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Kavad I
Kavad I: king of Persia, ruling from 488 to 496 and from 498 to 530, member of the Sasanian dynasty.
Main deeds:
- Name: Kavad I
- Beginning of first reign: 488
- Crisis in the Sasanian Empire after king Peroz, waging war on the northwestern frontier, had been killed in action. His brother Valkaš was unable to restore the authority of the Sasanian kings and was replaced.
- End of first reign: 496
- Kavad launched all kinds of reforms, which were ostensibly religious in nature ("zadakism"), but were in fact attempts to break the power of the aristocracy, but the aristocrats fought back and imprisoned him.
- Interregnum: Zamasp
- Kavad managed to escape to the Hepthalites (White Huns) and returned.
- Beginning of second reign: 498
- In 502/503, he attacked the Byzantine Empire and captured Amida. A first Roman relieve force, led by commanders Patricius and Hypatius was unable to recapture the city, but a second attempt, during the winter of 505/505, was more successful. The Romans, however, had to pay the Persian garrison to leave.note.
- Kavad now had the means to wage war in the northeast and push back the Hepthalites.
- At the end of his reign, he had laid the foundation for a new, flourisihing empire.
- End of reign: 530 or 531
- Succeeded by: Khusrau I
General Literature on Sasanian Persia
- Touraj Daryaee, Sasanian Persia. The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2009)
- Josef Wiesehöfer, Das antike Persien. Von 550 v. Chr. bis 650 n. Chr. (1994)