Hormizd I

Who was Hormizd I?

Hormizd I, was the third King of the Sasanian Empire from May 270 to June 271.

He was the youngest son of Shapur I, under whom he was governor of Khorasan, and appears in his wars against Rome.

In the Persian tradition of the history of Ardashir I, preserved in a Pahlavi text, Hormizd I is made the son of a daughter of Mithrak, a Persian dynast, whose family Ardashir had extirpated because the Magi had predicted that the restorer of the empire of Persia would come from his blood.

According to legend, this daughter alone was saved by a peasant; Shapur I saw her and made her his wife, and afterwards her son Hormizd I was recognized and acknowledged by Ardashir. In this legend, which has also been partially preserved in Tabari, the great conquests of Shapur I are transferred to Hormizd I. In reality he reigned only one year and ten days.