Kavad I and Mazdak

Thus 488 saw the rule of Kavad I, an unusual king in Iranian history in the sense that he actually cared more about the opinion of common people than the advise of the well-placed courtiers. In his youth, he spent sometimes as the hostage in the court of the Hun king, thus became peaceful with them and prevented them from further destroying the country. Kavad also managed to rid himself of the increasing of the Sukhara Zar Mehr, a powerful courtier who had dominated the country since the latter part of Pirooz’s reign.

Kavad’s reign also saw the rise of Mazdak, a Marxist predating Marx himself by about 1300 years. Mazdak who was Kavad’s close friend, started preaching his ideas of communal life and collective life almost immediately after Kavad took the throne. This was the time that the Sasanian society had been fed up with the increasing power of the Zoroastrian clergy and had started creating alternative cults such as Zardoshtegan. Mazdak’s ideas; therefore, managed to attract a lot of attention, especially since the emperor himself supported the modern day prophet. It is disputed that the actual founder of Mazdak’s cult was a man called Zardosht-i Khvargan who was a follower of Maani. Thus, in a sense, Mazdak can be assumed as a person who revived and updated Maani’s ideas two hundred years after him. Mazdak’s ideas, other than preaching the collective life style, was based on self-discipline and hardship, along with kindness towards the strangers.

It seems so that Kavad became a faithful follower of Mazdak. He started ordering reforms that caused a great amount of hardship for the aristocracy and the Zoroastrian clergy class. Seeing their future in danger, the upper class started waging propaganda against the emperor and encouraging people to overthrow the heretic monarch. On the other hand, the internal and external enemies of the Sasanian empire saw this time of disagreement in the court as a good opportunity to gain their independence. Thus in a period of 2 years, we see about 15 uprisings in all sides of the country. Finally in 497, the chaos led to the deposition of Kavad, who was throne to gaol, from which he escaped almost immediately with the help of his friend Siyaavash and took refuge in the court of Hun king. Meanwhile, the aristocracy chose Zamasp, Kavad’s brother to the throne. A year later, Kavad took his throne back without a need for war, since Zamasp realised his disadvantaged situation and resigned in favour of his brother. Although Zamasp is told to have been a very kind and forgiving person, his brother fell short of the same description, thus exiling his little brother to somewhere which no one knows were it was.

The second part of Kavad’s reign was quite different than the first. Upon getting his throne back, he forgave the main conspirators against him, and only executed the one that had suggested Kavad’s execution before. Kavad also changed his policies towards Mazdak and stopped supporting him. Still, Mazdak’s cult was given a legal status so to practice their faith. In an attempt to organise the country, Kavad proposed a peace to Justin, the Byzantine emperor and asked him to become the god father to his youngest son, Khosro. Justin put some unacceptable terms as the pre-requisites for the peace treaty that was not accepted by kavad. Thus, Kavad started a full fledged war against the Romans and conquered Amidia.

Kavad also realised that the large following of Mazdak and his religion of passivism has caused the country to fall into a state of ruins. Consequently, Kavad threw his support behind the Zoroastrian clergy and started a campaign of organisation to bring the country back to its days of glory. The last dispute of Kavad’s reign was over the succession. From Kavad’s three sons, Kavus, the eldest, was a devout Mazdaki and so unfit for succession to the throne. Zam, the second son, was blind from one eye, and was soon arranged for to become blind from both! The third, Khosro, was a progressive prince from a noble mother. Thus Khosro was chosen as the heir. The dispute caused the outrage of Mazdakis who wanted Kavus as the next emperor, and since their request seemed illogical to Kavad and it caused a general uproar in the country, a slaughter of Mazdakis was ordered. Mazdak and most of his followers were executed and his cult was declared heretical and illegal. Thus came the end of the second attempt to reform the Sasanian empire, an attempts defeated once again by the help of aristocracy and the dominating clergy class.

Khosro I Anusheravan is known as Daadgar or the Just in the Iranian history. Regardless of the truth behind his title, it is certain that his age was the last great age of Sasanian empire, and when the Sasanian civilisation reached its height. In political sense, Khosro, like most of his ancestors, spent a lot of time fighting the Romans. In internal matters on the other hand, with the end of Mazdaki dispute and reinstatement of Zoroastrian religion, the country was in a state of peace. Many scientists and scholars were given a chance to conduct researches and write books. The first university in Iran was built at this time in the town of Gondishapour. Bridges and roads were made, palaces like the great palace of Ctesiphon were erected. Books such as Kelile va Demaneh or Madhikan-e Hizar Daastan were translated or written. Scholars like Bozorgmehr and Borzooye saw the opportunity for their rise. Simply put, Anusheravan’s reign ca be considered as the ancient Iranian renaissance.