Narsieh
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Narsieh (Middle Persian: 𐭭𐭥𐭮𐭧𐭩 Narseh; simplified Chinese: 泥涅师; traditional Chinese: 泥涅師; pinyin: Nìnièshī) was a Persian general who fled to the Tang dynasty with his father, Peroz III, son of Yazdegerd III, the last Sasanian emperor of Persia, after the Muslim conquest of Persia.[1]
He was escorted back to Persia with a Chinese army led by Pei Xingjian in 679, in order to restore him to the Sasanian throne. Pei's primary objective, however, was to vanquish an insurgency led by Khan claimant Ashina Duzhi of a Tang protectorate, the Western Turkic Khaganate; the army stopped in Tokharistan after Pei Xingjian successfully defeated the Turks. Concerned by the long route to Persia, Pei lost his interest in reinstalling Narsieh as the Persian king and left him in the Anxi Protectorate alone,[2] although Narsieh was able to keep his many servants and a high quality of life. Minor Turkic chieftains in the region then pledged their loyalty to the Tang dynasty due to the defeat of Ashina. The overall result of Pei's expedition was a success for the Tang. Upon returning to China, Pei was appointed the minister of rituals and Great General of the Right Flank Guards.
Narsieh then spent the next twenty years fighting the Arabs in Tokharistan until he returned to the Tang capital of Chang'an in 707, where he lived out the remainder of his life before dying from disease[1][3] at some point after 708/709.[4]
Heirs
[edit]Narsieh was followed as the head of the Sasanian dynasty by his son, who is recorded in Chinese sources under the name Bó Qiāng Huó; his Persian name may have been Pušang.[4] Bó Qiāng Huó was active against the Arabs in Tokharistan in 723 and was recognized as "king of Persia" in Chinese sources.[4] He was followed by another Sasanian prince, recorded as Mù Shānuò, who was active until at least 731.[4]
Narsieh's uncle, Bahram, died in 710, and Bahram's son, Khosrow, was mentioned fighting alongside Sogdians and Turks against the Arabs at the siege of Kamarja in 729 in a futile attempt to restore Sasanian rule.[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Compareti, Matteo (20 July 2009). "Chinese-Iranian Relations xv. The Last Sasanians in China". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
- ^ "New Book of Tang. Vol.221". zh.wikisource.org (in Chinese). Retrieved 2025-04-12.
- ^ Zhou, Xiuqin (University of Pennsylvania) (2009). "Zhaoling: The Mausoleum of Emperor Tang Taizong" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers (187): 155–156.
- ^ a b c d Afkande, Ehsan (2014). "The Last Sasanians in Eastern Iran and China". Anabasis. Studia Classica et Orientalia.: 139–155.
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