The Plague of Shiryue (627–628) or Shiruye's Plague takes its name from the Sasanian monarch Kavad II, whose birth name was Shiruye. The plague was an epidemic that devastated the western provinces of the Sasanian Empire, mainly Mesopotamia (Asorestan), killing half of its population, including the reigning Sasanian king Kavad II, who died in the fall of 628 CE, only a few months into his reign. It killed more than 100,000 people in Ctesiphon.