Editing Hormizd IV (section)

== Ancestry ==
[[Image:Khosrow I Anushirvan, Gundeshapur mint.jpg|thumb|[[Ancient drachma|Drachma]] of [[Khosrow I|Khosrow I Anushirvan]] ({{reign|531|579}})]]
Hormizd was the son of [[Khosrow I]], one of the most celebrated [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] [[shah]]s. Oriental sources and modern scholars have identified Hormizd's maternal grandfather as [[Istämi|Istemi]], the [[khagan]] of the [[Western Turkic Khaganate|Turks]], who allied himself with Khosrow I in {{circa|560}} to put an end to the [[Hephthalites]], which the two allied powers accomplished at the [[Battle of Gol-Zarriun]].{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017|p=141}} Khosrow I was given the daughter of Istemi in marriage, who reportedly gave birth to Hormizd.{{sfn|Shahbazi|2004|pp=466–467}} Hormizd is thus called a ''Turkzad(a)'' in the ''[[Shahnameh]]'', or 'son of a Turk'.{{sfn|Shahbazi|2004|pp=466–467}} This is, however, rejected by the [[Iranologist]] [[Shapur Shahbazi]], who called such a relationship a "chronological difficulty", due to sources mentioning Hormizd being sent by his father to contain the threat posed by Istemi following the division of Hephthalite territory between the Sasanians and Turks.{{sfn|Shahbazi|2004|pp=466–467}}

Historians consider it more plausible that Hormizd was born around 540: his son [[Khosrow II]] was thus born in {{circa|570}}.{{sfn|Shahbazi|2004|pp=466–467}}{{sfn|Howard-Johnston|2010}} The 7th-century [[Armenians|Armenian]] historian [[Sebeos]] called Hormizd's mother a "daughter of the khagan of the Turks"{{Efn|In fact, Sebeos refers to the {{transliteration|xcl|T‘etalats‘ik‘}}, literally 'Hephthalites', but James Howard-Johnston writes that the term is being used loosely to refer to the Turks.{{Sfn|Sebeos|1999|pp=14, 168}} Michael Bonner believes that Sebeos actually meant the Hephthalites.{{Sfn|Bonner|2020|p=239}}}} and referred to her as Kayen, whilst [[Mas'udi]] called her Faqum, stating that she was the daughter of the ruler of the [[Khazars]].{{sfn|Shahbazi|2004|pp=466–467}} Shahbazi supported the [[Germany|German]] [[Oriental studies|orientalist]] [[Josef Markwart]] in his deduction that Hormizd's maternal grandfather was the khagan of the Khazars (who are frequently called Turks in other sources), and that Sebeos had referred to Hormizd's mother by her father's name (or title).{{sfn|Shahbazi|2004|pp=466–467}} The medieval Iranian geographer [[Ibn Khordadbeh]] also mentioned Khosrow I and the Khazar king organizing to marry each other's daughters.{{sfn|Shahbazi|2004|pp=466–467}} Hormizd was thus not only an offspring of the highly esteemed Khosrow I of the ruling family of Iran, but also belonged to a royal Turkic dynasty, which according to Sebeos "made Hormizd even greater than his paternal ancestors and equally greater and wilder than his maternal relatives".{{sfn|Shahbazi|2004|pp=466–467}} The modern historian Michael Bonner proposes instead that Hormizd may have been born to a Hephthalite princess, later misremembered as Turkic or Khazar.{{Sfn|Bonner|2020|pp=238–239}}