Bahram-i Mah Adhar
{{Short description|6th-century Iranian official and military commander}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Bahram-i Mah Adhar
|birth_name = Wahrān
|other_name = Khusraw{{cite web |title=SPĀHBED – Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/spahbed}}
|birth_date=
|death_date={{circa|580–585}}
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|allegiance=Sasanian Empire
|branch=
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|rank= Spahbed of the South, hazāruft of the empire
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}}
Bahrām-i Māh Ādhar was a 6th-century Iranian aristocrat who held high military and civil offices under Khosrow I ({{reign|531|579}}) and Hormizd IV ({{reign|579|590}}).
Biography
Bahram-i Mah Adhar is the name given to this figure by the 10th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi,{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|pp=119–120}} whose epic Shahnameh is one of the main sources on Sasanian history.{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|pp=14ff.}} Modern scholarship identifies him with Wahrām Ādurmāh ("Wahram, son of Adurmah"), based on two seal impressions of his discovered by Rika Gyselen (The Four Generals of the Sasanian Empire: Some Sigillographic Evidence. Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente, 2001). One of the seals dates to the reign of Khosrow I, and one to the reign of Hormizd IV.{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|p=119}} His exact familial lineage is unknown, but based on a seal referring to him as "Bahrām, son of Āturmāh, descended from gods", Ferdinand Justi suggested (Iranisches Namenbuch, Marburg, 1895) a close relationship to the Sasanian dynasty itself.{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|p=120, esp. note 35}}
According to the seals, under both Khosrow and Hormizd, Bahram was the military governor-general (spahbed) of the southern region of the Sasanian Empire (kūst-i nēmrōz). He is also identified as a eunuch and "chief of" a region or office whose name is missing. The later seal also records his holding the office of "hazāruft of the empire", indicating that he was promoted under Hormizd.{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|p=120}} According to the Shahnameh, Bahram was one of the leading officials of Khosrow's court; along with two other powerful magnates, Simah-i Burzin and Izadgushasp, he was consulted by Khosrow on choosing his heir.{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|p=121}} Hormizd eventually turned against these magnates, and tried to diminish their influence by removing them altogether. According to the Shahnameh, he instigated Bahram to turn against Simah-i Burzin (the spahbed of the east), before having both executed, along with Izadgushasp.{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|pp=120–122}} During his imprisonment, he allegedly predicted the invasions by the empire's enemies, and the eventual overthrow and murder of Hormizd.{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|p=124}} His death is put around 580–585 CE.{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|p=513}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
Sources
- {{cite book|last=Pourshariati|first=Parvaneh|title=Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran|location=London, United Kingdom|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84511-645-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-xtAAAAMAAJ}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahram-i Mah Adhar}}
Category:6th-century executions
Category:6th-century Iranian people
Category:Generals of Khosrow I