IranianWorld

  Bahrām VI Čōbīn, chief commander under the Sasanian Hormozd IV and king of Iran in 590-91, was a son of Bahrāmgošnasp ( FIGURE 1 ), of the family of Mehrān, one of the seven great houses of the Sasanian period (Justi,  Namenbuch , p. 363 no. 23). First mentioned in Šāpūr’s Kaʿba-ye Zardošt inscription (“Arštāt, the Mehrān, from Ray,” see W. B. Henning,  BSOAS  14, 1952, p. 510), the family remained the hereditary margraves of Ray and produced notable generals (Nöldeke,  Geschichte der Perser , p. 139 n. 3). Bahrām was called Mehrbandak (Arm. Mehrevandak; Justi, loc. cit.), but his tall and slender physique earned him the nickname Čōbīn(a), var. Šōpēn “Javelin-like” ( Šāh-nāma , Moscow, VIII, p. 377; cf. V. Minorsky,  JRAS , 1939, p. 108). Bahrām started as margrave of Ray (Masʿūdī,  Morūj  II, p. 213), commanded a cavalry force which captured Dārā in 572 (Theophylactos Simocatta, 3.18.10f.), became Spahbaḏ of the North (i.e., satrap of Azerbaij...

Background story: After suffering a minor defeat in the  Battle of Araxis  against the Byzantines, Shah Hormizd IV humiliated general Bahram Chobin, sending to him women's clothing to wear. Thus, he, along with the main Persian army, rebelled against the Shah and marched toward Ctesiphon. Hormizd was killed and his son, Khosrau II, unable to fight such an army, fled to Constantinople and Bahram sat on the throne. The Battle: When General  Bahram Chobin  seized the Sassanid Persian throne, Emperor  Maurice  sent a large army to support the legitimate ruler,  Khosrau II  (Chosroes). The army was led by generals  Narses ,  John Mystacon  and the Persian  Bindoy , uncle of Khosrau. After a fierce skirmish near  Lake Urmiah , Bahram lost Ctesiphon and retreated to northwestern Iran where he was routed at Ganzak. Bahram fled to the Turks and was soon assassinated. Restoration of Khosrau ended the war. Dara and Martyropolis were ...

In his description of the battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE), the Greek researcher Herodotus mentions a Persian elite corps which he calls the Ten Thousand or the Athanatoi, the 'Immortals'. He describes them as a body of picked Persians under the leadership of Hydarnes, the son of Hydarnes. This corps was known as the Immortals, because it was invariably kept up to strength; if a man was killed or fell sick, the vacancy he left was at once filled, so that the total strength of the corps was never less -and never more- than ten thousand.  Of all the troops in Persian army, the native Persians were not only the best but also the most magnificently equipped; their dress and armor I have mentioned already, but I should add that every man glittered with the gold which he carried about his person in unlimited quantity. They were accompanied, moreover, by covered carriages full of their women and servants, all elaborately fitted out. Special food, separate from that of the rest of the a...