Bahram IV was twelfth Sassanid King of Persia (388–399), son and successor of Shapur III of Persia (383–388), under whom he had been governor of Kerman

Kerman

- Geological characteristics :For the Iranian paleontologists, Kerman has always been considered a fossil paradise. Finding new dinosaur footprints in 2005 has now revealed new hopes for paleontologists to better understand the history of this area.- Economy :...

; therefore he was called Kermanshah (Agathias

Agathias

Agathias or Agathias Scholasticus , of Myrina , an Aeolian city in western Asia Minor , was a Greek poet and the principal historian of part of the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian I between 552 and 558....

 iv. 26; Tabari).
He later founded the city of Kermanshah

Kermanshah

Kermanshah is a city in and the capital of Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 784,602, in 198,117 families.The overwhelming majority of Kermanshahi people are Shi'a Muslims...

 in Western Persia which was called after him.

Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

 had been divided during the reign of Shapur III

Shapur III

Shapur III was the eleventh Sassanid King of Persia from 383 to 388. Shapur III succeeded his father Ardashir II in the year 383.- Treaty with Rome :...

 according to the terms of a peace treaty. But this arrangement barely survived the reign of Shapur III. By about 390, Khosrov III, the King of Armenia under Persian suzerainty grew wary of his subordination to Persia and entered into a treaty with the Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Theodosius I

Theodosius I

Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...

 who deposed Arshak III

Arshak III

Arshak III was the last king of the part of Armenia that was put under Roman domination by the Peace of Acilisene.Arshak III originally came to power as co-king with his brother Valarshak in 380 during Manuel Mamikonian's domination of Armenia...

 and made him the king of a united Armenia in return for his allegiance. Enraged Bahram IV took Khosrov prisoner and confined him to the Castle of Oblivion and made his brother Vram-Shapuh upon the Armenian throne. Khosrov had appealed to Theodosius for help but the latter refused to intervene as it would constitute a breach of the peace of 384.

Bahramn IV is often regarded as a harsh man who entirely neglected his duties. His conduct, it is recorded, grew so unbearable that he was ultimately assassinated by his own troops who surrounded him and shot him with arrows.