501: Notable Births - Khosrau I

In 501, Khosrau I, the greatest of the Sassanid Emperors of Iran, was born.

 

Khosrau I (also called Khosrow I, Chosroes I, Kasra in classical sources, most commonly known in Persian as Anushirvan or Anushirwan, Persian: a-nushak ravan, meaning the undiminishing soul), also known as Anushirawan the Just (Anushiravan-e-dadgar) (r. 531–579), was the favorite son and successor of Kavadh I (488–531), twentieth Sassanid Emperor (Persian: Shahanshah, Great King) of Persia, and the most famous and celebrated of the Sassanid Emperors.

He laid the foundations of many cities and opulent palaces, and oversaw the repair of trade roads as well as the building of numerous bridges and dams. During Khosrau I's ambitious reign, art and science flourished in Persia and the Sassanid Empire reached its peak of glory and prosperity. His rule was preceded by his father's and succeeded by Hormizd IV. "Khosrau of the immortal soul" is one of the most popular emperors in Iranian culture and literature and, outside of Iran, his name became, like that of Caesar in the history of Rome, a designation of the Sasanian kings.

Khosrau I, byname Khosrau Anūshirvan (Persian: “Khosrau of the Immortal Soul”), or Khosrau the Just (b. 501 - d. 579), was remembered as a great reformer and patron of the arts and scholarship.

Little is known of the early life of Khosrau beyond legends. One story says that when Khosrau’s father, King Kavadh, took refuge with the Hephthalites, eastern neighbors of Iran, on the way (near the town of Nishapur) he married a peasant’s daughter, who gave birth to Khosrau. At his father’s death, Khosrau did not at first succeed him, but in a struggle for the throne he was successful and put to death his brothers. At the end of his father’s reign, great social disorders had occurred because of a religious revolution of a sect called the Mazdakites. Khosroau first restored order and then launched reforms to transform the declining Sasanian empire.

The reform of taxation was the most important of his actions, and it was probably copied from the Roman system inaugurated by the emperor Diocletian. Previously in the Sasanian empire taxes had been levied on the yield of land. Khosroau established a fixed sum rather than a yearly variation. Other taxes were introduced that brought stability to the income of the state and were also fairer to those who paid the taxes. Khosrau’s program of taxes lasted into Islāmic times.

Khosrau also reorganized the Sasanian bureaucracy, and the system of ministries, or divans, under a prime minister is said to have been initiated by him. He was fortunate during most of his reign in having a capable prime minister called Bozorgmehr, who became famous in story and legend for his wisdom and abilities.

Under Khosrau the process of decentralization of the power of the monarch was reversed, and the lower aristocracy, or knights, called dihqans, grew in importance at the expense of the great feudal lords, who had been more powerful under Khosrau’s predecessors. It is difficult to know how many changes really can be attributed to Khosrau’s reign and how many are arbitrarily assigned to him because of his place in history. Whether the religiously sanctioned division of society into priests, warriors, bureaucracy, and common folk was codified under his reign, as claimed by some sources, is difficult to determine.

Khosrau also reorganized the army and appointed four chief commanders to guard the four frontiers of Iran. On the frontier against the Byzantines and their Arab allies in the Syrian Desert, against the peoples of the steppes of southern Russia at the town of Derbent between the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea, and to the east of the sea in the present Turkmen steppes, Khosrau built defensive walls. The army, however, did not remain on the defensive, for Khosrau’s reign is noted for his wars against the Byzantines. In 540, Antioch was conquered and held for a short time by Khosrau. He brought many prisoners from Antioch and settled them in a new town near his capital of Ctesiphon, modeled on old Antioch. In the east, Khosrau, in alliance with the Turks, a new power in Central Asia, crushed the Hephthalites, and he established a hegemony over many of their principalities. The Sasanian frontier in the east reached the Amu Darya (Oxus River) during his reign.

He also fought extensively in Armenia and Lazica in the Caucasus. Furthermore, under his reign a Sasanian army conquered Yemen. Khosrau relied on a professional army more than his predecessors, who had summoned feudal levies when they set out to war.

Khosrau was also a great patron of culture, and in 529, when the ancient academy of Athens was closed, a number of Greek philosophers migrated to the Sasanian empire, where they were well received by the ruler. The later famous medical school of Gondeshapur was probably started in Khosrau’s reign, and the famous physician Burzoe is supposed to have been sent to India by Khosrau to gather Sanskrit books of learning to be translated into the Middle Persian language. The game of chess reportedly was also brought by him from India. Astronomy and astrology flourished at the court of Khosrau, and one star table (called the zij-i Shahriyar), which was the basis of many later Islamic tables, is said to have originated during the reign of Khosrau. Several works of Middle Persian, such as the Book of Deeds of Ardashir (Karnamak), are attributed to this period. Likewise, some scholars claim that the codification of the Avesta, the sacred book of the Zoroastrian religion, as well as the creation of a special Avestan alphabet to record the text, took place at the order of Khosrau. Further, it is supposed that the stories and legends of ancient Iran were gathered into a Khwatay-namak (“Book of Kings”) in the time of Khosrau and thus provided the source for Ferdowsi’s immortal epic much later. Some of the names found in Ferdowsī’s Shah-nameh appear among the royal family of Khosrau, which indicates at the least an interest on the part of the monarch in ancient legends.

Perhaps more than fact, the stories told about Khosrau have made his name famous in history. Almost any pre-Islamic structure in Iran whose origin is unknown will be attributed to Khosrau by the common folk. Undoubtedly he built many bridges, roads, and palaces, but much more is assigned to him in legend. The famous palace with the huge arch, called Taq Kisra, in Ctesiphon, near modern Baghdad, is said to date from Khosrau I, but this is uncertain. Several collections of wise sayings of this monarch, as well as stories about him, have been preserved in Arabic or New Persian versions. In them his reputation for justice as well as wisdom is constantly cited. The splendor of the court and the glory of his reign provided models for the later ʿAbbasid court in Baghdad, and many of the institutions established by Khosrau were maintained in Islamic times, when Khosrau was hailed as the model pre-Islamic ruler to be emulated by Muslim princes.

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