Turkic incursions in the east thumb|250px|16th-century Shahnameh illustration of Bahram Chobin fighting Bagha Qaghan. In 588, the Turkic Khagan Bagha Qaghan (known as Sabeh/Saba in Persian sources), together with his Hephthalite subjects, invaded the Sasanian territories south of the Oxus, where they attacked and routed the Sasanian soldiers stationed in Balkh. After conquering the city, they proceeded to take Talaqan, Badghis, and Herat. The invasion was a violation of the treaty that Khosrow I and the Khagan Istemi had agreed to, which set the Oxus as the boundary between the empires. In a council of war, Bahram Chobin of the Parthian Mihranid family was chosen to lead an army against them and was given the governorship of Khorasan. Bahram's army, supposedly consisting of 12,000 hand-picked horsemen, ambushed a large army of Turks and Hephthalites in April 588, at the Battle of Hyrcanian Rock. By 589 he had repelled the Turks and entered Balkh triumphantly, where he captured the Turkic treasury and the golden throne of the Khagan. He then proceeded to cross the Oxus river and won a decisive victory over the Turks, personally killing Bagha Qaghan with an arrowshot. He managed to reach as far as Baykand, near Bukhara, and also contain an attack by the son of the deceased Khagan, Birmudha, whom Bahram had captured and sent to Ctesiphon. left|thumb|Map of Sogdia, which was briefly under Sasanian rule after the First Perso-Turkic War. Birmudha was well received there by Hormizd, who forty days later had him sent back to Bahram with the order that the Turkic prince should get sent back to Transoxiana. The Sasanians now held suzerainty over the Sogdian cities of Chach and Samarkand, where Hormizd minted coins. This victory briefly made Iran the supreme power in Near East, a feat that was for a long time evoked in Persian stories. After Bahram's great victory against the Turks he was sent to Caucasus to repel an invasion of nomads, possibly the Khazars, where he was victorious. He was once again made commander of the Sasanian forces against the Byzantines, and successfully defeated a Byzantine force in Georgia. However, he then suffered a minor defeat by a Byzantine army on the banks of the Aras. Hormizd, who was jealous of Bahram, used this defeat as an excuse to dismiss him from his office, and had him humiliated.
Turkic incursions in the east thumb|250px|16th-century Shahnameh illustration of Bahram Chobin fighting Bagha Qaghan. In 588, the Turkic Khagan Bagha Qaghan (known as Sabeh/Saba in Persian sources), together with his Hephthalite subjects, invaded the Sasanian territories south of the Oxus, where they attacked and routed the Sasanian soldiers stationed in Balkh. After conquering the city, they proceeded to take Talaqan, Badghis, and Herat. The invasion was a violation of the treaty that Khosrow I and the Khagan Istemi had agreed to, which set the Oxus as the boundary between the empires. In a council of war, Bahram Chobin of the Parthian Mihranid family was chosen to lead an army against them and was given the governorship of Khorasan. Bahram's army, supposedly consisting of 12000 hand-picked horsemen, ambushed a large army of Turks and Hephthalites in April 588, at the Battle of Hyrcanian Rock. By 589 he had repelled the Turks and entered Balkh triumphantly, where he captured the Turkic treasury and the golden throne of the Khagan. He then proceeded to cross the Oxus river and won a decisive victory over the Turks, personally killing Bagha Qaghan with an arrowshot. He managed to reach as far as Baykand, near Bukhara, and also contain an attack by the son of the deceased Khagan, Birmudha, whom Bahram had captured and sent to Ctesiphon. left|thumb|Map of Sogdia, which was briefly under Sasanian rule after the First Perso-Turkic War. Birmudha was well received there by Hormizd, who forty days later had him sent back to Bahram with the order that the Turkic prince should get sent back to Transoxiana. The Sasanians now held suzerainty over the Sogdian cities of Chach and Samarkand, where Hormizd minted coins. This victory briefly made Iran the supreme power in Near East, a feat that was for a long time evoked in Persian stories. After Bahram's great victory against the Turks he was sent to Caucasus to repel an invasion of nomads, possibly the Khazars, where he was victorious. He was once again made commander of the Sasanian forces against the Byzantines, and successfully defeated a Byzantine force in Georgia. However, he then suffered a minor defeat by a Byzantine army on the banks of the Aras. Hormizd, who was jealous of Bahram, used this defeat as an excuse to dismiss him from his office and had him humiliated.