Featured dossier
Ardashir III: the child king
Ardashir was the seven-year-old son of Kavad II. After his father’s death the nobles made him king, and Meh-Ādur Gušnasp, the royal table-master, became regent. Real power lay with the nobles. Shahrbaraz, Khosrow II’s great general, marched on Ctesiphon, took it through treachery and killed Ardashir and his regent.
- age at accession
- 7
- years of reign
- ~1.5
Map: the reign of Ardashir III
Administration & economySeptember 628 CE1 of 5
A seven-year-old king
The nobles made Ardashir king, and Meh-Ādur Gušnasp became regent. His mother was Byzantine, which probably made him less popular. He was surnamed “the Little One”.
Certainty: Secure (contemporary source)
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Three separate layers
Each section has three layers: “Historical evidence” is only what the sources say; “Philosophical interpretation” is our reading by the standard of property and liberty; “Modern cultural meaning”. Quotations come only from published translations, with references.
Historical evidencePhilosophical interpretationModern cultural meaning
Dossier · 1
A fair regent and a crumbling realm
Meh-Ādur Gušnasp, Shahbazi says, was well-meaning and loyal, and after the catastrophic years and the plague his fair rule promised a return to order. But as Ṯaʿālebi says, the situation was extremely grave: local chiefs and army leaders had grown too strong to obey the centre, the administration was disintegrating, and Arabs and Turks were attacking the borders.
Local chiefs and army leaders had gained too much power to obey the central government; imperial administration was disintegrating, and the Arabs and the Turks were attacking Iranian border regions
Ardashir’s first coins show him as a youth in a crenellated crown. On a second series the crown bears an eagle’s wings. Shahbazi reads this as perhaps a sign that his authority had been established. Most sources give him one year and six months; Hešām Kalbi gives one year and seven months.
When the king is a child, power falls to whoever has an army. The regent’s fairness could not replace a loyal army.
Synthesis
Ardashir III was a child the nobles put on the throne. His regent was fair, but the realm was falling apart. Shahrbaraz took Ctesiphon and killed him. The year of his death (629 or 630) is disputed.
Bibliography
- A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Ardašīr III (1986). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ardasir-iii/
- N. Schindel, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Kawād II (2022). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kawad-ii/
All photos are from Wikimedia Commons; licence and author were checked on each file page.
Kavad II, his fatherShahrbaraz, his killerThe Sasanian dynasty