Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

21 The peace treaty of 628 149
‘Through fortunate divine providence we have been adorned with the great
diadem and have gained possession of the throne of our fathers. 148 As we have
therefore been deemed worthy by God of gaining such throne and rule, we have
decided, if there is anything that benefits and serves mankind, to accomplish this
in so far as possible, and we have, as it was proper, given generous instruction for
this to be done. As God has designated us to hold such a great throne and such
great rule, we have decided to release every man whom we have imprisoned for
whatever reasons. And thereafter we ordered, if there is anything else that benefits
and serves mankind and this state and that we were capable of ordering, also this
and it has been done. And we made these decisions in order to live in peace and
love with you, the emperor of the Romans, our brother, and the Roman state and
with the other nations and other princes around us.’
By addressing the Byzantine emperor as his brother the Sasanian king tries
to emphasise the equal rank of both rulers. 149 In 590 Xusrō II Parvēz had
approached the emperor Maurice (582–602) by using a comparable captatio
benevolentiae in order to enforce his legitimate claims to the throne against
the rebel Bahrām Čōbīn.150 Kavādh’s remark that he owed his throne to God
is also very deliberate. 151 The Sasanian king refers to a God in the singular,
thereby paying respect to the Christian emperor and creating a favourable
atmosphere for the impending peace negotiations. Similarly, in the year
590 Xusrō II had hoped that using a ‘Christian vocabulary’ 152 would help
him with securing Byzantine support in his struggle for the throne.
Considering the weakness of the Sasanian Empire and the military defeat
it had just suffered in 628 Kavādh II had good reasons to evoke the familiar
themes of the ‘family of kings’ and the ‘legitimacy of rule’. 153 Moreover,
he appealed to the Byzantine emperor’s clemency and his desire for peace.
He emphasises that he himself would do everything to benefit mankind,
namely to release all prisoners, and that he wished to live in peace with all
other nations.
148 Kavādh had imprisoned his father Xusrō II Parvēz, who in spite of the military defeat had not been
willing to conclude a peace with Byzantium; he then had his brothers assassinated and took over
the throne in February 628 as Kavādh II ˇ Sērōē.
149 On this address see Oikonomidès 1971: 269–81; the reader is reminded of the exchange of letters
between ˇ Sāpūr II and Constantius II quoted in Ammianus Marcellinus: Rex regum Sapor, particeps
siderum, frater Solis et Lunae, Constantio Caesari fratri meo salutem plurimam dico. The corresponding
beginning of the response letter reads: Victor terra marique Constantius semper Augustus fratri meo
Sapori regi salutem plurimam dico (xvii. 5.3). Constantine the Great called ˇ Sāpūr II ‘my brother’
(Eus. v. Const. 4.11); it is remarkable that in a letter to the wife of Xusrō I Anōˇsārvan the Byzantine
empress Theodora also addressed her as ‘sister’ (Malal. 18.61 [p. 467]); for further references see
Helm 1932: 385 n. 3; Dölger 1964: 60 points to the general reluctance of the Byzantine monarchy
to acknowledge an equal status of any other power and speaks of an enormous concession to the
Persian king.
150 On the relationship between Xusrō II Parvēz and Maurice see Winter 1989a: 79–92.
151 Whitby and Whitby 1989: 189 n. 491.
152 Theoph. Simoc. iv.11. 153 Winter 1989a: 72–92.