Bahram Chobin

Bahram Chobin 𐭥𐭫𐭧𐭫𐭠𐭭
Drachma of Bahram Chobin, minted at Arrajan in 590.
King of Kings of Iran and non-Iran
Reign	590–591
Predecessor	Khosrow II
Successor	Khosrow II (restored)
Died	591 Fergana, Western Turkic Khaganate
Issue	Mihran Noshrad Shapur
Regnal name Bahram VI
House	House of Mihran
Father	Bahram Gushnasp
Religion	Zoroastrianism

Bahrām Chōbīn (Persian: بهرام چوبین) or Wahrām Chōbēn (Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭫𐭧𐭫𐭠𐭭), also known by his epithet Mehrbandak ("servant of Mithra"),^[1] was a nobleman, general, and political leader of the late Sasanian Empire and briefly its ruler as Bahram VI (r. 590–591).

Son of general Bahram Gushnasp and hailing from the noble House of Mihran, Bahram began his career as the governor of Ray, and was promoted to the army chief (spahbed) of the northwestern portions of the empire after capturing the Byzantine stronghold of Dara, fighting in the war of 572–591. After a massive Hephthalite-Turkic invasion of the eastern Sasanian domains in 588, he was appointed as the spahbed in Khorasan, beginning a campaign that decisively ended with Iranian victory.

Bahram earned an elevated position in Iran due to his noble descent, character, skills, and accomplishments. The Sasanian king (shah) Hormizd IV (r. 579–590) was already distrustful of Bahram and stripped the increasingly popular general of his commands. Bahram began a rebellion aiming to reestablish the "more rightful" Arsacid Empire, identifying himself with the promised savior of the Zoroastrian faith. Before he had reached the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon, Hormizd was assassinated in support of his son, Khosrow II, by another anti-Hormizd faction led by the two Ispahbudhan brothers, Vistahm and Vinduyih. As Bahram captured Ctesiphon, Khosrow II fled to the Byzantine Empire, with the assistance of which he launched a campaign against Bahram, who was defeated with his outnumbered forces, but managed to flee to the Western Turkic Khaganate where he was well received. He was assassinated shortly thereafter at the instigation of Khosrow II, who was then the shah.

Bahram Chobin's legacy survived even after the Arab conquest of Iran among Iranian nationalists, as well as in the Persian literature.