his descendants extended from the dominions of Jagatai on the north to that of the Egyptian dynasts on the south, and from the Byzantine Empire on the west to the confines of China. Its rulers paid a nominal homage to the Khakhan (Great Khan) in China, and officially recognized this dependence in their title of Ilkhan, i.e. provincial or dependent khan. From 1258 to 1335 the Ilkhans were not seriously challenged. Hulagu fixed his capital at Maragha (Meragha) in Azerbaijan, where he erected an observatory for Nasir ud-din Tusi, who at his request prepared the astronomical tables known as the Zidj-i-Ilkhani. He died in 1265 and was succeeded by his son Abagha or Abaka, who married the daughter of Michael Palaeologus, the Byzantine ruler. Abagha was a peaceful ruler and endeavoured by wise administration to give order and prosperity to a country torn asunder by a long period of intestine war and the Mongol invasion. He succeeded in repelling two attacks by other Mongolian princes of the house of Jenghiz Khan; otherwise his reign was uneventful. His brother Nikudar (originally Nicolas) Ahmad Khan succeeded him in 1281. This prince was converted to Islam, an event of great moment both to the internal peace and to the external relations of Persia. His persecution of the Christians led them into alliance with the Mongols, who detested Islam; the combined forces were too strong for Nikudar, who was murdered in 1284. The external results were of more importance. The Ilkhans, who had failed in their attempt to wrest Syria from the Mameluke rulers of Egypt, had subsequently endeavoured to effect their object by inducing the European Powers to make a new crusade. The conversion of Nikudar put an end to this policy and Egypt was for some time free from Persian attack (see EGYPT: History). The Mongol leaders put on the throne a son of Abagha, by name Arghun. His reign was troubled. His first minister Shams ud-din was suspected of having poisoned Abagha, and was soon

Khwarizm.

Before passing on to the Mongol conquerors of Persia it is necessary briefly to notice the shahs of Khwarizm, who have frequently been mentioned as overthrowing the minor dynasties which arose with the decay of the Seljuks. These rulers were descended from Anushtajin, a Turkish slave of Ghazni, who became cupbearer to the Seljuk Malik Shah, and afterwards governor of Khwarizm (Khiva) in 1077. In 1138 the third of the line, Atsiz, revolted but was defeated and expelled by Sinjar. Shortly afterwards he returned, firmly established his power, and extended the Khwarizm Empire as far as Jand on the Sihun. The brief reigns of Il-Arslan and Sultan Shah Mahmud were succeeded by that of Tukush (1172-1199) and Ala ed-din Mahommed1 (1199-1220). The former of these subdued Khorasan, Rai and Isfahan, while the latter brought practically all Persia under his sway, conquered Bokhara, Samarkand and Otrar, capital of the Karakitai, and had even made himself master of Ghazni when his career was stopped by the hordes of the Mongol Jenghiz Khan. In 1231 the last of his house, Jelal ud-din (Jalaluddin) Mangbarti, or Mango-berti, was banished, and thus the empire of the Khwarizm❘ shahs, which for a brief period had included practically all the put to death. His successor, the amir Bogha, conspired against lands conquered by the Seljuks, passed away.

Thus from the fall of the Samanids to the invasion of the Mongols five or at most six important dynasties held sway over Persia, while some forty small dynasties enjoyed a measure of local autonomy. During the whole of this period the Abbasid caliphs had been nominally reigning throughout the Mahommedan world with their capital at Bagdad. But with hardly any exceptions they had been the merest puppets, now in the hands of Turkish ministers, now under the protection of practically independent dynasts. The real rulers of Persia during the years 874-1231 were, as we have seen, the Samanids, the Buyids, the Ghaznevids, the Seljuks, the Salgharids and the Khwarizm shahs. We now come to a new period in Persian history, when the numerous petty dynasties which succeeded the Seljuks were all swallowed up in the great Mongol invasion.

In the later years of the 12th century the Mongols began their westward march and, after the conquest of the ancient kingdom of the Kajakitai, reached the borders of Mongols. the territory of the Khwarizm shahs, which was at once overwhelmed. Jenghiz Khan died in 1272, and the Mongol It was this prince who destroyed the Ghorid dynasty, which claimed descent from the legendary Persian monarch Zohak. Except for a brief period of submission to the Ghaznevids (10091099) they ruled at Ghor until 1215, when they were conquered after a fierce struggle.

Arghun and was executed. Under the third minister (12891291), a Jewish doctor named Sa'd addaula (ed-Dowleh), religious troubles arose owing to his persecution of the Mahommedans and his favouring the Christians. The financial administration of Sa'd was prudent and successful, if somewhat severe, and the revenue benefited considerably under his care. But he committed the tactical error of appointing a disproportionate number of Jews and Christians as revenue officials, and thus made many enemies among the Mongol nobles, who had him assassinated in 1291 when Arghun was lying fatally ill. It is possible that it was Sa'd's diplomacy which led Pope Nicholas IV. to send a mission to Arghun with a view to a new crusade. The reign of Arghun was also disturbed by a rebellion of a grandson of Hulagu, Baidu Khan. Arghun died soon after the murder of Sa'd, and was succeeded by his brother Kaikhatu, or Gaykhatu, who was taken prisoner by Baidu Khan and killed (1295). Baidu's reign was cut short in the same year by Arghun's son Ghazan Mahmud, whose reign (1295–1304) was a period of prosperity in war and administration. Ghazan 2 The dynasty of the Assassins or Isma'ilites was founded in 1090 and extended its rule over much of western Persia and Syria (for the rulers see Stockvis, op. cit. i. 131, and article ASSASSIN).

Kuyunli, who had established a dynasty in western Persia after
Kara Yusuf's victory in 1410.

3. The Sarbadarids (so called from their motto Sar-ba-dar, " Head to the Gibbet "), descendants of Abd al-Razzak, who rebelled in Khorasan about 1337, enjoyed some measure of independence under twelve rulers till they also were destroyed by Timur (c. 1380). 4. The Beni Kurt (or Kart), who had governed in Khorasan from 1245, became independent in the early 14th century; they were abolished by Timur (c. 1383).

5. The Jubanians had some power in Azerbaijan from 1337 to 1355, when they were dethroned by the Kipchaks of the house of Jenghiz Khan.

was a man of great ability. He established a permanent staff | to deal with legal, financial and military affairs, put on a firm 2. The Mozaffarids, who ruled roughly from 1313 to 1399 in basis the monetary system and the system of weights and Fars, Kerman and Kurdistan, were descended from the Amir measures, and perfected the mounted postal service. Ghazan Mozaffar, or Muzaffar, who held a post as governor under the fought with success against Egypt (which country had already Ilkhan ruler. His son Mobariz ud-din Mahommed, who followed him in 1313, became governor in Fars under Abu Sa'id, in Kerfrom 1293 to December 1294 been ruled by a Mongol usurper man in 1340, and subsequently made himself independent at Kitboga), and even held Damascus for a few months. In 1303, Fars and Shiraz (1353) and in Isfahan (1356). In 1357 he was however, his troops were defeated at Merj al-Saffar, and Mongol deposed and blinded, and though restored was exiled again and died claims on Syria were definitely abandoned. It was in 1364. even His descendants, except for Jelal ed-din (Jalaluddin) suggested that the titular Abbasid caliphs (who retained an Shah Shuja', the patron of the poet Hafiz, were unimportant, and the dynasty was wiped out by Timur about 1392. empty title in Cairo under Mameluke protection) should be reinstated at Bagdad, but this proposal was not carried into effect. Ghazan is historically important, however, mainly as the first Mongol ruler who definitely adopted Islam with a large number of his subjects. He died in 1304, traditionally of anger at the Syrian fiasco, and was succeeded by his brother Uljaitu (Oeljeitu). The chief events of his reign were a successful war against Tatar invaders and the substitution of the new city of Sultania as capital for Tabriz, which had been Ghazan's headquarters. Uljaitu was a Shi'ite and even stamped his coins with the names of the twelve Shi'ite imams. He died in 1316, and was succeeded by Abu Sa'id, his son. The prince, under whom a definite peace was made with Malik al-Nasir, the Mameluke ruler of Egypt, had great trouble with powerful viziers and generals which he accentuated by his passion for Bagdad-Khatun, wife of the amir Hosain and daughter of the amir Chupan. This lady he eventually married, with the result that Chupan headed a revolt of his tribe, the Selduz. Abu Sa'id died of fever in 1335, and with him the first Mongol or Ilkhan dynasty of Persia practically came to an end. The real power was divided between Chupan and Hosain the Jelair (or Jalair), or the Ilkhanian, and their sons, known respectively as the Little Ḥasan (Ḥasan Kuchuk) and the great Hasan (Hasan Buzurg). Two puppet kings, Arpa Khan, a descendant of Hulagu's brother Arikbuhga, and Musa Khan, a descendant of Baidu, nominally reigned for a few months each. Then Hasan Kuchuk set up one Sati-beg, Abu Sa'id's daughter, and wife successively of Chupan, Arfa Khan and one Suleiman, the last of whom was khan from 1339 to 1343; in the same time Hasan Buzurg set up successively Mahommed, Tugha-Timur and JahanTimur. A sixth nonentity, Nushirwan, was a Chupani nominee in 1344, after which time Hasan Buzurg definitely installed himself as the first khan of the Jelairid or Ilkhanian-Jelairid dynasty.

Practically from the reign of Abu Sa'id Persia was divided under five minor dynasties, (1) the Jelairids, (2) the Mozaffarids, (3) the Sarbadarids (Serbedarians), (4) the Beni Dynasties. Kurt, and (5) the Jubanians, all of which ultimately

Minor

fell before the armies of Timur.

1. The Jelairid rulers were Hasan Buzurg (1336, strictly 13441356), Owais (1356-1374), Hosain (1374-1382), Sultan Ahmad (1382-1410), Shah Walad (1410-1411). Their capital was Bagdad, and their dominion was increased under Hasan. Owais added Azerbaijan, Tabriz, and even Mosul and Diarbekr. Hosain fought with the Mozaffarids of Shiraz and the Black Sheep Turkomans (Kara Kuyunli) of Armenia, with the latter of whom he ultimately entered into alliance. On his death Azerbaijan and Irak fell to his brother, Sultan Ahmad, while another brother Bayezid ruled for a few months in part of Kurdistan. It was about this time that Timur (q.v.) began his great career of conquest, under which the power of the various Persian dynasties collapsed. By 1393 he had conquered northern Persia and Armenia, Bagdad, Mesopotamia, Diarbekr and Van, and Ahmad fled to Egypt, where he was received by Barkuk (Barquq) the Mameluke sultan. Barkuk, who had already excited the enmity of Timur by slaying one of his envoys, espoused Ahmad's cause, and restored him to Bagdad after Timur's return to his normal capital Samarkand. Timur retaliated and until his death Ahmad ruled only from time to time. In 1406 Ahmad was finally restored, but almost immediately entered upon a quarrel with Kara Yusuf, leader of the Black Sheep Turkomans (Kara Kuyunli), who defeated and killed him in 1410. His nephew Shah Walad reigned for a few months only and the throne was occupied by his widow Tandu, formerly wife of Barkuk, who ruled over Basra, Wasit and Shuster till 1416, paying allegiance to Shah Rukh, the second Timurid ruler. Walad's sons Mahmud, Owais and Mahommed, and Hosain, grandson of Sultan Ahmad, successively occupied the throne. The last of these was killed by the Kara

The authority of Timur, which, as we have seen, was dominant throughout Persia from at least as early as 1395 till his death in 1405, was never unchallenged. He passed from one victory to another, but the conquered districts were never really settled under his administration. Fresh risings of the defeated dynasties followed each new enterprise, and he had also to deal with the Mongol hordes whose territory marched with northern Persia. His descendants were for a brief period the overlords of Persia, but after Shah Rukh (reigned 1409-1446) and Ala addaula (1447), the so-called Timurid dynasty ceased to have any authority over Persia. There were Timurid. governors of Fars under Shah Rukh, Pir Mahommed (1405-1409), Iskendar (1409-1414), Ibrahim (1415-1434) and Abdallah (1434); in other parts of Persia many of the Timurid family held governorships of greater or less importance.

AUTHORITIES.-The works relating to Persia will be found under articles on the main dynasties (CALIPHATE; SELJUKS; MONGOLS), and the great rulers (JENGHIZ KHAN; MAHMUD OF GHAZNI; TIMUR). Mohammedan Dynasties (London, 1894); Stockvis, Manuel d'hisFor general information and chronology see S. Lane Poole, toire, vol. i. (Leiden, 1888); Sir H. Howorth, History of the Mongols (1876-1888). (J. M. M.)

C.-From the Death of Timur to the Fall of the Safawid Dynasty, 1405-1736.

1405-1499.

Timur died in 1405, when in the seventieth year of his age and about to invade China. Besides exercising sovereignty over Transoxiana and those vast regions more or The Timuless absorbed in Asiatic Russia of the 19th century, rides and inclusive of the Caucasus, Astrakhan and the Turkomans, lower Volga, and overrunning Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, Afghanistan and India, he had at this time left his indelible mark upon the chief cities and provinces of Persia. Khorasan and Mazandaran had submitted to him in 1381, Azerbaijan had shortly after followed their example, and Isfahan was seized in 1387. From Isfahan he passed on to Shiraz, and thence returned in triumph to his own capital of Samarkand. Five years later he subdued Mazandaran, and later still he was again at Shiraz, having effected the subjugation of Luristan and other provinces in the west. It may be said that from north to south, or from Astarabad to Hormuz, the whole country had been brought within his dominion.

The third son of Timur, Miran Shah, had ruled over part of Persia in his father's lifetime; but he was said to be insane, and his incapacity for government had caused the loss of Bagdad and revolt in other provinces. His claim to succession had been put aside by Timur in favour of Pir Mahommed, the son of a deceased son, but Khalil Shah, a son of the discarded prince, won the day. His waste of time and treasure upon a fascinating mistress named Shadu 'l-Mulk, the "delight of the kingdom," soon brought about his deposition, and in 1408 he gave way to Shah Rukh, who, with the exception of Miran Shah, was the only surviving son of Timur. In fact the uncle and nephew changed places-the one quitting his government of Khorasan