Kavadh I

Image of Kavadh I on one of his coins.

Kavad or Kavadh I (Persian: قباد Qabād) (born 449, ruled 488–531) was the son of Peroz I (457–484) and the nineteenth Sassanid king of Persia, reigning from 488 to 531. He was crowned by the nobles in place of his deposed and blinded uncle Balash (484–488).

Early life and accession

The date of his birth is unclear; John Malalas claims that at his death he was 82 years old, hence born in 449, but Procopius mentions that he had barely entered puberty when his father Peroz was killed with his entire army during a campaign against the Hephthalites in 484. After this disaster, only few members of the royal line remained; according to Procopius, of the ca. 30 sons of Peroz, Kavadh was the only one to remain alive. Kavadh found refuge with the Hephthalites, whose king gave him his daughter in marriage. During this, his uncle Balash had usurped the throne and reigned until 488, when Kavadh returned with aid from the Hephthalite king and became king of Persia.

Mazdaki sect

Kavadh I gave his support to the communistic sect founded by Mazdak, son of Bamdad, who demanded that the rich should divide their wives and their wealth with the poor. His intention evidently was, by adopting the doctrine of the Mazdakites, to break the influence of the magnates. But in 496 he was deposed and incarcerated in the "Castle of Oblivion (Lethe)" in Susiana, and his brother Djamasp (496–498) was raised to the throne.

Return from exile

Kavadh, however, escaped and found refuge with the Hephthalites. In 498, with 30,000 troops from the Hephthalite king, Kavadh became king again and punished his opponents. He had to pay a tribute to the Hephthalites and applied for subsidies to Rome, which had before supported the Persians. But now the Emperor Anastasius I (491–518) refused subsidies, expecting that the two rival powers of the East would exhaust one another in war. At the same time he intervened in the affairs of the Persian part of Armenia and restored Iberia to Iran's effective control.

War and succession

Kavadh I joined the Hephthalites and began war against the Byzantine Empire. In 502 he took Theodosiopolis (Erzurum) in Armenia; in 503 Amida (Diarbekr) on the Tigris. In 505 an invasion of Armenia by the western Huns from the Caucasus led to an armistice, during which the Romans paid subsidies to the Persians for the maintenance of the fortifications on the Caucasus.

When Justin I (518–527) came to the throne in Constantinople, the conflict began anew. His Arab vassal, al-Mundhir IV ibn al-Mundhir, laid waste Mesopotamia and slaughtered the monks and nuns. In 531 Belisarius was defeated at the Battle of Callinicum. Shortly afterwards Kavadh died, at the age of eighty-two, in September 531. During his last years his favourite son Khosrau I had had great influence over him and had been proclaimed successor over his older brothers, Kawus (Caoses) and Zames. He also induced Kavadh to break with the Mazdakites, whose doctrine had spread widely and caused great turmoil throughout Persia.

Effect on Sassanid Empire

In 529 Mazdaki doctrine was formally refuted in a theological discussion held before the throne of the king by the orthodox Magians, and its adherents were slaughtered and persecuted everywhere; Mazdak himself was hanged. Kavadh I evidently was, as Procopius (Pers. i.6) calls him, an unusually clear-sighted and energetic ruler. Although he could not free himself from the yoke of the Hephthalites, he succeeded in restoring order in the interior and fought with success against the Romans. He built some towns which were named after him, and began to regulate taxation.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Eduard Meyer (1911). "Kavadh". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Kavadh I Sassanid dynasty
Preceded by Balash	Great King (Shah) of Persia 488–496	Succeeded by Djamasp
Preceded by Djamasp	Great King (Shah) of Persia 498–531	Succeeded by Khosrau I