Editing Khosrow II (section)

==Consolidation of the empire==
===Domestic affairs and relations with the Byzantines===
With Khosrow's rule now restored, his aim was to now consolidate his grip over his realm, which included showing tolerance and support to his Christian subjects.{{sfn|Daryaee|Rezakhani|2016|p=43}} His wife [[Shirin]]—a Christian from [[Khuzestan]]—was the most influential of his wives, playing an important role in the royal favour that the Mesopotamian Christians enjoyed. She had a church and monastery constructed near the palace in Ctesiphon, which was used to receive a portion of the treasury for the wages of the clergy and their vestments.{{sfn|Howard-Johnston|2010}} The Arab [[Lakhmids|Lakhmids/Nasrids]], a client state located at [[al-Hira]] and its surroundings, could now openly convert to [[Nestorian Christianity]] without angering the Sasanian court.{{sfn|Howard-Johnston|2010}}

The Iranians and the Byzantines enjoyed good relations with each other for the first eleven years. This was apparent in their management of the issues that had risen in Armenia. In the 590s, many Armenian nobles and their supporters sought asylum in Iran to avoid being conscripted for [[Maurice's Balkan campaigns]]. The open borders between the two empires meant that nobles could freely immigrate to Iran and get promoted. However, when they showed signs of aspiring to fight the Byzantines, the Iranians worked together with the Byzantines to deal with the issue.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

===Revolt of Vistahm===
After his victory, Khosrow rewarded his uncles with high positions: [[Vinduyih]] became treasurer and first minister and [[Vistahm]] received the post of ''[[spahbed]]'' of the East, encompassing [[Tabaristan]] and [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]], which was the traditional homeland of the Ispahbudhan.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1989|pp=180–182}}{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|pp=131–132}} Soon, however, Khosrow changed his intentions: trying to disassociate himself from his father's murder, he decided to execute his uncles. The Sasanian monarchs' traditional mistrust of over-powerful magnates and Khosrow's personal resentment of Vinduyih's patronising manner certainly contributed to this decision. Vinduyih was soon put to death, according to a Syriac source captured while trying to flee to his brother in the East.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1989|pp=180–182}}{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|pp=132, 134}}
[[Image:Drachm of Bistam, 595 or 596 Rayy.jpg|thumb|[[Ancient drachma|Drachma]] of [[Vistahm]], minted at [[Ray, Iran|Ray]]]]
At the news of his brother's murder, Vistahm rose in open revolt. According to [[Dinawari]], Vistahm sent a letter to Khosrow announcing his claim to the throne through his Parthian ([[Arsacid dynasty of Parthia|Arsacid]]) heritage: "You are not worthier to rule than I am. Indeed, I am more deserving on account of my descent from [[Darius III|Darius, son of Darius]], who fought [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]]. You Sasanians deceitfully gained superiority over us [the Arsacids] and usurped our right, and treated us with injustice. Your ancestor Sasan was no more than a shepherd." Vistahm's revolt, like Bahrams's shortly before, found support and spread quickly. Local magnates as well as the remnants of Bahram Chobin's armies flocked to him, especially after he married Bahram's sister [[Gordiya]]. Vistahm repelled several loyalist efforts to subdue him, and he soon held sway in the entire eastern and northern quadrants of the Iranian realm, a domain stretching from the [[Oxus]] river to the region of [[Ardabil]] in the west. He even campaigned in the east, where he subdued two [[Hephthalite]] princes of [[Transoxiana]], Shaug and Pariowk.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1989|pp=180–182}}{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|pp=132–133, 135}} The date of Vistahm's uprising is uncertain. From his coinage, it is known that his rebellion lasted for seven years. The commonly accepted dates are ca. 590–596, but some scholars like J. D. Howard-Johnston and [[Parvaneh Pourshariati]] push its outbreak later, in 594/5, to coincide with the Armenian Vahewuni rebellion.{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|pp=133–134}}

As Vistahm began to threaten [[Media (region)|Media]], Khosrow sent several armies against his uncle, but failed to achieve a decisive result: Vistahm and his followers retreated to the mountainous region of [[Gilan]], while several Armenian contingents of the royal army rebelled and defected to Vistahm. Finally, Khosrow called upon the services of the Armenian [[Smbat IV Bagratuni|Smbat Bagratuni]], who engaged Vistahm near [[Qumis, Iran|Qumis]]. During the battle, Vistahm was murdered by Pariowk at Khosrow's urging (or, according to an alternative account, by his wife Gordiya). Nevertheless, Vistahm's troops managed to repel the royal army at Qumis, and it required another expedition by Smbat in the next year to finally end the rebellion.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1989|pp=180–182}}{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|pp=136–137}}

=== Abolition of the Lakhmid dynasty ===
In 600, Khosrow II executed [[Al-Nu'man III ibn al-Mundhir|Al-Nu'man III]], King of the [[Lakhmid]]s of [[Al-Hira]], presumably because of the Arab king's refusal to give him his daughter [[al-Ḥurqah]] in marriage and insulting Persian women.{{sfn|Landau-Tasseron|1996}} Afterwards the central government took over the defense of the western frontiers to the desert, and the buffer state of the Lakhmids vanished. This ultimately facilitated the Muslim [[Caliph]]s' invasion and conquest of Lower [[Iraq]], less than a decade after Khosrow's death.{{sfn|Frye|1984|p=330}}