Siyavakhsh (also spelledSiyavash) was anIranian aristocrat from theHouse of Mihran who was descended fromBahram Chobin, the famousspahbed of theSasanian Empire.

Siyavakhsh was the son ofMihran Bahram-i Chubin, whose father was Bahram Chobin. Siyavakhsh is first mentioned during the first years of thefall of the Sasanian Empire, where he is said to have ruledRay as a Sasanian vassal king. WhenAzarmidokht ascended the Sasanian throne asempress regnant in 630, the powerfulspahbed (army chief)Farrukh Hormizd asked her to marry him. Not daring to refuse, Azarmidokht requested Siyavakhsh's aid, who murdered Farrukh Hormizd.^[1]

In 632, this civil war ended and thewuzurgan agreed to makeYazdegerd III emperor. However, during the same time, theArabs, united under the banner ofIslam,invaded the Sasanian Empire. Although there were still numerouspagan andChristian Arabs who opposed the Muslim Arabs.

By 651, most of the Sasanian Empire had been conquered by the Arabs, Ray being one of the last Sasanian major cities left. Thus the Arabal-Nu'man ibn Muqrin marched towards Ray, and sent a message to them: "The Arab army has set out toward Rayy, and the Arabs have spread elsewhere. None can stand up to them. And Yazdegerd III is far from us."^[2] Siyavakhsh then requested help from the people ofDamavand,Tabaristan,Qumis, andGorgan.Mardanshah of Damavand and other petty rulers agreed to help and sent reinforcements to Siyavakhsh.^[3][4] Unfortunately for Siyavakhsh, Farrukh Hormizd's sonFarrukhzad, who had mutinied against Yazdegerd III and knew the environs of Ray very well, made a peace treaty with al-Nu'man atQazvin and agreed to help him against Siyavakhsh.^[3]

The ensuingBattle of Ray was fought as a night battle at the foot of the mountain just outside Ray. Farrukhzad led some of al-Nu'aym's cavalry by a little-known way into the city from where they attacked the Mihranid army's rear, causing great bloodshed. Siyavakhsh's army was in the end defeated and he was himself killed.^[5] To set an example, al-Nu'aym then ordered the destruction of the aristocratic quarter of Ray. However, the town was later rebuilt by Farrukhzad, who became the ruler of Ray.^[3]

• Siyâvash

• Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008).Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.
• Zarrinkub, Abd al-Husain (1975). "The Arab conquest of Iran and its aftermath".The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–57.ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6.
• Daryaee, Touraj (2012).The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–432.ISBN 978-0199875757.
• Shahbazi, A. Sh. (1988). "BAHRĀM (2)".Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 5. pp. 514–522.

• Generals of Yazdegerd III
• 651 deaths
• Iranian generals
• Military personnel killed in action
• House of Mihran
• People from Ray, Iran
• Vassal rulers of the Sasanian Empire
• Governors of Ray
• Governors of the Sasanian Empire
• 7th-century Iranian people

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Year of birth unknown