Bahram V (Civ5)/Civilopedia

Bahram was the 14th Sassanid king (421-438 AD), gaining the throne after the sudden death (or assassination) of his father Yazdegerd I. Bahram opened his reign with systematic persecution of Christians within his wide-flung lands, a policy that promptly led to war with Eastern Rome. After inconclusive battles and maneuvers, the Persians and Romans signed a treaty in 422 that marked a return to the status quo. However, Bahram shortly thereafter (428 AD) annexed Armenia over the protests of its Christian patriarch Isaac, once again straining Byzantine-Sassanid relations.
Despite the occasional raid or skirmish, peace with Eastern Rome lasted for some years, and gave Bahram the opportunity to indulge himself - and coincidently launch a new Persian golden age. He came to embody royal prosperity, amusing himself with hunting, court parties and sexual pursuits. Under his patronage, some of the great pieces of Sassanid literature, for instance the Karnamag-i Pabagan, and music were created. Sports such as polo became a royal pastime. His adventures in war, hunting and love became myth and legend, and figure even in modern tales such as the famous Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (quatrain 17).
The last stage of Bahram's reign is marked by his conflict with the Huns. The Hephthalite horde of the Huns invaded from the northeast and ravaged much of northern Iran. They crossed into Khorasan and advanced as far as the city of Rei. Unprepared for war, Bahram made an offer of peace and submission which was accepted by the Huns. But gathering a large force, Bahram crossed the province of Tabaristan by night, took the encamped Huns unaware and massacred them, even taking the chieftain's wife captive. The surviving Huns were pursued and slaughtered as far as the Oxus River. Although Bahram was now fatally ill, one of his generals pushed into the horde's homeland to the north and plundered it, ending the Hunnic threat to the Sassanids.