Rhahzadh (), originally Roch Vehan (from , "son of Rōzbeh"), known in

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

sources as Rhazates () was a

Sasanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

general of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

origin under

Shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...

Khosrow II (r. 590–628).

Biography

As the war that had begun in 602 between 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 ...

and the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

came close to its twenty-fifth year, the Byzantine Emperor

Heraclius Heraclius (; 11 February 641) was Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exarch of Africa, led a revolt against the unpopular emperor Phocas. Heraclius's reign was ...

(r. 610–641) made a bold move. As the campaigning season of 627 ended, Heraclius gathered his heterogeneous army of

Göktürks The Göktürks (; ), also known as Türks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks, were a Turkic people in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main powe ...

and Byzantines, and invaded the Persian heartland at the beginning of September. The news threw Khosrau into a panic. After fifteen years of war, his army was exhausted and his two foremost generals were not available; Shahin was dead and Shahrbaraz was away in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, fearing that Khosrau wanted him dead. Consequently, Khosrau gathered an army and appointed as its commander Rhahzadh, a warlike and brave nobleman. Rhahzadh moved to cut off Heraclius and prevent him from reaching

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 Persian capital. Heraclius continued burning and pillaging as he went, Rhahzadh following Heraclius, biding his time until he was ready to meet the Romans. Finally Heraclius crossed the

Great Zab The Great Zab or Upper Zab (; or ; ; ) is an approximately long river flowing through Turkey and Iraq. It rises in Turkey near Lake Van and joins the Tigris in Iraq south of Mosul. During its course, the river collects water from many tributar ...

River and set up camp preventing Rhahzadh from crossing by the same bridge without forcing battle. Instead he moved down and forded further downstream. When Heraclius heard of this he detached part of his army under Baanes to harass Rhahzadh. In the ensuing skirmish the Romans killed and captured many Persians, including Rhahzadh's personal aide. From him Heraclius learned that Rhahzadh was awaiting some 3000 reinforcements. Heraclius became concerned when he heard of this: his army was severely depleted by the desertion of the Turkic contingent and was concerned that Rhahzadh's reinforcements could tip the scale. So on 12 December 627, near

Nineveh Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...

, Heraclius drew up his army on a plain and waited for Rhahzadh. Rhahzadh saw this and moved to meet the Byzantines. He drew up his army in three divisions similar to phalanxes, and advanced towards Heraclius.Kaegi (2003), pp. 161–162 At the height of the

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

Rhahzadh suddenly challenged Heraclius to single combat with the hope of forcing the Romans to flee. Heraclius accepted the challenge and spurred his horse forward and with a single blow struck off Rhahzadh's head, taking from the dead Persian his shield of 120 gold plates and gold breastplate as trophies. With Rhahzadh's death perished the Persians' hopes of victory: seeing their brave commander and many other high-ranking officers being slain by Heraclius and his household troops, the Persian troops lost heart and were slaughtered suffering around 6,000 casualties.

References

Sources

* {{Marzbans of Persian Armenia 627 deaths Sasanian governors of Armenia People of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 Year of birth unknown Generals of Khosrow II Armenian people from the Sasanian Empire