Badghis

Badghis was a region near Herat.^[1] Tabari names it together with Herat, as Bādhghēs, in his account of the war of 588 and 589.^[2] The Armenian writers call it Vatagēs.^[1]

The war of 588 and 589

By one tradition in Tabari, Šāba, “the over-king of the Turks”, marched against Hormizd IV in the eleventh year of his reign.^[2] He came with three hundred thousand warriors and advanced as far as Badghis and Herat.^[2] Hormizd’s eleventh year fell in 588 and 589.^[3] The king sent Bahram Chobin against him with twelve thousand men whom Bahram had chosen himself.^[4] Bahram marched fast until he was beyond Herat and Badghis.^[5] Šāba noticed nothing until the Persians had built a fortified camp close to his own.^[5] After negotiations and fighting, Bahram killed Šāba with an arrow.^[5]

Smbat Bagratuni’s campaign

The Armenian history of Sebeos names Badghis in the eastern campaigns of the Persian general Smbat Bagratuni.^[6] The kings of the Kushans had called in the great Khak’an, king of the regions of the north.^[7] His host crossed the Oxus and raided as far as Rey and Isfahan. It recrossed the river on his order.^[8] Smbat then killed the Kushan king in single combat.^[6] His army pursued the fugitives to Balkh. It plundered Herat, Badghis, all Tokharistan and Talaqan.^[9]

The campaign has been dated to 597 and 598.^[10] A second dating places it in 614 and 615, with the Göktürks taking part in the first season only.^[11] A third account places the war in 606 and 607.^[12] The first dating implies that by 598 Badghis, with Herat, Balkh, Tokharistan and Talaqan, was ruled by Kushan princes. These princes acknowledged the suzerainty of the Göktürks.^[13]

References

^ a b Nöldeke 1879, p. 269
^ a b c Tabari; Nöldeke 1879, p. 269
^ Chavannes 1903, p. 242
^ Tabari; Nöldeke 1879, p. 270–271
^ a b c Tabari; Nöldeke 1879, p. 271
^ a b Sebeos, ch. 28; Howard-Johnston 1999, p. 52
^ Sebeos, ch. 28; Howard-Johnston 1999, p. 50
^ Sebeos, ch. 28; Howard-Johnston 1999, p. 50–51
^ Sebeos, ch. 28; Howard-Johnston 1999, p. 52–53
^ Chavannes 1903, p. 251
^ Howard-Johnston 1999, p. 184
^ Yavuz 2025, p. 359
^ Chavannes 1903, p. 252

Sources

Tabari
Sebeos, ch. 28

Literature

Theodor Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden. Aus der arabischen Chronik des Tabari übersetzt und mit ausführlichen Erläuterungen und Ergänzungen versehn (1879)
Édouard Chavannes, Documents sur les Tou-Kiue (Turcs) occidentaux (1903)
R. W. Thomson (trans.), James Howard-Johnston (commentary), The Armenian History attributed to Sebeos (1999)
Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)