Narsieh ( pal, 𐭭𐭥𐭮𐭧𐭩 ''Narseh''; ) was a Persian general who fled to the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

with his father

Peroz III Peroz III ( pal, 𐭯𐭩𐭫𐭥𐭰 ''Pērōz''; ) was son of Yazdegerd III, the last Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. After the death of his father, who legend says was killed by a miller at the instigation of the governor of Marw, he retreated ...

, son of

Yazdegerd III Yazdegerd III (also spelled Yazdgerd III and Yazdgird III; pal, 𐭩𐭦𐭣𐭪𐭥𐭲𐭩) was the last Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 632 to 651. His father was Shahriyar and his grandfather was Khosrow II. Ascending the throne at t ...

, the last Sassanid emperor of Persia, after the

Muslim conquest of Persia The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, was carried out by the Rashidun Caliphate from 633 to 654 AD and led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire as well as the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion. Th ...

. He was escorted back to Persia with a Chinese army led by

Pei Xingjian PEI or Pei may refer to: Places *Matecaña International Airport, Pereira, Colombia, IATA code PEI *Pei County (沛县), Jiangsu, China *Pei Commandery (沛郡), a commandery in Chinese history *Prince Edward Island, a province of Canada *Pei, T ...

in 679, in order to restore him to the Sasanian throne, but the army stopped in

Tokharistan Tokharistan (formed from "Tokhara" and the suffix ''-stan'' meaning "place of" in Persian) is an ancient Early Middle Ages name given to the area which was known as Bactria in Ancient Greek sources. In the 7th and 8th century CE, Tokharistan c ...

. Pei Xingjian fought successfully against an invasion of Anxi led by the Western Turkic Khan

Ashina Duzhi Ashina Duzhi (r. 676–676) was a Qaghan of the Western Turkic Khaganate following the conquest of Tang dynasty. Life His connection to other members of Ashina dynasty is unknown. He was appointed commander of Fuyan (匐延) area by Gaozong in ...

, but Pei then lost his interests in reinstalling the Persian King and left Narsieh in the Anxi Protectorate alone, although Narsieh was still able to maintain his many servants and a high quality of life. Minor Turkic chieftains in the region then pledged their loyalty to the Chinese dynasty due to the defeat of Ashina. The overall result of Pei's expedition was a success for the Tang empire. Upon returning to China, Pei was appointed the minister of rituals and Great general of the right flank guards. Narsieh then spent the next twenty years fighting the

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

until he returned to the Tang China capital of

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

in 707, where he lived out the remainder of his life before dying from disease. His sons and daughters married into the Chinese nobility. Narsieh's uncle

Bahram VII Bahram VII (Middle Persian: ''Wahrām'') was the son of Yazdegerd III, the last Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire. After the death of his father at Merv in 651, Bahram fled to China along with many other Sasanian nobles, where he and his brother ...

died in 710, and Bahram's son Khosrow was mentioned fighting alongside Sogdians and Turks against the Arabs at the

siege of Kamarja The siege of Kamarja was fought in 729 between the Arab Muslims of the Umayyad Caliphate and the Türgesh Khaganate, along with its Soghdian allies. The Umayyad conquest of Transoxiana had been undone in the 720s by the uprisings of the local Sog ...

in 729 in a futile attempt to reclaim the Sasanian throne. This is perhaps the last known reference to any direct descendant of Yazdegerd III.

References

Sasanian princes Tang dynasty generals 7th-century Iranian people {{Sasanian-bio-stub

See also

References