KIIOSRU I., called CLIOBROES by the Greek writers, but more commonly known In the cast by the name of NDSH1RWAN ('noble soul'), succeeded his father Kobad in tho kingdom of Persia, A.D. 531.
Kobad, at the time of his death, was engaged in a war with Justinian, the emperor of Constantinople; but Khosru, shortly after his accession, concluded a peace with Justinian, on the payment by the latter of 10,000 pounds of gold. Khosru diligently employed this interval of rest in regulating the internal affairs of his kingdom ; the corrupt officers and magistrates, who had been appointed during the reign of his father, were removed; justice was impartially administered In every part of the empire; and the fanatical followers of Mazdak, who had obtained numerous proselytes to the inviting doctrine of a oom munity of goods and women, were banished from his dominions. He divided the empire into the four great provinces of Assyria, Media, Persia, and Bactriana, and established a vizir over each; and be secured at the same time the stability of his throne by the murder of his two alder brothers. In the course of a few years be extended his domi nions as far as the Indus, and compelled the nomadic hordes, who had taken possession of tho northern provinces of the empire during the reign of his father, to repass the Oxus and withdraw to the central plains of Asia.
Though Khosru was successful in his wars with the people of Asia, he beheld with concern the conquests of Belisarius in Italy and Africa; and afraid lest Justinian should acquire sufficient power to attack the Persian dominions, he collected a large army, and, in violation of the truce that still subsisted, he invaded Syria in 540. His unexpected attack had given the Greeks no time for defence ; the principal cities were plundered by the Persian troops, and Antioch, the capital, was taken after a short but vigorous resistance. On his return, Khoeru founded, at one day's journey from Ctesiplion, a city, which he called Antioch Khosru, where he placed the numerous captives he had taken in his invasion of Syria. In the following year Belisarius was recalled to defend the east; and his superior military skill enabled him, with an army far inferior to the Persians both in discipline and numbers, to prevent Khosru from extendiug his conquests. In 542 Belisarius was recalled to Constantinople, and degraded from all his employments ; and the generals who succeeded him were easily defeated by the Persian troops. Tho war continued to be carried on for many years, though with little vigour on either Bide, in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, and principally in the territories of the Lagi, a Colchian people; till at length, after much delay and many negotiations, Khosru condescended to grant a peace to Justinian in 562, on the annual payment by the latter of 30,000 pieces of gold.
This peace however was only preserved for ten years. The lieu tenants of Khosru had subdued the province of Yemen in Arabia, and compelled the Abyssinians, who had possessed the supreme authority for many years, to withdraw from the country. The Abys sinians were the allies of the emperors of Constantinople ; and Justin, who had succeeded Justinian, having entered into an alliance with the Turks, collected a powerful army in order to avenge the cause of his allies. But his efforts were unsuccessful ; his troops were everywhere defeated, and the province of Syria was again plundered by the Persian soldiers. Justiu was obliged to resign the sovereignty, and his successor Tiberius obtained a truce of three years, which time was diligently employed by Tiberius in collecting an immense army from all parts of the empire. The command was given to Justinian, and a desperate battle was fought between the Greeks and Persians in the neighbourhood of Melitene, a town in the eastern part of Cappadocia, in which Khosru was completely defeated. He died in the spring of tho following year, 579, after a reign of forty-eight years, and was succeeded by his eon Hormisdas IV.
The virtues, and more particularly the justice of this monarch, form to the present day a favourite topic of eastern panegyric ; and the glories and happiness of his reign are frequently extolled by poets as the golden age of the Persian sovereignty. His reign forms an important epoch in the history of science and literature : he founded colleges and libraries ?a the principal towns of his dominions, and encouraged the translation of the most celebrated Greek and Sanscrit works into the Persian language. A physician at his court, of the name of Barzflyeh, is said to have brought into Persia a Pehlvi trans lation of those celebrated fables which are known under the natne of Bidpai or Pilpay ; and it was from this translation of the Indian tales that these fables found their way to nearly every other nation of Western Asia and Europe. The conquests of Khosru were great and numerous; his empire extended from the shores of the Red Sea to the Indus; and the monarchs of India, China, and Tibet are repre sented by Oriental historians as sending ambassadors to his court with valuable presents to solicit his friendship and alliance. (See the origi nal passage in Ewald's Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes,' vol. i. p. 185.)