The roots of the civil war lay in the policies and harsh treatment of the Sassanian aristocracy by Shahanshah Hormizd IV, who intensified the reforms of his predecessor Kavadh I. Hormizd sought to take power away from the elites within the state and to achieve that he took heavy and sometimes extreme measures against them. He often sided with the lower classes and went against the wishes of Zoroastrian elites by refusing to persecute Christians within his realm. But he also frequently executed members of the aristocracy, priesthood and the military apparatus. The death toll of his purges was said to have been as high as 13,600.
**Arsacid Descendant: The Impressive Rise of Bahram Chobin**
Born a member of the House of Mihran and descended from Parthian nobility, Bahram begun his military career as Marzban of Ray, until his involvement in the Roman–Sassanian War of 572–591, and particularly in the siege and capture of the vital city of Dara in 573 AD, thanks to which he was promoted to Spahbed of the North. He continued fighting the Romans for the next 15 years in an indecisive conflict.
Bahram’s moment would come when the Khagan of the First Turkic Empire, Bagha, and his White Hun subjects from the East invaded the Sassanian Empire, sparking the Perso-Turkic War of 588-589. The invading Turks captured the cities of Balkh, Talaqan, Badghis and Herat, plundering and raiding the realm. Bahram Chobin was chosen to lead a counterattack, and with 12,000 hand-picked horsemen, he ambushed and humiliated a much larger Turkic and White Hun host in the Battle of the Hyrcanian Rock. He then succeeded in retaking Balkh and captured Bagha’s treasury and golden throne.
If that wasn’t enough, Bahram proceeded to cross the Oxus river, crush the Turks again and personally kill the Khagan Bagha with an arrowshot. He reached as far as Baykand, where he attacked Birmudha, the son of the dead Khagan, capturing him and sending him to Hormizd in Ctesiphon.
After his victory, he was sent to the Caucasus, where he successfully repelled a Khazar invasion. After which, he won a battle against the Romans in Iberia, but then lost against them in the Battle of the Araxis. Hormizd, afraid of Bahram’s numerous successes and popularity, decided to use this one defeat as an excuse to remove him from office and humiliated him by sending him women’s clothing to wear. In another version, he was removed from office and sent a chain and a spindle after his victory against the Turks in the East. Regardless of the sequence of events, his treatment by the king of kings made Bahram rebel against his Shahanshah.
**Hormizd’s Death: Khorsow’s Ascension and Fall and Bahram’s Parthian Restoration**
After Bahram launched his rebellion, Hormizd sent two generals to stop him, Azen Gushnasp and Sarames the Elder. One was assassinated in Hamadan and the other was defeated by Bahram and was trampled to death by elephants. As this was happening, Hormizd’s brothers-in-law, Vistahm and Vinduyih, blinded and executed him in a palace coup, raising his son, the 20-year old Khosrow II, as the new Shahanshah. Bahram continued his rebellion despite his enemy’s death, marching to Ctesiphon, where he defeated Khosrow’s small forces.
After taking over Ctesiphon, Bahram declared himself Shahanshah in the Summer of 590 AD, declaring the restoration of the Parthian Empire and the rule of the Arsacid dynasty over Iran. He attempted to legitimise his rule through Zoroastrian apocalyptic prophecies, in which by the end of Zoroaster’s millennium (which had almost come by the time of Bahram’s reign) chaos and a series of destructive wars with the Huns and the Romans would be followed by the appearance of the messianic figure known as the Kay Bahram Varjavand (foreshadowing for the final Roman-Persian War of 602-628, which involved Huns and the birth of Islam). Despite his efforts, he remained unpopular within the realm, as most of the aristocracy was still loyal to the young and legitimate Khosrow.
**Roman Intervention: Maurice Saves the House of Sassan**
As Bahram took over Ctesiphon, the young Khosrow II was forced to flee the capital with his retinue and headed to the Eastern Roman Empire, where he promised the Roman Emperor Maurice control over the cities of Amida, Carrhae, Dara and Martyropolis, as well as control over Iberia and Armenia, if Maurice helped him regain his throne. Maurice accepted his offer, and went even further by treating Khosrow as a son, beginning a close friendship between the two.
In 591 AD, Khosrow moved to the city of Constantia, from where he and Maurice prepared to invade Bahram Chobin’s territories in Mesopotamia, while his uncles, Vistahm and Vinduyih, were raising an army in Adurbadagan under the observation of the Roman commander John Mystacon, who was also raising an army in Armenia. After preparations were done, Khosrow under the supervision of the Roman strategos Comentiolus, invaded Mesopotamia and took over the cities of Nisibis and Martyropolis.
Bahram’s commanders did not last long. Zatsparham was defeated in battle and killed, while and Bryzacius was captured in Mosul and executed. The Roman strategos Narses retook Dara and Mardin, where Khosrow was re-declared as Shahanshah. Soon enough, Ctesiphon was captured by the Sassanian loyalist Mahbodh, while Vistahm, Vinduyih and John Mystacon defeated the much smaller forces of Bahram in the Battle of Blarathon, forcing him to flee to the Turkic Khanagate with his last 4,000 men and ending the civil war.
 **Epilogue: The Second Ascension of Khosrow and the End of Bahram**
After his defeat, the disgraced Bahram managed to score a minor victory in Nishapur while fleeing, before making it to Fergana, where he was received by the Turkic Khagan Birmudha, whom he had once captured in battle. Bahram was treated with respect and appointed as an army commander, achieving further military accomplishments there. However Khosrow, not wanting to leave a loose end, managed to deal with him by either having him assassinated or by convincing the Turks to execute him. Thus came the end of the last Parthian and the second ascension of Khosrow II to the Sassanian throne.
Maurice and Khosrow would continue to have friendly relations, up until the former’s death at the hands of the usurper Phocas in 602 AD, after which Khosrow would invade his former Romans allies, beginning the Final Roman-Persian War of 602-628, that would last almost three decades and lead to the utter destruction of both empires.
I would like to credit u/Philippicus_586AD for helping me with the meme.
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**The Sasanian Civil War of 589–591 AD**
**Hormizd’s Rule: The Seeds of Discontent**
The roots of the civil war lay in the policies and harsh treatment of the Sassanian aristocracy by Shahanshah Hormizd IV, who intensified the reforms of his predecessor Kavadh I. Hormizd sought to take power away from the elites within the state and to achieve that he took heavy and sometimes extreme measures against them. He often sided with the lower classes and went against the wishes of Zoroastrian elites by refusing to persecute Christians within his realm. But he also frequently executed members of the aristocracy, priesthood and the military apparatus. The death toll of his purges was said to have been as high as 13,600.
**Arsacid Descendant: The Impressive Rise of Bahram Chobin**
Born a member of the House of Mihran and descended from Parthian nobility, Bahram begun his military career as Marzban of Ray, until his involvement in the Roman–Sassanian War of 572–591, and particularly in the siege and capture of the vital city of Dara in 573 AD, thanks to which he was promoted to Spahbed of the North. He continued fighting the Romans for the next 15 years in an indecisive conflict.
Bahram’s moment would come when the Khagan of the First Turkic Empire, Bagha, and his White Hun subjects from the East invaded the Sassanian Empire, sparking the Perso-Turkic War of 588-589. The invading Turks captured the cities of Balkh, Talaqan, Badghis and Herat, plundering and raiding the realm. Bahram Chobin was chosen to lead a counterattack, and with 12,000 hand-picked horsemen, he ambushed and humiliated a much larger Turkic and White Hun host in the Battle of the Hyrcanian Rock. He then succeeded in retaking Balkh and captured Bagha’s treasury and golden throne.
If that wasn’t enough, Bahram proceeded to cross the Oxus river, crush the Turks again and personally kill the Khagan Bagha with an arrowshot. He reached as far as Baykand, where he attacked Birmudha, the son of the dead Khagan, capturing him and sending him to Hormizd in Ctesiphon.
After his victory, he was sent to the Caucasus, where he successfully repelled a Khazar invasion. After which, he won a battle against the Romans in Iberia, but then lost against them in the Battle of the Araxis. Hormizd, afraid of Bahram’s numerous successes and popularity, decided to use this one defeat as an excuse to remove him from office and humiliated him by sending him women’s clothing to wear. In another version, he was removed from office and sent a chain and a spindle after his victory against the Turks in the East. Regardless of the sequence of events, his treatment by the king of kings made Bahram rebel against his Shahanshah.
**Hormizd’s Death: Khorsow’s Ascension and Fall and Bahram’s Parthian Restoration**
After Bahram launched his rebellion, Hormizd sent two generals to stop him, Azen Gushnasp and Sarames the Elder. One was assassinated in Hamadan and the other was defeated by Bahram and was trampled to death by elephants. As this was happening, Hormizd’s brothers-in-law, Vistahm and Vinduyih, blinded and executed him in a palace coup, raising his son, the 20-year old Khosrow II, as the new Shahanshah. Bahram continued his rebellion despite his enemy’s death, marching to Ctesiphon, where he defeated Khosrow’s small forces.
After taking over Ctesiphon, Bahram declared himself Shahanshah in the Summer of 590 AD, declaring the restoration of the Parthian Empire and the rule of the Arsacid dynasty over Iran. He attempted to legitimise his rule through Zoroastrian apocalyptic prophecies, in which by the end of Zoroaster’s millennium (which had almost come by the time of Bahram’s reign) chaos and a series of destructive wars with the Huns and the Romans would be followed by the appearance of the messianic figure known as the Kay Bahram Varjavand (foreshadowing for the final Roman-Persian War of 602-628, which involved Huns and the birth of Islam). Despite his efforts, he remained unpopular within the realm, as most of the aristocracy was still loyal to the young and legitimate Khosrow.
**Roman Intervention: Maurice Saves the House of Sassan**
As Bahram took over Ctesiphon, the young Khosrow II was forced to flee the capital with his retinue and headed to the Eastern Roman Empire, where he promised the Roman Emperor Maurice control over the cities of Amida, Carrhae, Dara and Martyropolis, as well as control over Iberia and Armenia, if Maurice helped him regain his throne. Maurice accepted his offer, and went even further by treating Khosrow as a son, beginning a close friendship between the two.
In 591 AD, Khosrow moved to the city of Constantia, from where he and Maurice prepared to invade Bahram Chobin’s territories in Mesopotamia, while his uncles, Vistahm and Vinduyih, were raising an army in Adurbadagan under the observation of the Roman commander John Mystacon, who was also raising an army in Armenia. After preparations were done, Khosrow under the supervision of the Roman strategos Comentiolus, invaded Mesopotamia and took over the cities of Nisibis and Martyropolis.
Bahram’s commanders did not last long. Zatsparham was defeated in battle and killed, while and Bryzacius was captured in Mosul and executed. The Roman strategos Narses retook Dara and Mardin, where Khosrow was re-declared as Shahanshah. Soon enough, Ctesiphon was captured by the Sassanian loyalist Mahbodh, while Vistahm, Vinduyih and John Mystacon defeated the much smaller forces of Bahram in the Battle of Blarathon, forcing him to flee to the Turkic Khanagate with his last 4,000 men and ending the civil war.
 **Epilogue: The Second Ascension of Khosrow and the End of Bahram**
After his defeat, the disgraced Bahram managed to score a minor victory in Nishapur while fleeing, before making it to Fergana, where he was received by the Turkic Khagan Birmudha, whom he had once captured in battle. Bahram was treated with respect and appointed as an army commander, achieving further military accomplishments there. However Khosrow, not wanting to leave a loose end, managed to deal with him by either having him assassinated or by convincing the Turks to execute him. Thus came the end of the last Parthian and the second ascension of Khosrow II to the Sassanian throne.
Maurice and Khosrow would continue to have friendly relations, up until the former’s death at the hands of the usurper Phocas in 602 AD, after which Khosrow would invade his former Romans allies, beginning the Final Roman-Persian War of 602-628, that would last almost three decades and lead to the utter destruction of both empires.
I would like to credit u/Philippicus_586AD for helping me with the meme.
Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasanian_civil_war_of_589%E2%80%93591
A khosrow meme ? In this economy ?
YES I LEARNED SOMETHING ON THIS SUB