CHOSROES (koz'ro-ez), in middle and modern Persian Khosrau ("with a good name"), a common name, borne by a king of the Iranian legend (Kai Khosrau) ; by a Parthian king, com monly called by the Greeks Osroes (q.v.) ; and by the following two Sassanid kings.
I., "the Blessed" (Anusliirvan), A.D. 531-579, successor of Kavadh I., and the most famous of the Sassanid kings. At the beginning of his reign he concluded an "eternal" peace with the emperor Justinian, who wanted to be free for the conquest of Africa and Sicily. But successes against the Vandals and Goths caused Chosroes to renew the war in 540. He invaded Syria and took Antioch, and during the next years fought success fully in Lazica or Lazistan (the ancient Colchis, q.v.), on the Black sea, and in Mesopotamia. In 545 an armistice was con cluded and in 562 a peace for 5o years, in which the Persians left Lazistan to the Romans, and the Romans paid subsidies to Persia. Meanwhile in the east the Hephthalites had been attacked by the Turks, who now appear for the first time in history. Chosroes united with them and conquered Bactria, while he left the country north of the Oxus to the Turks. He also assisted the dynasts of Yemen to expel the Ethiopians and Yemen be came dependent on Persia. In 571 a new war with Rome broke out about Armenia, in which Chosroes conquered the fortress Dara on the Euphrates, invaded Syria and Cappadocia, and returned with large booty. During the negotiations with the emperor Tiberius, Chosroes died in 579, and was succeeded by his son Hormizd IV.
Although Chosroes had extirpated the heretical Persian sect of the Mazdakites (see KAVADH) he was a tolerant adherent of Zoroastrian orthodoxy. He introduced a system of taxation, based upon a survey of landed possessions begun by his father.
II., "the Victorious" (Parvez), 590-628, son of Hormizd IV. and grandson of Chosroes I., was raised to the throne by the magnates who had rebelled against his father in 59o. At the same time the general Bahram Chobin proclaimed himself king. The war with the Romans, begun in 571, had not yet ended. Chosroes fled to Syria, and persuaded the emperor Maurice (q.v.) to send help. Many acknowledged Chosroes, and in S91 he was brought back to Ctesiphon and Bahram Chobin beaten. Peace with Rome was then made, Maurice merely restoring the former frontier and abolishing the subsidies which had formerly been paid to the Persians. When in 602 Maurice was murdered by Phocas, Chosroes began war with Rome to avenge his death. His armies plundered Syria and Asia Minor, and in 6o8 advanced to Chalcedon. In 613 and 614 Damascus and Jerusalem were taken by the general Shahrbaraz, and the Holy Cross seized. Soon of ter, Egypt fell. The Romans could offer little resistance, as they were torn by internal dissensions, and pressed by the Avars and Slays. At last, in 622, the emperor Heraclius (successor of Phocas in 610) was able to take the field. In 624 he advanced into northern Media, where he destroyed the great fire-temple of Gandzak (Gazaca) ; in 626 he fought in Lazistan, while Shahrbaraz advanced to Chalcedon and tried in vain to conquer Constantinople. In 627 Heraclius defeated the Persian army at Nineveh and advanced towards Ctesiphon. Chosroes fled, and as his despotism and indolence had roused oppo sition, his eldest son, Kavadh II., whom he had imprisoned, was set free and proclaimed king. Four days afterwards, Chosroes was murdered (Feb. 628). Meanwhile, Heraclius returned in triumph to Constantinople ; in 629 the Cross was given back to him and Egypt evacuated, while the Persian empire, from the apparent greatness which it had reached ten years earlier, sank into hopeless anarchy.
PERSIA: Ancient History, and the references there given. For the Roman wars see authorities quoted under MAURICE and HERACLIUS.
