Shahrbaraz

Shahrbaraz (also spelled Shahrvaraz or Shahrwaraz; New Persian: شهربراز) was shah (king) of the Sasanian Empire from 27 April 630 to 9 June 630. He usurped the throne from Ardashir III, and was killed by Iranian nobles after forty days. Before usurping the Sasanian throne he was a spahbed (general) under Khosrow II (590–628). He is furthermore noted for his important role during the climactic Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, and the events that followed afterwards.

Shahrbaraz is actually a title, literally meaning "the Boar of the Empire", attesting to his dexterity in military command and his warlike personality, as the boar was the animal associated with the Zoroastrian Izad Vahram, the epitome of victory. Shahrwarāz (Inscriptional Pahlavi: 𐭱𐭲𐭫𐭥𐭫𐭠𐭰 štlwlʾc) is a Middle Persian word, with shahr meaning "country" and warāz meaning "boar". This word is rendered as Shahrbarāz (شهربراز) in New Persian and as Sarvaros (Greek: Σαρβάρος; Latin: Sarbarus) in Byzantine sources. Ferdowsi has used the shortened form Gurāz (گراز, literally "boar"), which is from Middle Persian warāz.

According to al-Tabari, his real name was Farrukhān (فرخان). The name is corrupted as Khoream in Armenian sources and Farāyīn (فرایین) in Ferdowsi's Shahnama. Ferdowsi has split Shahrbaraz's character into two: Farayin who was the usurper, and Shahran-Guraz who supported Bahram Chobin's rebellion.

Armenian sources also use the title Razmyozan (also spelled Razmiozan, Erazmiozan, Razmayuzan). The title is also mentioned as Rasmiozdan, Rasmiozan (Georgian), rsmysa (Arabic: رسميسة, reading uncertain), Rōmēzān, Rūmīzān, Rumbūzān (al-Tabari, Tarikh).

Shahrbaraz belonged to the House of Mihran, one of the Seven Parthian clans; he was the son of a certain Ardashir. During Shahrbaraz's later life, he joined the Sasanian army, where he rose to high offices, and was appointed as spahbed of Nēmrōz. He was married to the sister of the Sasanian king Khosrow II, Mirhran, with whom Shahrbaraz had one boy named Shapur-i Shahrvaraz. Shahrbaraz also had another son named Niketas the Persian, who may be from the same woman or from another.

Shahrbaraz is first mentioned when Khosrow II started the last and most devastating of the Byzantine–Sasanian wars, which lasted 26 years. Khosrow II, along with Shahrbaraz and his other best generals, conquered Dara and Other cities in 604, and in the north, the Byzantines were driven back to the old, pre-591 frontier before Khosrow II gave them most of Sasanian Armenia, parts of Mesopotamia and western half of the Kingdom of Iberia. After reconquering lost territory, Khosrow II withdrew from the battlefield and handed military operations to his best generals. Shahrbaraz was one of them. In 610, Heraclius, an Armenian of probable Arsacid descent, revolted against the Byzantine Emperor Phocas and killed him, crowning himself as Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. After becoming Byzantine Emperor, he prepared a major counter-attack against the Sasanians outside Antioch in 613, but was decisively defeated by Shahrbaraz, who inflicted heavy losses on the Byzantine army and then captured the city, giving the Sasanians naval access to the Mediterranean Sea.

After the Byzantine defeat outside Antioch, Heraclius and his brother Theodore, along with General Nicetas, combined their armies in Syria, but were defeated by Shahrbaraz and his forces who besieged Damascus and captured it along with a large number of Byzantine troops as prisoners. Furthermore, Shahrbaraz also defeated a Byzantine army near Adhri'at. One of the most important events during his career was when he led the Sasanian army towards Palaestina, and after a bloody siege captured Jerusalem, a city sacred to the Christians. After his conquest of Jerusalem the Holy Cross was carried away in triumph. In 618, Shahrbaraz was ordered by Khosrow II to invade Egypt, and by 619, Alexandria, the capital of Byzantine Egypt, was in Sasanian hands.

After the fall of Alexandria, Shahrbaraz and his forces extended Sasanian rule southwards along the Nile. By 621, the province was securely in Sasanian hands, and a certain Sahralanyozan was appointed as its governor. In 622, Heraclius counter-attacked against the Sasanian Empire in Anatolia. Shahrbaraz was sent over there to deal with him, but was eventually defeated by him.