Khosrow IV

Khosrow IV appears in later sources as a son of Khosrow II who survived the family purge of Kavad II by hiding in a fortress near Nisibis before being enthroned at Ctesiphon. Written accounts give him a very short reign, a month in the Shahnameh and a year in other Islamic-era texts, but his coinage tells a different story. Coins from about ten mints across Fars, Kirman, Mesene and Iraq carry regnal years 2 to 10 (roughly 632 to 642), showing a long-lived rival to Yazdegerd III; another account has his Susa minting continue only to 636, so sources differ on the end of his reign.