_Accession of Balas or Palash. His Relationship to Perozes. Peace made
with the Ephthalites. Pacification of Armenia and General Edict of
Toleration. Revolt of Zareh, Son of Perozes, and Suppression of
the Revolt with the help of the Armenians. Flight of Kobad to the
Ephthalites. Further Changes in Armenia. Vahan made Governor. Death of
Balas; his Character. Coins ascribed to him._
Perozes was succeeded by a prince whom the Greeks call Balas, the Arabs
and later Persians Palash, but whose real name appears to have been
Valakhesh or Volagases. Different accounts are given of his relationship
to his predecessor, the native writers unanimously representing him
as the son of Perozes and brother of Kobad, while the Greeks and the
contemporary Armenians declare with one voice that he was Kobad’s uncle
and Perozes’s brother. It seems on the whole most probable that the
Greeks and Armenians are right and we may suppose that Perozes, having
no son whom he could trust to take his place when he quitted his capital
in order to take the management of the Ephthalite war, put the regency
and the guardianship of his children into the hands of his brother,
Valakhesh, who thus, not unnaturally, became king when it was found that
Perozes had fallen.
The first efforts of the new monarch were of necessity directed towards
an arrangement with the Ephthalites, whose signal victory over Perozes
had laid the north-eastern frontier of Persia open to their attack.
Balas, we are told, employed on this service the arms and arts of
an officer named Sukhra or Sufraii, who was at the time governor of
Seistan. Sukhra collected an imposing force, and conducted it to the
Ephthalite border, where he alarmed Khush-newaz by a display of his own
skill with the bow. He then entered into negotiations and obtained the
release of Firuz-docht, of the Grand Mobed, and of the other important
prisoners, together with the restoration of a large portion of the
captured booty, but was probably compelled to accept on the part of his
sovereign some humiliating conditions. Procopius informs us that, in
consequence of the defeat of Perozes, Persia became subject to the
Ephthalites and paid them tribute for two years; and this is so probable
a result, and one so likely to have been concealed by the native
writers, that his authority must be regarded as outweighing the silence
of Mirkhond and Tabari. Balas, we must suppose, consented to become an
Ephthalite tributary, rather than renew the war which had proved fatal
to his brother. If he accepted this position, we can well understand
that Khush-newaz would grant him the small concessions of which the
Persian writers boast; while otherwise the restoration of the booty and
the prisoners without a battle is quite inconceivable.
Secure, so long as he fulfilled his engagements, from any molestation in
this quarter, Balas was able to turn his attention to the north-western
portion of his dominions, and address himself to the difficult task of
pacifying Armenia, and bringing to an end the troubles which had now
for several years afflicted that unhappy province. His first step was
to nominate as Marzpan, or governor, of Armenia, a Persian who bore
the name of Nikhor, a man eminent for justice and moderation. Nikhor,
instead of attacking Vahan, who held almost the whole of the country,
since the Persian troops had been withdrawn on the news of the death
of Perozes, proposed to the Armenian prince that they should discuss
amicably the terms upon which his nation would be content to end the war
and resume its old position of dependence upon Persia. Vahan expressed
his willingness to terminate the struggle by an arrangement, and
suggested the following as the terms on which he and his adherents would
be willing to lay down their arms:
(1) The existing fire-altars should be destroyed, and no others should
be erected in Armenia.
(2) The Armenians should be allowed the full and free exercise of the
Christian religion, and no Armenians should be in future tempted or
bribed to declare themselves disciples of Zoroaster.
(3) If converts were nevertheless made from Christianity to
Zoroastrianism, places should not be given to them.
(4) The Persian king should in person, and not by deputy, administer the
affairs of Armenia. Nikhor expressed himself favorable to the acceptance
of these terms; and, after an exchange of hostages, Vahan visited his
camp and made arrangements with him for the solemn ratification of peace
on the aforesaid conditions. An edict of toleration was issued, and it
was formally declared that “every one should be at liberty to adhere to
his own religion, and that no one should be driven to apostatize.” Upon
these terms peace was concluded between Vahan and Nikhor, and it was
only necessary that the Persian monarch should ratify the terms for them
to become formally binding.
While matters were in this state, and the consent of Balas to the
terms agreed upon had not yet been positively signified, an important
revolution took place at the court of Persia. Zareh, a son of Perozes,
preferred a claim to the crown, and was supported in his attempt by a
considerable section of the people. A civil war followed; and among the
officers employed to suppress it was Nikhor, the governor of Armenia. On
his appointment he suggested to Vahan that it would lend great force to
the Armenian claims if under the existing circumstances the Armenians
would furnish effective aid to Balas, and so enable him to suppress the
rebellion. Vahan saw the importance of the conjuncture, and immediately
sent to Nikhor’s aid a powerful body of cavalry under the command of his
own nephew, Gregory. Zareh was defeated, mainly in consequence of the
great valor and excellent conduct of the Armenian contingent. He fled
to the mountains, but was pursued, and was very shortly afterwards made
prisoner and slain.
Soon after this, Kobad, son of Perozes, regarding the crown as
rightfully his, put forward a claim to it, but, meeting with no success,
was compelled to quit Persia and throw himself upon the kind protection
of the Ephthalites, who were always glad to count among their refugees a
Persian pretender. The Ephthalites, however, made no immediate stir--it
would seem, that so long as Balas paid his tribute they were content,
and felt no inclination to disturb what seemed to them a satisfactory
arrangement.
The death of Zareh and the flight of Kobad left Balas at liberty to
resume the work which their rebellions had interrupted--the complete
pacification of Armenia. Knowing how much depended upon Vahan, he
summoned him to his court, received him with the highest honors,
listened attentively to his representations, and finally agreed to the
terms which Vahan had formulated. At the same time he replaced Nikhor
by a governor named Antegan, a worthy successor, “mild, prudent, and
equitable;” and, to show his confidence in the Mamigonian prince,
appointed him to the high office of Commander-in-Chief, or “Sparapet.”
This arrangement did not, however, last long. Antegan, after ruling
Armenia for a few months, represented to his royal master that it would
be the wisest course to entrust Vahan with the government, that the same
head which had conceived the terms of the pacification might watch over
and ensure their execution. Antegan’s recommendation approved itself
to the Persian monarch, who proceeded to recall his self-denying
councillor, and to install Vahan in the vacant office. The post of
Sparapet was assigned to Vart, Vahan’s brother. Christianity was then
formally reestablished as the State religion of Armenia; the fire-altars
were destroyed; the churches reclaimed and purified; the hierarchy
restored to its former position and powers. A reconversion of almost
the whole nation to the Christian faith was the immediate result; the
apostate Armenians recanted their errors, and abjured Zoroastrianism;
Armenia, and with it Iberia, were pacified; and the two provinces which
had been so long a cause of weakness to Persia grew rapidly into main
sources of her strength and prosperity.
The new arrangement had not been long completed when Balas died (A.D.
487). It is agreed on all hands that he held the throne for no more than
four years, and generally allowed that he died peaceably by a natural
death. He was a wise and just prince, mild in his temper, averse to
military enterprises, and inclined to expect better results from pacific
arrangements than from wars and expeditions. His internal administration
of the empire gave general satisfaction to his subjects; he protected
and relieved the poor, extended cultivation, and punished governors who
allowed any men in their province to fall into indigence. His prudence
and moderation are especially conspicuous in his arrangement of the
Armenian difficulty, whereby he healed a chronic sore that had long
drained, the resources of his country. His submission to pay tribute
to the Ephthalites may be thought to indicate a want of courage or
of patriotism; but there are times when the purchase of a peace is
a necessity; and it is not clear that Balas was minded to bear the
obligation imposed on him a moment longer than was necessary. The
writers who record the fact that Persia submitted for a time to pay a
tribute limit the interval during which the obligation held to a couple
of years. It would seem, therefore, that Balas, who reigned four years,
must, a year at least before his demise, have shaken off the Ephthalite
yoke and ceased to make any acknowledgment of dependence. Probably it
was owing to the new attitude assumed by him that the Ephthalites,
after refusing to give Kobad any material support for the space of three
years, adopted a new policy in the year of Balas’s death (A.D. 487), and
lent the pretender a force with which he was about to attack his uncle
when news reached him that attack was needless, since Balas was dead and
his own claim to the succession undisputed. Balas nominated no successor
upon his death-bed, thus giving in his last moments an additional proof
of that moderation and love of peace which had characterized his reign.
Coins, which possess several points of interest, are assigned to Balas
by the best authorities. They bear on the obverse the head of the king
with the usual mural crown surmounted by a crescent and inflated ball.
The beard is short and curled. The hair falls behind the head, also
in curls. The earring, wherewith the ear is ornamented, has a double
pendent. Flames issue from the left shoulder, an exceptional peculiarity
in the Sassanian series, but one which is found also among the
Indo-Scythian kings with whom Balas was so closely connected. The full
legend upon the coins appears to be _Hur Kadi Valdk-dshi,_ “Volagases,
the Fire King.” The reverse exhibits the usual fire-altar, but with
the king’s head in the flames, and with the star and crescent on
either side, as introduced by Pe-rozes. It bears commonly the legend,
_ValaJcdshi_, with a mint-mark. The mints employed are those of Iran,
Kerman, Ispahan, Nisa, Ledan, Shiz, Zadracarta, and one or two others.
[PLATE XXI., Fig. 4].