The Plague of Shiryue (627–628) or Shiruye's Plague takes its name from the Sasanian monarch Kavad II, whose birth name was Shiruye. The plague was an

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

that devastated the western provinces of the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

just before the Arab Invasion, mainly

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

('' Asorestan''), killing half of its population, including the reigning Sasanian king Kavad II, who died in the fall of 628 CE, only a few months into his reign. It killed more than 100,000 people in

Ctesiphon Ctesiphon ( ; , ''Tyspwn'' or ''Tysfwn''; ; , ; Thomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified July 28, 2014, http://syriaca.org/place/58.) was an ancient city in modern Iraq, on the eastern ba ...

. The Plague of Shiruye was one of several epidemics that occurred in or close to Iran within two centuries after the first plague pandemic was brought by the Sasanian armies from its campaigns in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, and

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. There was a subsequent plague outbreak from 634 to 642 during the reign of

Yazdegerd III Yazdegerd III (also Romanized as ''Yazdgerd'', ''Yazdgird'') was the last Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings from 632 to 651. His father was Shahriyar (son of Khosrow II), Shahriyar and his grandfather was Khosrow II. Ascending the throne a ...

. The death of Kavad II destabilized the Sasanian Empire, which was still trying to recover from the losses incurred by the wars of Kavad II's father,

Khosrow II Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; and ''Khosrau''), commonly known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran, ruling from 590 ...

, as well as the raging plague. When the Arabs invaded during the reign of Yazdegerd III, the Sasanians had no strength to repel them and so the Plague of Shiryue is recognized as contributing to the decline and fall of the Sasanian Empire. Note also the climate crisis that occurred between 626 and 629 AD, probably due to a volcanic eruption and ashfall at Constantinople.

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* * * * Epidemics First plague pandemic Health disasters in Asia 620s in the Sasanian Empire Medieval health disasters Fall of the Sasanian Empire 7th-century disasters 1st-millennium health disasters {{epidemic-stub

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