Denag (fl. 459), 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 History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...
queen (''
banbishn
''Bānbishn'' was a Middle Persian title meaning "queen", and was held by royal women in Sasanian Iran who were the king's daughters and sisters, and also by the consorts of the Sasanian princes that ruled parts of the country as governors. The f ...
''). She was the wife of the 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 ...
'')
Yazdegerd II
Yazdegerd II (also spelled Yazdgerd and Yazdgird; pal, 𐭩𐭦𐭣𐭪𐭥𐭲𐭩), was the Sasanian King of Kings () of Iran from 438 to 457. He was the successor and son of Bahram V ().
His reign was marked by wars against the Eastern Roman ...
(), and functioned as queen regent in Ctesiphon during the civil war between her sons in 457-459.
Life
Her origins are unknown, though given that her name had previously been used by Sasanian princesses, Denag may have been born a member of the royal family.
When Yazdegerd I died in 457,
Hormizd III ascended the throne at
Ray
Ray may refer to:
Fish
* Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea
* Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin
Science and mathematics
* Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point
* Ray (gra ...
. His younger brother
Peroz I
Peroz I ( pal, 𐭯𐭩𐭫𐭥𐭰, Pērōz) was the Sasanian King of Kings () of Iran from 459 to 484. A son of Yazdegerd II (), he disputed the rule of his elder brother and incumbent king Hormizd III (), eventually seizing the throne afte ...
, with the support of the powerful
Mihranid magnate
Raham Mihran, fled to the northeastern part of the empire and began raising an army in order to claim the throne for himself. The empire thus fell into a dynastic struggle and became divided; the mother of the two brothers, Denag temporarily ruled as regent of the empire from its capital,
Ctesiphon.
Peroz eventually emerged victorious during the struggle, and became the new king of the Sasanian Empire. Hormizd was killed alongside three members of his family.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
* {{cite book, last1=Kia, first1=Mehrdad, authorlink=Mehrdad Kia, title=The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia
volumes A Historical Encyclopedia, date=2016, publisher=ABC-CLIO, isbn=978-1610693912, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B5BHDAAAQBAJ&q=sasanians+rhodes
Sasanian queens
5th-century Iranian people
5th-century women rulers