BAHRAM, the name of five Sassanid kings (Varahre n, in Gr. Ovapapavqs or Ovpapavns, the younger form of the old Vere thragna, the name of a Persian god, "the killer of the dragon Verethra").
From a Pahlevi inscription we learn that he was the son (not, as the Greek authors and Tabari say, the grandson) of Shapur I., and succeeded his brother Hormizd (Ormizdas) I. Bahram I. is the king who, at the insti gation of the magians, put to a cruel death the prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism.
son of Bahram I. Of his reign some theological inscriptions exist (F. Stolze and J. C. Andreas, Per sepolis (1882) and E. W. West, "Pahlevi Literature" in Grundriss d. iranischen Philologie, ii. pp. 75-129).
III., son of Bahram II., under whose rule he had been governing Seistan, reigned only four months (in 294).
(389-399), son and successor of Shapur III., under whom he had been governor of Kirman. Under him or his predecessor Armenia was divided between the Roman and the Persian empires.
V. (42o--439), son of Vazdegerd I., after whose sudden death (or assassination) he gained the crown against the opposition of the grandees by the help of al-Mondhir, the Arabic dynast of Hira. He began a systematic persecution of the Chris tians, which led to a war with the Roman empire. But a treaty was soon concluded by which both empires promised toleration to the worshippers of the two rival religions, Christianity and Zoroastrianism. Bahram deposed the vassal king of the Persian part of Armenia and made it a province. He is a great favourite in Persian tradition and is called Bahram Gor, "the wild ass," on account of his strength and courage.
