Kavad II

Sheroe was the son of Khosrow II, the last prominent king (shah) of the Sasanian Empire, and Maria, a Greek woman, who was reportedly a Byzantine princess. Sheroe was later imprisoned by his father, who wanted to ensure the succession of his favorite son Mardanshah, the son of his favorite wife, Shirin. His father's reputation had been ruined during the last phase of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628. In 627, the Sasanian general Rhahzadh was slain and Dastgerd, the king's favorite residence, had been sacked into oblivion by Byzantine emperor Heraclius, who was advancing towards the nearby Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon. In 628, Sheroe was released by the feudal families of the Sasanian Empire, which included the Ispahbudhan spahbed ("army chief") Farrukh Hormizd and his two sons Rostam Farrokhzad and Farrukhzad; Shahrbaraz of the House of Mihran; the Armenian faction represented by Varaztirots II Bagratuni and finally the kanarang of the eastern Sasanian province of Abarshahr.[1]

On 25 February, Sheroe, along with his commander Aspad Gushnasp, captured Ctesiphon and imprisoned Khosrow II. He then proclaimed himself as shah of the Sasanian Empire and assumed the dynastic name of Kavad II. He proceeded to have all his brothers and half-brothers executed, including the heir Mardanshah, who was Khosrow's favourite son. The murder of all his brothers, "all well-educated, valiant, and chivalrous men",[2] stripped the Sasanian dynasty of a future competent ruler and has been described as a "mad rampage" and "reckless".[3] Three days later he ordered Mihr Hormozd to execute his father. However, after the regicide of his father, Kavad also proceeded to have Mihr Hormozd killed.[4] His sisters Boran and Azarmidokht reportedly criticized and scolded him for his barbaric actions, which made him filled with remorse.[5]

Due to Kavad's actions, his reign is seen as a turning point in Sasanian history, and has been argued by some scholars as playing a key role in the fall of the Sasanian Empire.[3] The overthrow and death of Khosrow culminated in a chaotic civil war, with the most powerful members of the nobility gaining full autonomy and starting to create their own government. The hostilities between the Persian (Parsig) and Parthian (Pahlav) noble-families were also resumed, which split up the wealth of the nation.[2] With the agreement of the Iranian nobles, he then made peace with the victorious emperor Heraclius, which allowed the Byzantines to (re)gain all their lost territories, their captured soldiers, a war indemnity, along with the True Cross and other relics that were lost in Jerusalem in 614.[6]

Kavad granted complete religious freedom to Christians under his rule.[7] He also appointed Armenian nobleman Varaztirots II Bagratuni as marzban (general of a frontier province, "margrave") of Sasanian Armenia, and appointed Ishoyahb II (628–645) as the new Catholicos (Eastern Patriarch) of the Nestorian Church of the East (at Seleucia-Ctesiphon).[8] Kavad later died from plague after a few months' reign on 6 September 628. The grandees (wuzurgan) of the empire elected his eight-year-old son Ardashir III. In reality, however, he exercised little power and his empire was controlled by his vizier Mah-Adhur Gushnasp, whose duty was to protect the empire until Ardashir became old enough to rule.

A passage of the Chronicle of Edessa identifies "Anzoy the Roman" as the wife of Kavad II and mother of Ardashir III. She was probably a Christian princess from the Byzantine Empire.[9]

Siroe is the subject of operas by a number of composers on a libretto (Siroe) by Metastasio, including Pasquale Errichelli, Johann Adolph Hasse, Leonardo Vinci, Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel.

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• Morony, Michael G. (2005) [1984]. Iraq After The Muslim Conquest. Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-59333-315-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Neusner, Jacob (1990). Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism in Talmudic Babylonia. Scholars Press. ISBN 9781555404741.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008). Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.
• Shahbazi, A. Shapur (2005). "SASANIAN DYNASTY". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition. Retrieved 30 March 2014.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Al-Tabari, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir (1985–2007). Ehsan Yar-Shater (ed.). The History of Al-Ṭabarī. 40 vols. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Daryaee, Touraj (2009). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–240. ISBN 0857716662.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Kia, Mehrdad (2016). The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia [2 volumes]: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1610693912.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Kaegi, Walter Emil (2003), Heraclius: Emperor of Byzantium, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-81459-6.
• Oman, Charles (1893), Europe, 476–918, Volume 1, Macmillan.

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