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{{Short description|Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire from 484 to 488}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name        = Balash<br />{{lang|pal|𐭥𐭥𐭣𐭠𐭧𐭱𐭩}}
| title       = [[King of Kings of Iranians and non-Iranians]]
| image       = Coin of the Sasanian king Balash from Susa.jpg
| caption     = [[Ancient drachma|Drachma]] of Balash, minted in [[Susa]]
| succession  = [[List of shahanshahs of the Sasanian Empire|Shahanshah]] of the [[Sasanian Empire]]
| reign       = 484–488
| predecessor = [[Peroz I]]
| successor   = [[Kavad I]]
| royal house = [[House of Sasan]]
| father      = [[Yazdegerd II]]
| mother      =
| birth_date  =
| birth_place = 
| death_date  = Unknown
| death_place = 
| religion    = [[Zoroastrianism]]
}}
'''Balash''' ([[Middle Persian]]: 𐭥𐭥𐭣𐭠𐭧𐭱𐭩, {{Transliteration|pal|Wardākhsh/Walākhsh}}) was the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] [[King of Kings]] of [[Iran]] from 484 to 488. He was the brother and successor of [[Peroz I]] ({{reign|459|484}}), who was [[Hephthalite–Sasanian War of 484|defeated and killed]] by the [[Hephthalite|Hephthalites]].

== Name ==
''Balāsh'' ({{lang|fa|بلاش}}) is the [[New Persian]] form of the [[Middle Persian]] ''Wardākhsh/Walākhsh'' ([[Inscriptional Pahlavi]]: {{lang|pal|𐭥{{lrm}}𐭥{{lrm}}𐭣𐭠{{lrm}}𐭧𐭱𐭩}} wrdʾḥšy; late [[Book Pahlavi]] forms gwlḥš- ''Gulakhsh-'' and ''Gulāsh-'').<ref>{{cite book |first1=Rudolph|last1=Peters|first2= Laila |last2=Al-Zwaini|title=Handbuch Der Orientalistik |publisher=Brill Archive |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PBIVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA71 |language=de|year=1972}}</ref> The etymology of the name is unclear, although [[Ferdinand Justi]] proposes that ''Walagaš'', the first form of the name, is a compound of words "strength" (''varəda''), and "handsome" (''gaš'' or ''geš'' in Modern Persian).{{sfn|Chaumont|Schippmann|1988|pp=574–580}}

The Greek forms of his name are ''Blases'' ({{lang|grc|Βλάσης}}) and ''Balas'' ({{lang|grc|Βάλας}}).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yarshater |first1=Ehsan |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |date=1983 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521200929 |page=178 |language=en}}</ref>

== Reign ==
In 484, [[Peroz I]] ({{reign|459|484}}) was [[Hephthalite–Sasanian War of 484|defeated and killed]] by a [[Hephthalite]]{{efn|The Hephthalites were a tribal group that was most prominent of the "[[Iranian Huns]]".{{sfn|Rezakhani|2017|p=145}} In the second half of the 5th-century, they controlled [[Tukharistan]] and also seemingly chunks of southern [[Transoxiana]].{{sfn|Daryaee|Rezakhani|2017|p=163}}}} army near [[Balkh]].{{sfn|McDonough|2011|p=305}}{{sfn|Schindel|2013|pp=136–141}} His army was completely destroyed, and his body was never found.{{sfn|Payne|2015|p=287}} Four of his sons and brothers had also died.{{sfn|Potts|2018|p=295}} The main Sasanian cities of the eastern region of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]]−[[Nishapur]], [[Herat]] and [[Merv|Marw]] were now under Hephthalite rule.{{sfn|Schindel|2013|pp=136–141}} [[Sukhra]], a member of the Parthian [[House of Karen]], one of the [[Seven Great Houses of Iran]], quickly raised a new force and stopped the Hephthalites from achieving further success.{{sfn|Payne|2015|p=288}} Peroz' brother, Balash, was elected as shah by the Iranian magnates, most notably Sukhra and the [[House of Mihran|Mihranid]] general [[Shapur Mihran]].{{sfn|Shahbazi|2005}}

Immediately after ascending the throne, Balash sought peace with the Hephthalites, which cost the Sasanians a heavy tribute. Little is known about Balash, but he is perceived by eastern sources as a mild and tolerant ruler. He was very tolerant of [[Christianity]], which earned him a reputation among Christian authors, who described him as a mild and generous monarch. Nevertheless, it would seem that Balash was only a nominee of the powerful nobleman and ''[[de facto]]'' ruler Sukhra.{{sfn|Schindel|2013|pp=136-141}}

At the announcement of the death of Peroz, the Iranian nobles of [[Sasanian Armenia]], including the prominent nobleman Shapur Mihran, had become eager to go to the Sasanian capital of [[Ctesiphon]] to elect a new sovereign. This had allowed the [[Armenians]] under [[Vahan Mamikonian]] to proclaim independence from the Sasanians. Given the situation of the weakness in Iran, Balash did not send an army to fight the rebels, which forced him to [[Treaty of Nvarsak|conclude peace]] with the Armenians. The conditions of the peace were: all existing fire-altars in Armenia should be destroyed and no new ones should be constructed;{{sfn|Frye|1983|p=149}} [[Christianity in Armenia|Christians]] in Armenia should have freedom of worship and conversions to [[Zoroastrianism]] should be stopped:{{sfn|Frye|1983|p=149}} land should not be allotted to people who convert to Zoroastrianism; the Iranian shah should, in person, administer Armenia and through the aid of governors or deputies.{{sfn|Frye|1983|p=149}} In 485, Balash appointed Vahan Mamikonian as the ''[[marzban]]'' of Armenia. A few months later, a son of Peroz named [[Zarer]] rose in rebellion. Balash, with the aid of the Armenians, put down the rebellion, captured and killed him.{{sfn|Frye|1983|p=149}} In 488, Balash, who was an unpopular figure among the nobility and clergy, was deposed after a reign of just four years.{{sfn|Chaumont|Schippmann|1988|pp=574–580}} Sukhra played a main role in Balash's deposition,{{sfn|Chaumont|Schippmann|1988|pp=574–580}} and appointed Peroz's son Kavad as the new shah of Iran.{{sfn|Pourshariati|2008|p=78}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Payne |first=Richard|title=The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-107-63388-9 |editor-last=Maas |editor-first=Michael |pages=282–299|chapter=The Reinvention of Iran: The Sasanian Empire and the Huns}}
* {{cite book |first1=Daniel T. |last1=Potts|editor1-last=Mass|editor1-first=Michael|editor2-last=Di Cosmo|editor2-first=Nicola|title=Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |chapter=Sasanian Iran and its northeastern frontier |pages=1–538|isbn=9781316146040|chapter-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/empires-and-exchanges-in-eurasian-late-antiquity/4E63CF99C760BDCF906093F021984D34}}
*{{cite book|last=Pourshariati|first=Parvaneh|title=Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran|location=London and New York|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84511-645-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-xtAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{Encyclopædia Iranica|volume=16|fascicle=2|article=Kawād I i. Reign|last=Schindel|first=Nikolaus|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kawad-i-reign|pages=136–141}}
* {{Encyclopædia Iranica|volume=online | last = Shahbazi | first = A. Shapur | title = Sasanian dynasty | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sasanian-dynasty | year = 2005 }}
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3a|last=Frye|first=R. N.|chapter=The political history of Iran under the Sasanians}}
* {{cite book | title = Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire | year = 2009 | publisher = I.B.Tauris | last = Daryaee| first = Touraj | author-link = Touraj Daryaee | pages = 1–240 | isbn = 978-0857716668 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LU0BAwAAQBAJ }}
* {{Encyclopædia Iranica|volume=3|fascicle=6| article = Balāš, Sasanian king of kings | last = Chaumont| first = M. L. | first2 = K. | last2 = Schippmann | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/balas-proper-name#Sasanianking | pages = 574–580 }}
* {{cite book |first1=Touraj |last1=Daryaee|first2=Khodadad|last2=Rezakhani|editor1-last=Daryaee |editor1-first=Touraj |title=King of the Seven Climes: A History of the Ancient Iranian World (3000 BCE - 651 CE) |date=2017 |publisher=UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies |chapter=The Sasanian Empire|pages=1–236|isbn=9780692864401|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=unTjswEACAAJ}}
* {{cite book | title = ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity | year = 2017 | publisher = Edinburgh University Press | last = Rezakhani | first = Khodadad | pages = 1–256 | isbn = 9781474400305 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bjRWDwAAQBAJ&q=false}}
* {{cite book |first1=Scott |last1=McDonough|editor1-last=Arnason|editor1-first=Johann P. |editor2-last=Raaflaub|editor2-first=Kurt A.|title=The Roman Empire in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |chapter=The Legs of the Throne: Kings, Elites, and Subjects in Sasanian Iran |pages=290–321|isbn=9781444390186|doi=10.1002/9781444390186.ch13}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian dynasty]]||||}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Peroz I]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[King of Kings of Iran and non-Iran]]|years=484–488}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Kavad I]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Sasanian Rulers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balash}}
[[Category:5th-century Sasanian monarchs]]
[[Category:Shahnameh characters]]
[[Category:5th-century births]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]