Hormizd II of Persia

Hormizd II, king of Persia, son of Narseh, reigned for seven years five months, 302-309.

Of his reign nothing is known. After his death his son Adarnases[?] was killed by the grandees after a very short reign, as he showed a cruel disposition; another son, Hormizd, was kept a prisoner, and the throne reserved for the child with which a concubine of Hormizd II was pregnant and which received the name Shapur II.

Hormizd escaped from prison by the help of his wife in 323, and found refuge at the court of Constantine the Great (Zosim. ii. 27; John of Antioch, fr. 178; Zonar. 13-5). In 363 Hormizd served in the army of Julian against Persia; his son, with the same name, became consul in 366 (Ammian. Marc. 26. 8. 12).

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.