NARSEH SASSANID AND THE STRUGGLE FOR THE REIGN IN PERSIA FROM 274 ТО 293

Abstract

In 274 after the death of Hormizd I, the Zoroastrian priesthood and the Iranian high nobility handed the Sasanid throne to Varahrān, the elder brother of Hormizd I, although the other brother Narseh, during the rule of Shāpūr I and Hormizd I, had a higher position in the state scale of ranks and was more appropriate for the title of King of Kings. In the following years the Sasanian nobility continued ignoring the rights of Narseh to the throne. After signing the peace treaty with the emperor Probus, in 276/277 Varahran I nominated Narseh, the king of Hindi, Saccas and Turan, the king of Armenia, the country which had lost its strategical meaning. With it Narseh was losing the opportunity of reaching the title of King of Kings in the legal way. Only after the leaders of Iranian opposition were removed, from 282 to 290, Nerseh began an evident struggle for the throne. After the victory in the civil war in 293 the Armenian king Narseh sat on the Sasanian throne.