Plague of Sheroe
The Plague of Sheroe[1] (627–628) or Sheroe's Plague[2] takes its name from the Sassanian monarch Kavad II whose birth name was Sheroe. The plague was an epidemic that devastated the western provinces of the Sasanian Empire, mainly Mesopotamia (Asorestan), killing half of its population,[3] including the reigning Sasanian king Kavad II, who died in the fall of 628 CE, only a few months into his reign.[4][2]
The Plague of Sheroe was one of several epidemics that occurred in or close to Iran within two centuries after the first plague pandemic was brought by the Sasanian armies from its campaigns in Constantinople, Syria, and Armenia.[2]
The death of Kavad II, destabilized the Sassanian Empire which was still trying to recover from the losses incurred by the wars of Kavad II's father, Kosrau II wars and the raging plague. When the Arab Muslims invaded during the reign of Yazdegerd III in 652 CE, the Sasanian Empire had no strength to repel them and so the Plague of Sheroe is recognized as contributing to the decline and fall of the Sasanian Empire.[5]
See also
References
- ^ Daryaee & Rezakhani 2017, p. 161.
- ^ a b c Christensen 1993, p. 81.
- ^ Princeton Papers in Near Eastern Studies. Westerham, UK: Darwin Press. 1992. p. 141.
- ^ Shahbazi 2005.
- ^ Plagues of the Near East 562-1486 CE, www.worldhistory.org, accessed 15 March 2022
Plagues of the Near East 562-1486 CE
Sources
- Christensen, Peter (1993). The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environments in the History of the Middle East, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1500. Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 1–351. ISBN 9788772892597.
- Daryaee, Touraj; Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017). "The Sasanian Empire". In Daryaee, Touraj (ed.). King of the Seven Climes: A History of the Ancient Iranian World (3000 BCE - 651 CE). UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies. pp. 1–236. ISBN 9780692864401.
- Shahbazi, A. Shapur (2005). "Sasanian Dynasty". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition.
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