Shahrbaraz
Spahbod (General) of the Sasanian Army
"The Boar of the Empire does not turn back."
Biography
The greatest Sasanian general of the war, Shahrbaraz ('the Boar of the Empire') was the spearhead of Khosrow's conquests, leading the armies that took Antioch, stormed Jerusalem and seized the True Cross, conquered Egypt, and besieged Constantinople in 626. For years he was the most feared soldier in the world. But as the war turned and Khosrow, suspicious and desperate, allegedly ordered his execution, Shahrbaraz turned against his king. In a secret understanding with Heraclius he held his powerful army aloof from the final catastrophe, helping seal Khosrow's doom. In the chaos after the war he briefly seized the Sasanian throne himself in 630, only to be murdered after a reign of just forty days — a fitting end to an age of treachery and collapse.
Did you know?
His nickname Shahrbaraz means 'Boar of the Empire' — the boar being a symbol of the war-god in Zoroastrian tradition — and it was a title of honour rather than his birth name.
Key Battles
The Fall of Antioch
Sasanian Persian Empire victory611 · 8,000 total casualties
The loss of Antioch, the metropolis of the Roman East, signalled the near-collapse of Byzantine power in Syria and opened the way to the conquest of Palestine and the shocking fall of Jerusalem.
The Fall of Jerusalem
Sasanian Persian Empire victoryMay 614 · 40,000 total casualties
The fall of the holy city and the capture of the True Cross was a spiritual catastrophe for Byzantium, transforming the war into a holy war of vengeance and giving Heraclius the cause with which he would rally the exhausted empire.
The Persian Conquest of Egypt
Sasanian Persian Empire victory618 – 621 · 15,000 total casualties
The loss of Egypt — the breadbasket of the empire — brought Byzantium to the brink of collapse, stripping it of the wealth and grain on which the capital depended, and marked the high-water mark of Sasanian conquest, which now embraced almost all the old Roman East.
The Siege of Constantinople
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire victoryJuly – August 626 · 20,000 total casualties
The failure of the great siege of 626 was the turning point of the war. Credited to the miraculous protection of the Virgin, it broke the back of the Avar threat, humiliated the Persians, and freed Heraclius to strike for the enemy heartland.
Life Journey
Timeline
c. 580
🌅 Birth
Born in Sasanian Persia
614
⚔️ Battle
Storms Jerusalem and seizes the True Cross
June 9, 630
✝️ Death
Murdered after 40 days as usurper-king