HORMOZD V

 

HORMOZD V, Sasanian great king (r. 630-32 C.E.). In the turbulent years following the murder of Ḵosrow II Parvēz (628), nearly a dozen rulers (including two daughters) of Ḵosrow and one great general Farroḵān Šahrvarāz came to the throne and were slain after a short while (Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser, pp. 361-99). One of the last pretenders to the throne was a certain Ḵosrow only known through Syriac and Greek sources (all references were collected by Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser, p. 398, n.). He was proclaimed king by Persian troops of Farroḵān in Nisibis, while others had raised Āzarmīgduḵt (q.v.) to the throne. When two years later Yazdegerd was elected by some magnates as king in Estaḵr, the same troops from Nisibis opposed him and were presumably overcome. According to Sebēos (tr. Macler, p. 90), Hormozd was a grandson of Ḵosrow II, but his father’s name is not given. Theophanes (tr. p. 31) mistakenly identified him with Yazdegerd III and gave him a reign of eleven years.

Coins of this Hormozd establish his historical position more firmly. Drachms dated the years 1, 2, and 3 are known, and they show a fairly young man wearing a crown very similar to that of Ḵosrow II (Göbl, Pl. 15, nos. 230-31; Mochiri). An unusual drachm of Hormozd copied the reverse of a coin of Ḵosrow II year 35 of the mint WYH (Malek), which seems to represent Veh-az-Āmed Kawāt in Arrajān (q.v.; Gyselen) rather than Veh-Ardašēr of the Ctesiphon complex.

 

Bibliography:

Robert Göbl, Sasanian Numismatics, tr. Paul Severin as Sasanian Numismatics, Braunschweig, 1971.

R. Gyselen, “Ateliers monétaires et cachet officials sasanides,” Stud. Ir. 8, 1979, pp. 189-212.

Hodge Mehdi Malek, “An Unusual Drachm of the Sasanian King Hormizd V or VI,” Numismatic Circular, 1993, p. 467.

Malek Iradj Mochiri, Etude de numismatique iranienne sous les Sassanides et Arab-Sassanides, 2nd rev. ed., Louvain, 1983.

Sebēos, Histoire d’Héraclius par l’évèque Sebèos, tr. Frédéric Macler, Paris, 1904.

Theophanes The Confessor, Chronographia, tr. Harry Turtledove as The Chronicle of Theophanes: An English Translation of anni mundi 6095-6305 (A.D. 602-813), Philadelphia, 1982.

(A. Shapur Shahbazi)

Originally Published: December 15, 2004

Last Updated: March 23, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. XII, Fasc. 5, pp. 467-469