Wahrez (born Boe or Bōē) was a

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

general of

Daylamite The Daylamites or Dailamites (Middle Persian: ''Daylamīgān''; fa, دیلمیان ''Deylamiyān'') were an Iranian people inhabiting the Daylam—the mountainous regions of northern Iran on the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea, now comprisin ...

origin, first mentioned in the prelude to the

Iberian War Iberian refers to Iberia. Most commonly Iberian refers to: *Someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. The term ''Iberian'' is also used to refer to anything pertaining to the fo ...

and then during the

Aksumite–Persian wars The Aksumite–Persian wars were a protracted series of armed engagements between the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian Persian Empire and the Kingdom of Aksum, Aksumite Empire for control over the waning Himyarite Kingdom in South Arabia, southern Ara ...

Name

He was born Boe (

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle P ...

: ''Bōē'', fa, بویه ''Bōyah/Büyah''), which is Hellenized as ''Boes''. He is better known by his title of Wahrīz (

: wḥlyč; in ar, بهريز ''Bahrīz''; in Greek: ''Ouarizes'', in la, Vaphrizes;

Modern Persian New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thre ...

: ).

Biography

Wahrez is first mentioned in the prelude to the

, where he was sent by the Sasanian king (''

shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

'') Kavadh I (r. 498–531) to

Caucasian Iberia In Greco-Roman geography, Iberia (Ancient Greek: ''Iberia''; la, Hiberia) was an exonym for the Georgian kingdom of Kartli ( ka, ქართლი), known after its core province, which during Classical Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages ...

in order to subdue a revolt under

Gurgen Gurgen or Gourgen (Armenian: Գուրգեն, Georgian: გურგენ) is an Armenian and Georgian masculine name of Middle Persian origin (''Gurgēn''), itself ultimately deriving from Old Iranian ''Vṛkaina-''. It may refer to: Georgian m ...

. During the reign of Kavadh's son,

Khosrau I Khosrow I (also spelled Khosrau, Khusro or Chosroes; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩; New Persian: []), traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan ( [] "the Immortal Soul"), was the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from ...

, the Yemenites had requested assistance against

Axum Axum, or Aksum (pronounced: ), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire, a naval and trading power that ruled the whole regio ...

dominance, who had occupied large parts of the country.

Sayf ibn Dhi-Yazan Abū Murra Sayf bin Dhī Yazan al-Ḥimyarī ( ar, سيف بن ذي يزن) was a semi-legendary Himyarite king of Yemen who lived between 516 and 578 CE, known for ending Axumite rule over Southern Arabia with the help of the Sassanid Empire. T ...

, the son of Dhu Yazan, went to Khosrau and offered him all of Yemen if his army would defeat the Axumites. Balami - Tarikhnama - The arrow of old Wahraz kills Masruq, the Ethiopian King of Yemen (cropped)

Khosrau then sent Wahrez and his son Nawzadh to

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...

at the head of a small expeditionary force, numbering around 800, of low-ranking Azatan (Azadan) nobility. According to other traditions, it consisted of prisoners that were sentenced to death, while according to another version, the force also included (or entirely consisted of) warriors from

Daylam Daylam, also known in the plural form Daylaman (and variants such as Dailam, Deylam, and Deilam), was the name of a mountainous region of inland Gilan, Iran. It was so named for its inhabitants, known as the Daylamites. The Church of the East es ...

and nearby regions. only two out of eight ships (i.e. 600 men) safely reached the Yemeni coast, who joined the local Himyarite allies and invaded the combined forces of the Aksumites, their Himyarite allies, and certain "

Bedouins The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and Ar ...

". During the invasion, Nawzadh was killed, which made Wahrez furious at

Masruq ibn Abraha Masrūq ibn Abraha ( ar, مسروق بن أبرهة) was the Ethiopian ruler of Yemen under the Axumite Empire, as recorded in Arabic and Islamic traditions. He succeeded his father, Abraha. In 570, he was killed in the Battle of Hadhramaut Th ...

, the Axumite ruler of Yemen. Wahrez then met Masruq in battle and killed him with an arrow, which made the Axumites flee. He then conquered

Sana'a Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Gover ...

, where he is known to have refused to lower his banner to enter via the city gate. Wahrez then restored

to his throne as a vassal of the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

Al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...

reports that the main reason behind victory of Wahrez over the Axumites was the use of the '' panjagān'' (meaning "having five (arrows?) and probably a

ballista The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα ''ballistra'' and that from βάλλω ''ballō'', "throw"), plural ballistae, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an ancient missile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant ...

equipped with heavy darts), a piece of military technology with which the local peoples were utterly unfamiliar. After having conquered Yemen, Wahrez then returned to Persia with a great amount of booty. However, in AD 575 or 578, the vassal king was killed by the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

ns, which forced Wahrez to return to Yemen with a force of 4000 men, and expel the Axumites once again. He then made Maʿdī Karib, the son of Sayf, the new king of Yemen. Wahrez was then appointed as governor of Yemen by

, which would remain in Sasanian hands until the arrival of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

. Wahrez was succeeded by his son Marzubān as governor of Yemen.

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Name

Biography

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