Spahbed

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Modern reconstruction of a late Sasanian-era military commander
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Spāhbed (also spelled spahbod and spahbad)

Mongol conquests of the 13th century.[3] An equivalent title of Persian origin, ispahsālār or sipahsālār, gained great currency across the Muslim world
in the 10th–15th centuries.

The title was also adopted by the

arteshbod
(full General).

Use in pre-Islamic Iran

Further information:
Sasanian army

The title is attested[

seven great houses of the Parthian nobility.[3]

The

Middle Persian (Inscriptional Pahlavi script) as 𐭮𐭯𐭠𐭧𐭯𐭲𐭩 spʾhpty and 𐭮𐭯𐭠𐭧𐭯𐭲 spʾhpt (read as spāhbed) and in Parthian (Inscriptional Parthian script) as 𐭀𐭎𐭐𐭀𐭃𐭐𐭕𐭉‎ ʾspʾdpty and 𐭎𐭐𐭃𐭐𐭕𐭉‎ spdpty (read as (a)spāẟbed).[4]

Until the early 6th century, there was a single holder of the title, the Ērān-spāhbed, who according to the list of precedence provided by the 9th-century Muslim historian Ya'qubi occupied the fifth position in the court hierarchy.[3] Two spahbeds, both named Raxš, are recorded in Shapur-KZ and Paikuli inscriptions.[2]

The

Kavadh I shortly before 503 for the purpose of weakening the authority of the wuzurg framadar. But it is likely that this Syriac word is simply a corrupted form of spāhbed (which is normally recorded as aspabid in Syriac), or possibly asp(a)bed ("chief of the cavalry"), since the Greek sources give the name of the second man as Aspebedes (Latin: Aspebedus), Aspevedes, or Aspetios (Latin: Aspetius).[5][6] Again, during the Iberian War (526–532), a man named Aspebedes (i.e. Bawi), according to the historian Procopius a maternal uncle of Khosrow I (r. 531–579), appears. In 527 he took part in negotiations with Byzantine envoys, and in 531 he led an invasion of Mesopotamia along with Chanaranges and Mermeroes. He was executed by Khosrow shortly after his accession for plotting with other nobles to overthrow him in favor of his brother Zames.[5][7]

Khosrow I's reform

To curb the power of the over-mighty generalissimo, Khosrow I—although this reform may already have been planned by his father,

Kavadh I (r. 499–531)—split the office of the Ērān-spāhbed into four regional commands, corresponding to the four traditional cardinal directions (kust, cf. Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr): the "army chief of the East (Khurasan)" (kust ī khwarāsān spāhbed), the "army chief of the South" (kust ī nēmrōz spāhbed), the "army chief of the West" (kust ī khwarbārān spāhbed), and the "army chief of Azerbaijan" (kust ī Ādurbādagān spāhbed, where the northwestern province of Azerbaijan substitutes the term "north" because of the latter's negative connotations).[2][8] The exact geographical definition of each command has been retrieved from Anania Shirakatsi's Geography.[9] As this reform was mentioned only in later literary sources, the historicity of this division, or its survival after Khosrow I's reign, was questioned in the past,[10] but a series of thirteen recently discovered seals, which provide the names of eight spāhbeds, provide contemporary evidence from the reigns of Khosrow I and his successor, Hormizd IV (r. 579–590); P. Pourshariati suggests that two may date to the reign of Khosrow II (r. 590–628). The eight known spāhbeds are:[2][11]

Name Command King Family Other titles
Chihr-Burzēn
(
Simah-i Burzin
)		 East Khosrow I
Kārin
Dād-Burzēn-Mihr
(Wuzurgmihr)		 East Hormizd IV Kārin aspbed ī pāhlav
Wahrām Ādurmāh
(Bahram-i Mah Adhar)		 South Khosrow I & Hormizd IV Unknown šahr-hazāruft (under Hormizd IV only), nēwānbed, šābestan
Wēh-Shāpūr South Khosrow I Unknown aspbed ī pārsīg
Pīrag South Khosrow II
Mihrān
 Shahrwarāz
Wistakhm
(Vistahm)		 West Khosrow II & Hormizd IV
Ispahbudhān
 Hazarbed
Gōrgōn or Gōrgēn
(Golon Mihran)		 North Khosrow I Mihrān
Sēd-hōsh (?) North Khosrow I Mihrān šahr-aspbed

Other holders of the rank are difficult to identify from the literary sources, since the office of spāhbed was held in tandem with other offices and titles, such as

marzbān ("frontier-warden, margrave") and pāygōsbān ("district guardian").[2]

Islamic period

Tabaristan

Silver dirham of the last Dabuyid ispahbadh, Khurshid of Tabaristan (r. 740–761)

During the

Patashwargar", the old name of Tabaristan's mountains), and ispahbadh (اسپهبذ, a New Persian form of spahbed) of Khurasan.[3][14]

The title ispahbadh was also claimed by other lines of local rulers in the region, who claimed distant descent from the Sasanian past: the

Mongol conquests of the 13th century.[3][15] The title was also used by the Daylamites neighbouring Tabaristan. In some later texts from this region, the title came to signify simply a local chieftain.[3]

Central Asia

In Khurasan, the title survived in usage among the local

Seljuk commander, Isfabadh ibn Sawtigin, who seized control of Mecca for a while.[3]

In Armenia

The Kingdom of Armenia, which was ruled by a branch of the Parthian Arsacid dynasty, adopted the term first in its Old Persian form, giving Armenian [a]parapet and then again, under Sasanian influence, from the Middle Persian form, giving the form aspahapet. The title was used, as in Persia, for the commander-in-chief of the royal army, and was borne in hereditary right by the Mamikonian family.[3]

In Georgia

The institution of the Georgian rank

Persian spahbed, but differed in that it was a non-hereditary rank and included not only military but also civil functions.[16]

According to the medieval Georgian chronicles, the rank of spaspet was introduced by the first king

P’arnavaz
in the 3rd century BC. The office, in a variously modified manner, survived into medieval and early modern Georgia down to the Russian annexation early in the 19th century.

References

  1. ISBN 9783406093975
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Gyselen (2004)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Bosworth (1978), pp. 207–208
  4. ISBN 978-1-135-79704-1
    .
  5. ^ a b Chaumont (1987), pp. 825–826
  6. ^ Martindale (1980), p. 169
  7. ^ Martindale (1992), p. 137
  8. ^ Pourshariati (2008), pp. 95ff.
  9. ^ Howard-Johnston, James (2012). "The Late Sasanian Army". Late Antiquity: Eastern Perspectives (Off-print): 87–127 – via Academia.
  10. ^ Pourshariati (2008), pp. 94–95
  11. ^ Pourshariati (2008), pp. 98–101, 470 (Table 6.3)
  12. ^ Kennedy (2007), p. 187
  13. ^ Kennedy (2007), pp. 178–179, 192
  14. ^ Madelung (1975), pp. 198–200
  15. ^ Madelung (1975), pp. 200–202
  16. ISBN 0-684-16760-3
    .

Bibliography
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