Isfandyadh (

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...

: ''Spandiyār'') was an

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

aristocrat from the Ispahbudhan family, who was the ruler of the Sasanian province of

Adurbadagan Adurbadagan (Middle Persian: ''Ādurbādagān/Āδarbāyagān'', Parthian: ''Āturpātākān'') was a Sasanian province located in northern Iran, almost corresponded to the present-day Iranian Azerbaijan. Governed by a ''marzban'' ("margrave"), it ...

. He was the son of the powerful

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

general

Farrukhzad Farrukhzad ( pal, script=Latn, Farrūkhzādag; New Persian: ), was an Iranian aristocrat from the House of Ispahbudhan and the founder of the Bavand dynasty, ruling from 651 to 665. Originally a powerful servant of the Sasanian king Khosrow II (r. ...

, who was the brother of

Rostam Farrokhzad Rostam Farrokhzād ( fa, رستم فرخزاد) was an Iranian dynast from the Ispahbudhan family, who served as the ''spahbed'' ("military marshal") of the northwestern quarter (''kust'') of Adurbadagan during the reign of Boran () and Yazdege ...

and the son of

Farrukh Hormizd Farrukh Hormizd or Farrokh Hormizd ( fa, فرخ‌هرمز), also known as Hormizd V, was an Iranian prince, who was one of the leading figures in Sasanian Iran in the early 7th-century. He served as the military commander (''spahbed'') of northern ...

Biography

Isfandyadh first appears in 642/643, where he is mentioned as the prince of Adurbadagan, who at the head of a big army along with Muta and Varaztirots, fought the

Muslim Arabs Arab Muslims ( ar, العرب المسلمون) are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Arabs. Arab Muslims greatly outnumber other ethnoreligious groups in the Middle East and North Africa. Arab M ...

at Waj Rudh, a village in

Hamadan Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') ( Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ha ...

. However, he along with the Sasanian commanders were defeated. Some years later, in 651, the Arabs invaded Adurbadagan, the domains of Isfandyadh and his brother Bahram. Isfandyadh once again made a stand against the Arabs, where a battle was fought. He was, however, once again defeated and this time captured. While Isfandyadh was in captivity, he told the Arab general

Bukayr ibn Abdallah Bukayr ibn Abdallah () was an Arab military leader, who served the Rashidun Caliphate and is known for the conquest of the Sasanian province of Adurbadagan. Biography In 651, Bukayr invaded Adurbadagan, which was the domain of the Ispahbudhan br ...

, that if he sought to conquer Adurbadagan easily and peacefully, he should make peace with him. According to

Bal'ami Abu Ali Muhammad Bal'ami ( fa, ابو علی محمد, d. 992-997 CE), also called Amirak Bal'ami () and Bal'ami-i Kuchak (, "Bal'ami the Younger"), was a 10th-century Persian historian, writer, and vizier to the Samanids. He was from the influen ...

, Isfandyadh is known to have said that: "If you ere tokill me all of Azarbayjan

ill ILL may refer to: * '' I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibra ...

rise in avenging my blood, and will wage war against you." The Arab general listened to Isfandyadh's advice and made peace with him. However, Bahram, the brother of Isfandyadh, refused to submit to the Arab forces and kept resisting them. He was, however, shortly defeated by the Arabs, and was forced to flee from Adurbadagan.Pourshariati (2008), p. 279 Nothing more is known about Isfandyadh.

Family tree

References

Sources

*{{cite book, last=Pourshariati, first=Parvaneh, title=Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran, location=London and New York, publisher=I.B. Tauris, year=2008, isbn=978-1-84511-645-3, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-xtAAAAMAAJ 7th-century births Year of death unknown Generals of Yazdegerd III House of Ispahbudhan 7th-century Iranian people