Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

240 8 Emperor and King of Kings
M. Whitby summarises the ambassadors’ appeal as ‘a rhetorical expansion
of the themes of Chosroe’s letter (iv 11)’. 31 Apparently the rhetoric worked:
the emperor granted Xusrō II the requested support and declared war on
Bahrām. The reasoning behind the decision is revealing:
Theophylact Simocatta iv.14.2
. . . because the emperor thought it unworthy of Latin rule to provide arms for
criminals and to brave danger for what was not good just because of the number
of promises, and that the Romans would follow the most shameful principle and
be branded with immortal blame for ever.
It was thus the idea of legitimate rule that led Maurice to support whom
he saw as the lawful leader against a rebel who had claimed the throne
on false grounds. The emperor must have been confident that his principles
would have applied also to his own rule as the legitimate heir of the
Justinian dynasty. In the spring of 591 Xusrō II mustered Byzantine troops
and embarked on a campaign against Bahrām Čōbīn.32 The subsequent
military confrontations in the Sasanian Empire led to the fall of Bahrām
Čōbīn, who fled to the court of the Turkish Khagan where he was assassinated
shortly after. 33 The legitimate Sasanian ruler was restored to the
throne and a formal peace was finally concluded between Rome and Persia,
who had been at war since 572. 34
During the following years Maurice and Xusrō II appear much more
committed to each other than they would have been through the peace
agreements alone. The close personal relations between the two rulers outlived
the short phase of the united campaign against the rebel on the Persian
throne, and the ideological consequences are striking. ‘Previous to 590,
Rome claimed exclusive dominance of the earth; thenceforth she agreed to
divide the world into two equal shares. She reserved the West for herself, the
East she assigned to Persia. Her eternal enemy was to become her eternal
friend, each with a distinctive outlook on life, each with a peculiar culture
and civilization.’ 35 This situation, however, was as fragile as the life of each
of the two rulers.
When in the year 602 Maurice was assassinated by Phocas, Xusrō II went
to war against Byzantium. His decision corresponds with his close bond
to his former benefactor Maurice and shows remarkable parallels with the
31 Whitby 1988: 121 n. 50.
32 On the joining of Roman and Persian troops and the decisive battle at Ganzaka see Theoph. Sim.
v.11–12; on the date of the battle see Higgins 1939: 53–4.
33 On the events in the Sasanian Empire, the flight and end of Bahrām Čōbīn see Christensen 1944:
445.
34 On the peace of 591 see Greatrex and Lieu 2002: 174–5. 35 Higgins 1941: 314–15.