Featured dossier
Bahram IV: the “Kerman-shah”, the partition of Armenia and a nobles’ plot
Bahram IV reigned eleven years. Before becoming king he was governor of Kerman and bore the title Kerman-shah. He came to terms with Rome over Armenia, and in 395 Huns raided from the Caucasus as far as Mesopotamia. Iranica calls him a weak ruler who fell victim to a plot by the nobles.
- years of reign
- 11
Map: the reign of Bahram IV
Administration & economybefore 388 CE1 of 6
Kerman-shah
Before his accession Bahram was governor of Kerman with the title Kerman-shah. An amethyst intaglio in the British Museum shows his bust with a Pahlavi legend naming him “Wahrān Kermān-shāh, son of … Šāpūr, king of kings”.
Certainty: Secure (contemporary source)
Sources: O. Klíma, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1988 · Agathias, tr. J. D. Frendo, 1975
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
Armenia in two parts
Iranica (Klíma): in 389 Bahram and Theodosius I divided Armenia between the two empires. The larger part, Persarmenia, went to Persia. When that part’s king went over to Rome in 394, Bahram replaced him with his brother Vramshapuh.
The Armenian king went over to his “co-religionist” Romans; religion had become a political border. Iranica does not give the date of the partition consistently.
The partition of Armenia was made by two empires, not by the Armenians. A land that two neighbours divide without its owner’s consent belongs not to the owner but to force.
Sources: O. Klíma, Encyclopaedia Iranica · A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica
Dossier · 2
Two gems in the British Museum
An amethyst intaglio shows Prince Bahram in a pearl-rimmed cap, and its legend calls him Kerman-shah, son of Shapur, king of kings. Another, of chalcedony, shows the king in a falcon-shaped crown, javelin in hand, trampling a fallen enemy.
He was given the title Kermanshah.
Agathias took the title Kerman-shah from the Persian king list. Iranica says the name of Kermanshah, a town in western Iran, may preserve this title; that is a “may”, not a certainty.
Two gems, two faces: a prince with a governor’s title and a king triumphant over an enemy. Yet Iranica calls him “weak”. The king’s official image was not always his real standing.
Sources: O. Klíma, Encyclopaedia Iranica · Agathias, tr. J. D. Frendo
Synthesis
Bahram IV reigned in a period when the nobles made and killed kings. He came to terms with Rome over Armenia, survived the Hun invasion, and in the end fell to a plot.
Bibliography
- O. Klíma, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Bahrām IV (1988). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahram-the-name-of-six-sasanian-kings/bahram-iv/
- Agathias, tr. J. D. Frendo, The Histories (CFHB 2A), book 4.25–27 (1975). https://archive.org/details/cfhb-11.1-nicetae-choniatae-historiaAgathias (6th century) took his list of Sasanian kings, by his own account, from the Persian royal annals.
- A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Ardašīr II (1986). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ardasir-ii-sasanian-king/
All photos are from Wikimedia Commons; licence and author were checked on each file page.
Shapur III, his fatherYazdegerd I, his brother and successorThe Sasanian dynasty