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HORMIZD, or HORMIZDAS

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 694 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HORMIZD, or HORMIZDAS , the name of five See also:kings of the See also:Sassanid See also:dynasty (see See also:PERSIA: See also:Ancient See also:History). The name is another See also:form of Ahuramazda or Ormuzd (See also:Ormazd), which under the Sassanids became a See also:common See also:personal name and was See also:borne not only by many generals and officials of their See also:time (it therefore occurs very often on See also:Persian See also:seals), but even by the See also:pope of See also:Rome noticed above. It is strictly an See also:abbreviation of Hormuzd-dad, " given by Ormuzd," which form is preserved by See also:Agathias iv. 24-25 as name of See also:King Hormizd I. and II. ('OpµiaSarrls). 1. HORMIZD I. (272-273) was the son of See also:Shapur I., under whom he was See also:governor of See also:Khorasan, and appears in his See also:wars against Rome (Trebellius See also:Pollio, Trig. See also:Tyr. 2, where See also:Noldeke has corrected the name Odomastes into Oromastes, i.e. Hormizd). In the Persian tradition of the history of See also:Ardashir I., preserved in a See also:Pahlavi See also:text (Noldeke, Geschichte See also:des Artachsir I.

Papakan), he is made the son of a daughter of Mithrak, a Persian dynast, whose See also:

family Ardashir had extirpated because the magians had predicted that from his See also:blood would come the restorer of the See also:empire of See also:Iran. Only this daughter is preserved by a See also:peasant; Shapur See also:sees her and makes her his wife, and her son Hormizd is afterwards recognized and acknowledged by Ardashir. In this See also:legend, which has been partially preserved also in See also:Tabari, the See also:great conquests of. Shapur are transferred to Hormizd. In reality he reigned only one See also:year and ten days. 2. HORMIZD II., son of Narseh, reigned for seven years five months, 302-309. Of his reign nothing is known. After his See also:death his son Adarnases was killed by the grandees after a very See also:short reign, as he showed a cruel disposition; another son, Hormizd, was kept a prisoner, and the See also:throne reserved for the See also:child with which a concubine of Hormizd II. was pregnant and which received the name Shapur II. Hormizd escaped from See also:prison by the help of his wife in 323, and found See also:refuge at the See also:court of See also:Constantine the Great (Zosim. ii. 27; See also:John of See also:Antioch, fr. r78; Zonar. 13.5).

In 363 Hormizd served in the See also:

army of See also:Julian against Persia; his son, with the same name. became See also:consul in 366 (Ammian. Marc. 26. 8. 12). 3. HORMIZD III., son of See also:Yazdegerd I., succeeded his See also:father in 457. He had continually to fight with his See also:brothers and with the See also:Ephthalites in See also:Bactria, and was killed by See also:Peroz in 459. 4. HORMIZD IV., son of See also:Chosroes I., reigned 578-590. He seems to have been imperious and violent, but not without some kindness of See also:heart. Some very characteristic stories are told of him by Tabari (Noldeke, Geschichte d.

Perser and Araber unter den Sasaniden, 264 ff.). His father's sympathies had been with the nobles and the priests. Hormizd protected the common See also:

people and introduced a severe discipline in his army and court. When the priests demanded a persecution of the Christians, he declined on the ground that the throne and the See also:government could only be safe if it gained the See also:goodwill of both concurring religions. The consequence was that he raised a strong opposition in the ruling classes, which led to many executions and confiscations. When he came to the throne he killed his brothers, according to the See also:oriental See also:fashion. From his father he had inherited a See also:war against the See also:Byzantine empire and against the See also:Turks in the See also:east, and negotiations of See also:peace had just begun with the See also:emperor Tiberius, but Hormizd haughtily declined to cede anything of the conquests of his father. Therefore the accounts given of him by the Byzantine authors, See also:Theophylact, See also:Simocatta (iii. 16 ff.), See also:Menander See also:Protector and John of See also:Ephesus (vi. 22), who give a full See also:account of these negotiations, are far from favourable. In 588 his See also:general, Bahram Chobin, defeated the Turks, but in the next year was beaten by the See also:Romans; and when the king superseded him he rebelled with his army. This was the See also:signal for a general insurrection.

The magnates deposed and blinded Hormizd and proclaimed his son Chosroes II. king. In the war which now followed between Bahram Chobin and Chosroes II. Hormizd was killed by some partisans of his son (590). 5. HORMIZD V. was one of the many pretenders who See also:

rose after the See also:murder of Chosroes II. (628). He maintained himself about two years (631, 632) in the See also:district of See also:Nisibis. (ED.

End of Article: HORMIZD, or HORMIZDAS

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