Featured dossier
Bahram I: Kartir and the death of Mani
Bahram I was the eldest son of Shapur I, but his father had named Hormizd as heir. After Hormizd’s early death Bahram took the throne, probably with the help of the powerful priest Kartir. He abandoned his father’s policy of religious tolerance: he had Mani imprisoned, and Mani died in chains. His followers were persecuted.
- Mani in chains
- 26 days
- reign
- ~3 years
Map: the reign of Bahram I
Administration & economy273 CE (or 271)1 of 5
Accession
Iranica (Shahbazi): Bahram was Shapur’s eldest son and appears in Shapur’s inscription as “king of Gēlān”. Yet the succession had gone to Hormizd. After him Bahram took the throne, probably with Kartir’s help. According to Weber, Bahram made Narseh king of Armenia in return for Narseh giving up his claim to the throne.
Certainty: DisputedThe dates of this period are not certain. Shahbazi in Iranica (following Henning) puts Bahram I at 271–274 and Bahram II at 274–291 CE; Skjærvø and Weber, in later Iranica articles, give Hormizd I 272–273, Bahram I 273–276 and Bahram II 276–293 CE. This page follows the second chronology.
Sources: A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1988 · U. Weber, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2016
BattleCampaignBuildingAdministration & economyReligionArrow keys, Home/End and Space work.
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
Mani’s last audience with the king
A Middle Persian fragment (M 3), which Iranica treats as a well-informed eyewitness report, describes the meeting of Mani and the king at Bēlābād. The king greets him with harsh words. According to the Coptic Homilies, Mani spent 26 days in chains and then died.
You are not welcome… I have sworn not to let you come to this country
The Manichaean sources make Kartir and the Magi the driving force. Iranica (Skjærvø) notes that a scholar such as Neusner called it a “judicial murder”. Gardner has proposed a new reading of M 3 in which the unnamed king is not Bahram I but Narseh. So even the name of the king in this exchange is not certain.
Mani was chained for his beliefs, not for theft or violence. When a state builds an official religion, people’s consciences become state property. Freedom of belief was the first casualty of this change.
Sources: W. B. Henning (tr.), quoted in Iranica “Mani” · W. Sundermann, Encyclopaedia Iranica · P. O. Skjærvø, Encyclopaedia Iranica · U. Weber, Encyclopaedia Iranica
Dossier · 2
A relief that took another name
Iranica, citing Schmidt, calls Bahram I’s relief at Bishapur “artistically the most appealing example of Sasanian rock sculpture”. Narseh later erased Bahram’s name from the inscription beside it, wrote in his own, and added a fallen enemy under the horse.
Weber reads this damnatio memoriae as a late reaction to Bahram’s act of setting Narseh aside from the throne.
Even stone was not safe from politics: the next king could rewrite history with a chisel.
Sources: A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica · O. Klíma, Encyclopaedia Iranica · U. Weber, Encyclopaedia Iranica
Synthesis
Bahram I’s reign was short but a turning point: Shapur’s religious tolerance gave way to an official religion backed by the state, and Mani, whom Shapur had left free, died in prison.
Bibliography
- A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Bahrām I (1988). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahram-01/
- W. Sundermann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Mani (2009). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mani-founder-manicheism/
- W. B. Henning (tr.), quoted in Iranica “Mani”, Mani’s last journey (M 3), BSOAS 10, 1942, pp. 941–53 (1942). The report of Nūḥzādag, Mani’s interpreter, on his last audience with Bahram I; Iranica calls it a “well-informed and trustworthy eyewitness report”.
- P. O. Skjærvø, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Kartir (2011). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kartir/The article translates passages from Kartir’s inscriptions.
- U. Weber, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Narseh (2016). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/narseh/
- O. Klíma, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Bahrām III (1988). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahram-iii/
- A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Bahrām II (1988). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahram-ii/
All photos are from Wikimedia Commons; licence and author were checked on each file page.
Shapur I, his fatherHormizd I, his brotherBahram II, his sonNarseh, his brotherThe Sasanian dynasty