PER 
anceagainfl a revolted people, the ambaffadors were dif- 
raiffed without any anfwer; and fuch formidable prepa¬ 
rations were made againft Bahram, that the Perfians, ever 
ready to change, gradually went to ferve under the ban¬ 
ners of their lawful prince 5 fo that Chofroes, having de¬ 
feated the army of Bahram, and taken fix thoufand pri- 
ioners, re-afcended the throne. In order to exprefs his 
fenfe of the obligation conferred on him by the Romans, 
the reinflated monarch fent a golden crofs, enriched with 
precious Hones, to the church of Sergius the martyr; 
married aChriftian woman, on whom he bellowed the ti¬ 
tle of queen, in oppofition to the laws of his country; 
and profeffed fuch friendlhip toward the ChriIlians, that 
many fuppofed he intended to change his religion, though, 
in the courfe of a few years, he gave the moll convincing 
proofs of an irreconcileable averlion to the true faith. 
When he found himfelf firmly ellablilhed in the fu- 
preme dignity, he laid afide all the foreign cultoms, which 
he had adopted to ingratiate himfelf with the Romans, 
and affirmed the Hate and behaviour of a Perfian monarch, 
as if he had never tailed the cup of adverlity. He treated 
all who had any lhare in the favour or adminillration of 
Bahram with unparalleled feverity ; and, by reltoring the 
ancient Perfian conftitution, rendered himfelf fo terrible 
to his neighbours, that a barbarous prince, with whom 
Bahram had taken Ihelter, caufed his guell to be poifoned, 
that himfelf might elude the vengeance of Chofroes. The 
renown of Bahram, however. Hill lives among the Per- 
fians,and fotne excellent laws are dated from his Ihort reign. 
During the life of his henefaftor Maurice, Chofroes 
maintained peace and friendlhip with the Roman empire; 
but, when that prince had been murdered by Phocas, 
Chofroes made ule of the pretext of revenging his death, 
to invade, in 605, the imperial territories. Accordingly, 
he affembied a powerful army, and made all the necelfary 
preparations for entering the Roman frontiers, though 
Phocas ufed his utmoil exertions to appeafe him by large 
prefents, and more confiderabie promifes. His firll cam¬ 
paign was rather unfuccefsful, the adverfe troops making 
a gallant refinance; but, on the death of their general, 
he obtained a decifive victory, and laid all the frontiers 
under contribution. He'then purfuedhis advantage with 
fuch unremitting afiiduity, that, in the fpace of nine 
years, he plundered the provinces of Syria, Mefopota- 
mia, Phoenicia, Armenia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Paphla- 
gonia, and all the country as far as Chalcedon; he ra¬ 
vaged Judea, and pillaged the city of Jerufalem. To the 
ruin of this lalt city he was urged by the religious hatred 
of the Magi; and numbers of the Jews gladly joined him 
to retaliate the injuries they had received from their 
Chriltian mailers. Many of the monuments of fuperlli- 
tious veneration for the holy place were deftroyed, the 
true crofs was carried away, and 90,000 Chriltians are faid 
to have been maffacred in Judea. 
In the campaign of 618, Chofroes penetrated into and 
fubdued Egypt, pulhed his conquelts to the frontiers of 
Ethiopia, and fixed the weltern limits of his empire in the 
vicinity of Tripoli. In the following year he preffed the 
Cojiftantinopolitan empire Hill clofer, extended his arms 
to the Thracian Bofphorus and the coalls of Pontus, and 
took the cities of Ancyra and Chalcedon. His power 
and greatnefs were now at their fummit; and the de- 
fcription of the fplendours of his favourite refideuce of 
Artemita, or Daltagerd, beyond the Tigris, has exercifed 
all the exaggerating faculties of oriental pens. The re¬ 
corded numbers of his elephants, his camels, his horfes, 
and mules, his guards, and his concubines, with his fub- 
terraneous vaults in which were depofited his magazines 
of treafure alrd precious commodities, do not, perhaps, 
exceed the bounds of credibility; but the 40,000 lilver 
columns that fupported the roof, and the thoufand globes 
of gold hung in the dome to imitate the planets and con- 
llellations, too much refemble the fictions of the Arabian 
Nights. It is no wonder that a mind, which appears to 
Vol. XIX. No. 1334. 
S I A. 671 
have been originally haughty and tyrannical, was unable 
to preferve moderation under fuch a Hate of profperity. 
The emperor Heraclius in vain by fuppliant meffages en¬ 
deavoured to avert his hollility, and obtain peace for his 
almolt ruined empire. To an embaffy of this kind 
brought by officers of the highelt diflindlion, and conduc¬ 
ted by Sain the Perfian general, Chofroes replied, “ I will 
hearken to no terms from the Roman emperor, till he 
with all his fubjefts have renounced his crucified God, 
and embraced the worffiip of the Sun, the great deity of 
the Perfians:” and he inhumanly caufed Sain to be 
flayed alive for his prefumption, and imprifoned the am¬ 
bafladors. He afterwards, how'ever, confented to accept 
of a heavy and ignominious tribute as the price of peace, 
and Heraclius fubfcribed the impofed terms. But that 
emperor in the mean time was preparing to recover his 
Ioffes by force of arms. The latent qualities of a hero 
feemed to have been roufed in him by diftrefs. He con¬ 
ducted feveral campaigns with the greateft courage and 
fkill; penetrated into the centre of the Perfian domi¬ 
nions, and recalled the monarch from his conquefls to 
the defence of all that was deareft to him. The palace 
ofDaftagerd was pillaged and burnt; and the battle of 
Nineveh, in 627, rendered Chofroes a trembling fugitive. 
Regardlefs of the fufferings of his fubjefts, his pride 
would not fubmit to alk of Heraclius that peace 
which he ftill might have obtained on reafonable condi¬ 
tions. At length, weakened both in body and mind, he 
refolvedto refign his crown to his favourite fon Merdaza. 
But his eldell fon Siroes, joined by a faction of nobles, 
prevented this difpofition by a previous feizure of the 
Sovereignty. Chofroes was flopped in his flight, eighteen 
of his Ions were maffacred before his face, and he himfelf 
was thrown into a dungeon, where he expired on the fifth 
day, after fuffering (as it is afferted) every kind of bar¬ 
barity at the command of his inhuman fon. This event 
took place A. D. 628. 
Siroes, having afcended the throne of Perfia, concluded 
a treaty of perpetual peace with Heraclius; gave Zacha- 
rias, patriarch of Jerufalem, and all the Roman captives, 
their liberty; and fent back the wood which was fup¬ 
pofed to have been part of the crofs on which the Meffiah 
fuffered, and which had been carried in triumph, by Chol- 
roes, from Jerufalem into Perfia ; but Siroes did not long 
enjoy the advantages refulting from the union between 
the two empires, as he was murdered by one of his gene¬ 
rals after he had worn the crown about twelve months. 
His fon, Ardefer, was next invelted with the govern¬ 
ment, but he was afffaflinated in the feventh month of his 
reign by Sarbas, commander in chief of the Perfian forces; 
who, prefuming on the affection of the foldiery, feized 
the diadem for himfelf. A civil war, however, was imme¬ 
diately kindled, which crufhed the ambitious projedls of 
the ufurper, and elevated to the throne Ifdigertes II. or 
Yezdegerd as he is called by the Arabian and Perfian his¬ 
torians, grandlon of Chofroes II. 
This prince, the lalt of the Perfian kings of the line of 
Artaxares and of the Saflanian dynafty, afcended the 
throne in 632, at which time commenced the Yezdeger- 
dian aera, ftill obferved by thole who profefs the religion 
of Zoroafter. Yezdegerd was contemporary with Omar, 
the lecond caliph after Mahomet; and his reign, though 
it laded twenty years, is little more than a detail of battles 
between the Perfians and the Arabs, or Saracens. He 
was fcarcely feated on the throne, when he found himfelf 
attacked by a powerful army of Saracens under the com¬ 
mand of one Sad, who invaded the country through Chal¬ 
dea. The Perfian general took all imaginable pains to 
liarafs the Arabs on their march; and, having an army 
fuperior to them in numbers, employed them continually 
in Ikirmilhes; which were fometimes favourable to him, 
and fometimes otherwife. But Sad, perceiving that this 
lingering war would deftroy his army, determined to 
halten forward, and force on a general engagement. The 
8 I Perfians 
