Hormizd III

Template:Short description Template:Good article Template:Infobox royalty Hormizd III ( Persian: هرمز سوم ; (d. 459 )) was the 17th Shahinshah of Sassanid Iran from 457 to 459 , the youngest son of Yazdgird II .

He ascended the throne illegally, which angered his older brother and successor, Peroz . In 459 , Peroz led a major uprising to overthrow Hormizd. With the help of the Huns , he captured and executed his brother.

Hormizd had an only daughter, Balendukhti , who (presumably) married the king of Iberia , Vakhtang Gorgasali , and bore him an heir, Dachi .

Etymology

The name of Hormizd (also spelled Ōhrmazd, Hormozd) is the Middle Persian version of the name of the supreme deity in Zoroastrianism, known in Avestan as Ahura Mazda.Template:Sfn The Old Persian equivalent is Auramazdā, whilst the Greek transliteration is Hormisdas.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The name is attested in Armenian as Ormizd and in Georgian as Urmizd.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Biography

Hormizd III was the eldest son and heir of the Sasanian shah Yazdegerd II, and governed the eastern province of Sakastan during his father's reign.Template:Sfn The province was far away from the imperial court in Ctesiphon, and had since its conquest by Ardashir I (Template:Reign) been governed by Sasanian princes, who held title of sakanshah ("king of the Saka").Template:Sfn When Yazdegerd I died in 457, Hormizd ascended the throne at Ray.Template:Sfn His younger brother Peroz I, with the support of the powerful Mihranid magnate Raham Mihran, fled to the northeastern part of the empire and began raising an army in order to claim the throne for himself.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The empire thus fell into a dynastic struggle and became divided; the mother of the two brothers, Denag, temporarily ruled as regent of the empire from its capital, Ctesiphon.Template:Sfn According to eastern sources, Peroz was more worthy for the throne than Hormizd, who is called unjust.Template:Sfn Only the anonymous source known as the Codex Sprenger 30 describes Hormizd as the "braver and better", whilst describing Peroz as "more learned in religion".Template:Sfn

The Arsacid ruler of Caucasian Albania, Vache II (Template:Reign), who was the nephew of the two brothers through his mother, and had been forced to convert to Zoroastrianism by Yazdegerd II, took advantage of the dispute by declaring independence and reverting to Christianity.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Peroz later went to the domains of the Hephthalite monarch, who agreed to support him with soldiers in his struggle for the throne.Template:Sfn In 459, Peroz, with Hephthalite and Mihranid assistance, led an army against Hormizd and defeated him. According to some sources, Hormizd was pardoned and spared by his brother. However, this is most likely a legend, due to being contradicted by other sources, which state Peroz had Hormizd and three members of his family killed.Template:Sfn Peroz I afterwards fully incorporated Sakastan into the empire by appointing an aristocrat from the House of Karen as governor.Template:Sfn Hormizd was thus the last person to wield the title of sakanshah.Template:Sfn No coins minted during Hormizd's reign has been found.Template:Sfn

Family

Hormizd was survived by his two daughters, who were:

Balendukht, the wife of Vakhtang I, the ruler of Iberia. She bore the latter a son named Dachi.
An unnamed daughter, who was the wife of Varsken, Viceroy of Gugark and later Caucasian Albania.