Gordiya (also spelled Gurdiya and Kurdiyah) was an influential Iranian noblewoman from the House of Mihran, who was first the sister-wife of the distinguished military leader Bahram Chobin, then the wife of the Ispahbudhan dynast Vistahm, and ultimately the wife of the last prominent Sasanian emperor, Khosrow II.
Gordiya was a member of the House of Mihran, one of the seven Great Houses of Iran. The family was of Parthian origin, and was centered in Ray, south of Tehran, the capital of present-day Iran. Her father was Bahram Gushnasp, a military officer who had fought the Byzantines and campaigned in Yemen during the reign of Khosrow I (r. 531–579). Her grandfather Gurgin Milad had served as the marzban (general of a frontier province, "margrave") of Armenia from 572 to 574. [1] Gordiya had three siblings whom were Gorduya, Mardansina and most notably, Bahram Chobin, whom she married. [2] It is however not known if she and Bahram were full siblings. [3]
In 590, Bahram mounted a large-scale rebellion against the Sasanian family, forcing the newly ascended ruler Khosrow II to flee, while taking the throne for himself. [4] He was the following year defeated and killed. [4] Not long after, Khosrow II's uncle Vistahm rebelled against him, carving a principality for himself in the entire eastern and northern quadrants of the Iranian realm. [5] [6] It was during this period that he married Gordiya, consequently increasing his status. [5] His rebellion, however, also proved unsuccessful; according to some accounts, he was killed by Hephthalite subject Pariowk, whilst an alternative account states that it was Gordiya who killed him after being given the promise of marriage in return by Khosrow II. [5] The 9th-century historian Dinawari mentioned a son of Gordiya and Khosrow, named Juvansher, as reigning as monarch of Iran briefly in 630. This king however remains obscure, and none of his coins have yet been found. [7]
Khosrow II, commonly known as Khosrow Parviz, is considered to be the last great Sasanian king (shah) of Iran, ruling from 590 to 628, with an interruption of one year.
Hormizd-Ardashir, better known by his dynastic name of Hormizd I, was the third Sasanian King of Kings (shahanshah) of Iran, who ruled from May 270 to June 271. He was the third-born son of Shapur I, under whom he was governor-king of Armenia, and also took part in his father's wars against the Roman Empire. Hormizd I's brief time as ruler of Iran was largely uneventful. He built the city of Hormizd-Ardashir, which remains a major city today in Iran. He promoted the Zoroastrian priest Kartir to the rank of chief priest (mowbed) and gave the Manichaean prophet Mani permission to continue his preaching.
Hormizd IV was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 579 to 590. He was the son and successor of Khosrow I and his mother was a Khazar princess.
Artabanus IV, also known as Ardavan IV (Parthian:𐭓𐭕𐭐𐭍), incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus V, was the last ruler of the Parthian Empire from c. 213 to 224. He was the younger son of Vologases V, who died in 208.
The Seven Great Houses of Iran, also known as the seven Parthian clans, were seven aristocracies of Parthian origin, who were allied with the Sasanian court. The Parthian clans all claimed ancestry from Achaemenid Persians.
Bahrām Chōbīn or Wahrām Chōbēn, also known by his epithet Mehrbandak, was a nobleman, general, and political leader of the late Sasanian Empire and briefly its ruler as Bahram VI.
The First Perso-Turkic War was fought during 588–589 between the Sasanian Empire and Hephthalite principalities and its lord the Göktürks. The conflict started with the invasion of the Sasanian Empire by the Turks and ended with a decisive Sasanian victory and the reconquest of lost lands.
Azarmidokht was Sasanian queen (banbishn) of Iran from 630 to 631. She was the daughter of king (shah) Khosrow II. She was the second Sasanian queen; her sister Boran ruled before and after her. Azarmidokht came to power in Iran after her cousin Shapur-i Shahrvaraz was deposed by the Parsig faction, led by Piruz Khosrow, who helped Azarmidokht ascend the throne. Her rule was marked by an attempt of a nobleman and commander Farrukh Hormizd to marry her and come to power. After the queen's refusal, he declared himself an anti-king. Azarmidokht had him killed as a result of a successful plot. She was, however, killed herself shortly afterwards by Rostam Farrokhzad in retaliation for his father's death. She was succeeded by Boran.
The Battle of Hormozdgan was the climactic battle between the Arsacid and the Sasanian dynasties that took place on 28 April 224. The Sasanian victory broke the power of the Parthian dynasty, effectively ending almost five centuries of Parthian rule in Iran, and marking the official start of the Sasanian era.
Vistahm or Bistam, was a Parthian dynast of the Ispahbudhan house, and maternal uncle of the Sasanian king of kings of Iran, Khosrow II. Vistahm helped Khosrow regain his throne after the rebellion of another Parthian noble Bahram Chobin, of House of Mihran, but later led a revolt himself, and ruled independently over a region which encompassed the entire Iranian East until he was defeated by Khosrow and his allies.
The Sasanian civil war of 589–591 was a conflict that broke out in 589, due to the great deal of dissatisfaction among the nobles towards the rule of Hormizd IV. The civil war lasted until 591, ending with the overthrow of the Mihranid usurper Bahram Chobin and the restoration of the Sasanian family as the rulers of Iran.
Farrukh Hormizd or Farrokh Hormizd, also known as Hormizd V, was an Iranian prince, who was one of the leading figures in Sasanian Iran in the early 7th-century. He served as the military commander (spahbed) of northern Iran. He later came in conflict with the Iranian nobility, "dividing the resources of the country". He was later killed by Siyavakhsh in a palace plot on the orders of Azarmidokht after he proposed to her in an attempt to usurp the Sasanian throne. He had two children, Rostam Farrokhzad and Farrukhzad.
The House of Ispahbudhan or the House of Aspahbadh was one of the seven Parthian clans of the Sasanian Empire. Like the Sasanians, they claimed descent from the Achaemenid dynasty. They also claimed descent from the legendary Kayanid figure Isfandiyar, who was the son of Vishtaspa, who according to Zoroastrian sources was one of Zoroaster's early followers.
Siyavakhsh was an Iranian aristocrat from the House of Mihran who was descended from Bahram Chobin, the famous spahbed of the Sasanian Empire.
Piruz Khosrow, also known as Piruzan or Firuzan, was a powerful Persian aristocrat who was the leader of the Parsig (Persian) faction that controlled much of the affairs of the Sasanian Empire during the Sasanian civil war of 628-632. He was killed at the Battle of Nahāvand in 642.
The Sasanian civil war of 628–632, also known as the Sasanian Interregnum was a conflict that broke out after the execution of the Sasanian king Khosrow II between the nobles of different factions, notably the Parthian (Pahlav) faction, the Persian (Parsig) faction, the Nimruzi faction, and the faction of general Shahrbaraz. Rapid turnover of rulers and increasing provincial landholder power further diminished the empire. Over a period of four years and fourteen successive kings, the Sasanian Empire weakened considerably, and the power of the central authority passed into the hands of its generals, contributing to its fall.
Mihran Bahram-i Chubin was an Iranian nobleman from the House of Mihran. He was the son of Bahram Chobin, the famous Sasanian spahbed and briefly shahanshah. Mihran, with the aid of Christian Arab tribes, fought against the Muslim Arabs at Ayn al-Tamir. He was however, defeated. What happened to Mihran afterwards is unknown; however, it is known that he had a son named Siyavakhsh, who fell to the Arabs in 651 at Ray.
Mah-Adhur Gushnasp, also known by the Arabicized form of Mahadharjushnas, was an Iranian nobleman who served as the wuzurg framadār of the Sasanian Empire during the reign of the child ruler Ardashir III.
Mardansina was a nobleman from the House of Mihran—he was the son of Bahram Gushnasp and thus the brother of the prominent Sasanian military leader Bahram Chobin, who managed to overthrow the Sasanian king himself briefly in 590–591, but was eventually defeated and killed. Mardansina thereafter became the new leader of the rebel movement of Bahram Chobin, and later took part in the rebellion of Vistahm.
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