Ardashir III

Ardashir III (; 62127 April 630) was the Sasanian King of Kings () of Iran from 6 September 628 to 27 April 630.

Name

''Ardashir'' is the Middle Persian form of the Old Persian ''Ṛtaxšira'' (also spelled ''Artaxšaçā'', meaning "whose reign is through truth"). The Latin variant of the name is '. Three kings of the Achaemenid Empire were known to have the same name. He is also recorded in Greek as ''Adeser'' (; Theophanes the Confessor) and ''Artaxes'' (; '' Chronographeion Syntomon'').

Background

Ardashir was the son of king Kavad II (r. 628) and Anzoy, who was a princess from the Byzantine Empire, which made Ardashir less popular among the Iranians, who had recently been in a long and devastating war against the Byzantines. In 628, a devastating plague spread through western Iran, which claimed the lives of half of the population, including Kavad II himself.

Reign

After the death of Kavad II, the ''Wuzurgan'' elected Ardashir as his successor, who was only a 7-year-old boy. In reality, however, he exercised little power and his empire was controlled by his vizier Mah-Adhur Gushnasp, whose duty was to protect the empire until Ardashir became old enough to rule. The Iranian historian al-Tabari says the following thing about Mah-Adhur Gushnasp's administration of the Empire; "Mah-Adhur Gushnasp carried on the administration of the kingdom in uchan excellent fashion, nd with suchfirm conduct, hatno one would have been aware of Ardashir III's youthfulness."

During the same period, a brother of Mah-Adhur Gushnasp named Narsi, was granted with Kashkar as a part of his domains, However, even under a strong vizier, things were still looking grim in Iran; Factionalism had greatly increased among the Iranians, and several powerful factions which had emerged during the reign of Ardashir's grandfather Khosrau II, had gained firm control of important parts of Iran, while the Sasanian state was less-centralized than it had been under Ardashir's predecessors. Ardashir's ascension was supported by both the ''Pahlav'' (Parthian) and ''Parsig'' (Persian) faction, and a third major faction named the ''Nimruzi''. However, sometime in 629, the ''Nimruzi'' withdrew their support for the shah, and started to conspire with the distinguished Iranian general Shahrbaraz to overthrow him. The ''Pahlav'', under their leader Farrukh Hormizd of the Ispahbudhan clan, responded by supporting Ardashir's aunt Boran as the new ruler of Iran, who subsequently started minting coins in the ''Pahlav'' areas of Amol, Nishapur, Gurgan and Ray.

One year later, Shahrbaraz with a force of 6,000 men marched towards Ctesiphon and besieged the city. Shahrbaraz, however, was unable to capture the city, and then made an alliance with Piruz Khosrow, the leader of the ''Parsig'', and the previous minister of the Empire during the reign of Ardashir's father. With the support of both the ''Parsig'' and ''Nimruzi'', Shahrbaraz captured Ctesiphon and executed Ardashir, Mah-Adhur Gushnasp himself, and many other prominent nobles. Shahrbaraz then ascended the Iranian throne. According to late folklore, Ardashir was buried at an unknown place in Meshan.

Coinage

Like his father, Ardashir III refrained from using the title of ("King of Kings") on his coin engravings. This was probably done in order distance themselves from Khosrow II, who had restored the title.

Notes

References

Sources

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Further reading

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ardashir 03
621 births
630 deaths
Monarchs who died as children
Medieval child monarchs
7th-century Sasanian monarchs
Murdered Persian monarchs
People of Byzantine descent
Shahnameh characters
7th-century murdered monarchs