Editing Hormizd IV (section)

== Turkic incursions in the east ==
[[Image:The Battle between Bahram Chubina and Sava Shah LACMA M.2009.44.1 (3 of 9).jpg|thumb|250px|16th-century ''Shahnameh'' illustration of [[Bahram Chobin]] fighting [[Bagha Qaghan]]]]
In 588, the [[Western Turkic Khaganate|Turkic]] [[Khagan]] [[Bagha Qaghan]] (known as Sabeh/Saba in [[Persian language|Persian]] sources), together with his [[Hephthalite Empire|Hephthalite]] subjects, [[First Perso-Turkic War|invaded]] the Sasanian territories south of the [[Oxus]], where they attacked and routed the Sasanian soldiers stationed in [[Balkh]]. After conquering the city, they proceeded to take [[Taloqan|Talaqan]], [[Badghis]], and [[Herat]].{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017|p=177}} The invasion was a violation of the treaty that Khosrow I and the Khagan Istemi had agreed to, which set the Oxus as the boundary between the empires.{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017|p=177}} In a council of war, [[Bahram Chobin]] of the [[Parthia]]n [[House of Mihran|Mihranid family]] was chosen to lead an army against them and was given the governorship of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]]. Bahram's army, supposedly consisting of 12,000 hand-picked horsemen,{{sfn|Shahbazi|1988|pp=514–522}} ambushed a large army of Turks and Hephthalites in April 588, at the Battle of Hyrcanian Rock.{{sfn|Jaques|2007|p=463}} By 589 he had repelled the Turks and entered Balkh triumphantly, where he captured the Turkic treasury and the golden throne of the Khagan.{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017|p=178}} He then proceeded to cross the Oxus river and won a decisive victory over the Turks, personally killing Bagha Qaghan with an arrowshot.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1988|pp=514–522}}{{sfn|Litvinsky|Dani|1996|pp=368–369}} He managed to reach as far as Baykand, near [[Bukhara]], and also contain an attack by the son of the deceased Khagan, Birmudha, whom Bahram had captured and sent to Ctesiphon.{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017|p=178}} 
[[Image:Sogdiana-300BCE.png|left|thumb|Map of [[Sogdia]], which was briefly under [[Sasanian]] rule after the [[First Perso-Turkic War]]]]
Birmudha was well received there by Hormizd, who forty days later had him sent back to Bahram with the order that the Turkic prince should get sent back to Transoxiana.{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017|p=178}} The Sasanians now held suzerainty over the [[Sogdia]]n cities of [[Tashkent|Chach]] and [[Samarkand]], where Hormizd minted coins.{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017|p=178}}{{efn|The Sasanians only managed to retain [[Tashkent|Chach]] and [[Samarkand]] for a few years, until it was re-captured by the Turks, who seemingly also conquered the eastern Sasanian province of [[Kadagistan]].{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017|p=178}}}} This victory briefly made Iran the supreme power in [[Near East]], a feat that was for a long time evoked in Persian stories.{{sfn|Bonner|2020|p=248}} After Bahram's great victory against the Turks he was sent to [[Caucasus]] to repel an invasion of nomads, possibly the Khazars, where he was victorious. He was once again made commander of the Sasanian forces against the Byzantines, and successfully defeated a Byzantine force in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]. However, he then suffered a minor defeat by a Byzantine army on the banks of the [[Aras (river)|Aras]]. Hormizd, who was jealous of Bahram, used this defeat as an excuse to dismiss him from his office, and had him humiliated.{{sfn|Greatrex|Lieu|2002|p=172}}{{sfn|Shahbazi|1988|pp=514–522}}

According to one source, Bahram was the subject of jealousy by others after his victory against the Turks. Hormizd's minister [[Azen Gushnasp]], who was reportedly jealous of Bahram, accused him of having kept the best part of the booty for himself and only sending a small part to Hormizd.{{sfn|Tafazzoli|1988|p=260}} According to other sources, it was Birmudha or the courtiers that raised Hormizd's suspicion.{{sfn|Tafazzoli|1988|p=260}} Regardless, Hormizd could not tolerate the rising fame of Bahram, and thus had him disgraced and removed from office for supposedly having kept some of the booty for himself. Furthermore, Hormizd sent him a chain and a [[Spindle (textiles)|spindle]] to show that he considered him as a lowly slave "as ungrateful as a woman".{{sfn|Shahbazi|1988|pp=514–522}} Enraged, Bahram, who was still in the east, rebelled against Hormizd.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1988|pp=514–522}} The version of Bahram rebelling after his defeat against the Byzantines was supported by Nöldeke in 1879. However, a source found ten years later confirmed Bahram's rebellion took in fact place while he was still in the east.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1988|pp=514–522}}