Reign 302–309 Father Narseh Parents Narseh Predecessor Narseh Name Hormizd II Children Shapur II | Successor Adhur Narseh Role Narseh's son Grandchildren Shapur III House House of Sasan Died 309 AD Grandparents Shapur I | |
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Issue AdurfrazgirdZamaspShapur IIHormizdArdashir IIHormizddukhtAdhur NarsehAsay Similar People Shapur II, Shapur I, Artaxerxes I of Persia, Darius I, Xerxes I | ||
Hormizd II (Persian: هرمز دوم) was the eighth king of the Sasanian Empire, and reigned for seven years and five months, from 302 to 309. He was the son of Narseh (293–302).
Contents
Reign
In 302, Hormizd II ascended the throne, assuming a crown resembling the crown used by the early Sasanian rulers. Hormizd II, unlike his father, persecuted the Manicheans who had lived peacefully during the reign of his father. Hormizd tried to improve Sasanian relations with Armenia, which had recently under Tiridates III of Armenia declared Christianity as its state religion; he gave his daughter Hormizddukht in marriage to a Mamikonian prince named Vahan. In 309, while Hormizd was hunting, he was wounded by a Ghassanid army, and was shortly killed by the Sasanian nobles.
Succession
After his death, his oldest son Adur Narseh, who had a cruel disposition, was killed by the grandees after a very short reign; another son, Hormizd, was imprisoned, while the throne was reserved for the child of his concubine, Shapur II. Another version has it that Shapur II was the son of Hormizd II's first wife, and that while still pregnant she was made to wear a crown over her pudenda so that the baby would be born as a king. Hormizd II also had many other sons named Adurfrazgird, Zamasp, Ardashir, and two daughters named Hormizddukht and Asay.
Family
Hormizd II was one of the Sasanian kings with most children, which he had from his Jewish wife Ifra-Hormizd, and several other wives and concubines: