See also
| Husband: | Kavadh I of PERSIA (449-531) | |
| Wife: | OF THE EPHTHALITES (480- ) | |
| Children: | Chosroe I (500-579) | |
| Name: | Kavadh I of PERSIA | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | Peroz I (450-484) | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | 0449 | |
| Occupation | Shah of Persia | |
| Title | frm 0488 to 0496 (age 38-47) | Shah of Persia |
| Title | frm 0498 to 0531 (age 48-82) | Shah of Persia |
| Death | 0531 (age 81-82) | |
| Name: | OF THE EPHTHALITES | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | Khushnewaz of the EPTHHALITES (450- ) | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | 0480 | |
| Occupation | Princess of the Ephthalites | |
| Title | Princess of the Ephthalites | |
| Name: | Chosroe I | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Spouse: | OF TURKEY (514- ) | |
| Birth | 0500 | |
| Occupation | Emperor of Persia | |
| Title | Emperor of Persia | |
| Death | 0579 (age 78-79) | |
Kavad or Kavadh I (Persian: ???? Qabad) (born 449, ruled 488–531) was the son of Peroz I (457–484) and the nineteenth Sassanid king of Persia, reigning from 488 to 531. He was crowned by the nobles in place of his deposed and blinded uncle Balash (484–488).
Early life and accessionThe date of his birth is unclear; John Malalas claims that at his death he was 82 years old, hence born in 449, but Procopius mentions that he had barely entered puberty when his father Peroz was killed with his entire army during a campaign against the Hephthalites in 484. After this disaster, only few members of the royal line remained; according to Procopius, of the ca. 30 sons of Peroz, Kavadh was the only one to remain alive. At first, his uncle Balash assumed the throne, reigning until 488, when a coup deposed him and brought Kavadh to the throne.
[edit] Mazdaki sectKavadh I gave his support to the communistic sect founded by Mazdak, son of Bamdad, who demanded that the rich should divide their wives and their wealth with the poor. His intention evidently was, by adopting the doctrine of the Mazdakites, to break the influence of the magnates. But in 496 he was deposed and incarcerated in the "Castle of Oblivion (Lethe)" in Susiana, and his brother Djamasp (496–498) was raised to the throne.
[edit] Return from exileKavadh, however, escaped and found refuge with the Hephthalites, whose king gave him his daughter in marriage and aided him to return to Persia. In 498 Kavadh became king again and punished his opponents. He had to pay a tribute to the Ephthalites and applied for subsidies to Rome, which had before supported the Persians. But now the Emperor Anastasius I (491–518) refused subsidies, expecting that the two rival powers of the East would exhaust one another in war. At the same time he intervened in the affairs of the Persian part of Armenia and restored Iberia to Iran's effective control.
[edit] War and successionKavadh I joined the Ephthalites and began war against the Byzantine Empire. In 502 he took Theodosiopolis (Erzurum) in Armenia; in 503 Amida (Diarbekr) on the Tigris. In 505 an invasion of Armenia by the western Huns from the Caucasus led to an armistice, during which the Romans paid subsidies to the Persians for the maintenance of the fortifications on the Caucasus.
When Justin I (518–527) came to the throne in Constantinople, the conflict began anew. His Arab vassal, al-Mundhir IV ibn al-Mundhir, laid waste Mesopotamia and slaughtered the monks and nuns. In 531 Belisarius was defeated at the Battle of Callinicum. Shortly afterwards Kavadh died, at the age of eighty-two, in September 531. During his last years his favourite son Khosrau I had had great influence over him and had been proclaimed successor over his older brothers, Kawus (Caoses) and Zames. He also induced Kavadh to break with the Mazdakites, whose doctrine had spread widely and caused great turmoil throughout Persia.
[edit] Effect on Sassanid EmpireIn 529 Mazdaki doctrine was formally refuted in a theological discussion held before the throne of the king by the orthodox Magians, and its adherents were slaughtered and persecuted everywhere; Mazdak himself was hanged. Kavadh I evidently was, as Procopius (Pers. i.6) calls him, an unusually clear-sighted and energetic ruler. Although he could not free himself from the yoke of the Hephthalites, he succeeded in restoring order in the interior and fought with success against the Romans. He built some towns which were named after him, and began to regulate taxation.