| Battle of Gol-Zarriun | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofHephthalite–Persian Wars | |||||||||
 Turkic horsemen on theMiho funerary couch, c.570 CE.[1] | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Sasanian Empire First Turkic Khaganate | Hephthalite Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Khosrow I Istämi | Ghadfar | ||||||||
  Location within West and Central Asia | |||||||||
TheBattle of Gol-Zarriun,[3] also known asBattle of Bukhara, took place in c. 560 when theSasanian Empire and theFirst Turkic Khaganate allied with each other against theHephthalite Empire.
In 484,Peroz I, the grandfather ofKhosrow I Anushirvan (r. 531–579), was killed in theBattle of Herat (484) by theHephthalites and allowed them to annex much ofKhorasan from theSasanians.
After a stable peace agreement with the Byzantines in the west, Khosrow I was able to focus his attention on the EasternHephthalites and avenge the death of his grandfather. Even with the growth of Sasanian military power under Khosrow's reforms, the Sasanians were still uneasy at the prospect of attacking theHephthalites on their own and sought allies. Their answer came in the form of theGöktürks incursion intoCentral Asia.[4] The movement ofTurkic people into Central Asia quickly made them natural enemies and competitors to the Hephthalites.
The Hephthalites possessed military power, but they lacked the organization to fight on multiple fronts. According to the account ofFirdausi in theShahname, the Hephthalites were supported by troops fromBalkh,Shughnan,Amol,Zamm,Khuttal,Termez andWashgird.[5] The Sasanians and the Turks made an alliance and launched a two-pronged attack on the Hephthalites, taking advantage of their disorganization and disunity. As a result, the Turks took the territory north of theOxus River, while the Sasanians annexed the land south of the river.[6]
The Hephthalite Empire was destroyed after the battle, and broke into several minor kingdoms, such as the one ruled by the Hephthalite princeFaghanish inChaghaniyan. Ghadfar and what was left of his men fled southward to Sasanian territory, where they took refuge.[7] Meanwhile, the TurkicKhaganSinjibu reached an agreement with the Hephthalite nobility, and appointed Faghanish as the new Hephthalite king.[8]
This was much to the dislike of Khosrow I, who considered the Turkic collaboration with the Hephthalites to pose a danger for his rule in the east, and thus marched towards the Sasanian-Turkic border inGurgan. When he reached the place, he was met by a Turkic delegate of Sinjibu that presented him gifts.[8] There Khosrow asserted his authority and military potency, and persuaded the Turks to make an alliance with him. The alliance contained a treaty that made it obligatory for Faghanish to be sent to the Sasanian court inCtesiphon and gain the approval of Khosrow for his status as Hephthalite king.[8] Faghanish and his kingdom of Chaghaniyan thus became a vassal of the Sasanian Empire, which set theOxus as the eastern frontier of the Sasanians and Turks.[9][2] However, friendly relations between the Turks and the Sasanians quickly deteriorated after that. Both the Turks and the Sasanians wanted to dominate theSilk Road and the trade between the west and the far east.[6] In 568, a Turkish ambassador was sent to theByzantine Empire to propose an alliance and a two-pronged attack on the Sassanian Empire, but nothing came of this.[10]
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