The House of Ispahbudhan or the House of Aspahbadh was one of the

seven Parthian clans The Seven Great Houses of Iran, also known as the seven Parthian clans, were seven feudal aristocracies of Parthian origin, who were allied with the Sasanian court. The Parthian clans all claimed ancestry from Achaemenid Persians. The seven Great ...

of the

Sasanian Empire 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 History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...

. Like the Sasanians, they claimed descent from the

Achaemenid dynasty The Achaemenid dynasty ( Old Persian: ; Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) was an ancient Persian royal dynasty that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, an Iranian empire that stretched from Egypt and Southeastern Europe in the west to the In ...

. They also claimed descent from the legendary

Kayanid The Kayanians (Persian: دودمان کیانیان; also Kays, Kayanids, Kaianids, Kayani, or Kiani) are a legendary dynasty of Persian/Iranian tradition and folklore which supposedly ruled after the Pishdadians. Considered collectively, the Kay ...

figure Isfandiyar, who was the son of

Vishtaspa Vishtaspa ( ae, 𐬬𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬁𐬯𐬞𐬀 ; peo, 𐎻𐏁𐎫𐎠𐎿𐎱 ; fa, گشتاسپ ; grc, Ὑστάσπης ) is the Avestan-language name of a figure of Zoroastrian scripture and tradition, portrayed as an early followe ...

, who according to

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...

sources was one of Zoroaster's early followers.

Origin and ancestry

The family traced its descent back to military marshals (''

spahbed ''Spāhbed'' (also spelled ''spahbod'' and ''spahbad'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbed'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Sasani ...

''), and occupied important offices in the realm. According to a romanticized legend about their origin, a daughter of the Parthian/Arsacid king

Phraates IV Phraates IV (also spelled Frahad IV; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭇𐭕 ''Frahāt''), was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 37 to 2 BC. He was the son and successor of Orodes II (), and was given the throne after the death of his brother Pacorus I. ...

(), named Koshm, married a "general of all Iranians"; their offspring bore the title of "Aspahpet Pahlav", later forming the Ispahbudhan clan. Through their Arsacid lineage, the Ispahbudhan claimed to be descendants of the

Kayanian The Kayanians (Persian: دودمان کیانیان; also Kays, Kayanids, Kaianids, Kayani, or Kiani) are a legendary dynasty of Persian/Iranian tradition and folklore which supposedly ruled after the Pishdadians. Considered collectively, the Kay ...

kings

Dara II Dara II or Darab II was the last king of the mythological Kayanian dynasty, ruling between 14 and 16 years. He is generally identified with Darius III (), the last king of the Achaemenid Empire. In Middle Persian literature and Islamic chronicles, ...

and Esfandiyar.

History

Under the Sasanians, the Ispahbudhan enjoyed such a high status that they were acknowledged as "kin and partners of the Sasanians". Although the hereditary homeland of the Ispahbudhan seems to have been Khorasan, the family in the course of time came to rule the northwestern quarter (''kust'') 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 ...

(not to be confused with the namesake province of

). The family included many powerful men in the

closely related to the

House of Sasan The Sasanian dynasty was the house that founded the Sasanian Empire, ruling this empire from 224 to 651 AD in Persia (modern-day Iran). It began with Ardashir I, who named the dynasty as ''Sasanian'' in honour of his grandfather (or father), Sa ...

, such as-

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

Vistahm Vistahm or Bistam (also transliterated Wistaxm, pal, 𐭥𐭮𐭲𐭧𐭬 wsthm), was a Parthian dynast of the Ispahbudhan house, and maternal uncle of the Sasanian king of kings of Iran, Khosrow II (). Vistahm helped Khosrow regain his throne af ...

Isfandyadh Isfandyadh (Middle Persian: ''Spandiyār'') was an Iranian aristocrat from the Ispahbudhan family, who was the ruler of the Sasanian province of Adurbadagan. He was the son of the powerful Sasanian general Farrukhzad, who was the brother of Rostam ...

etc.

Resistance against the Arabs

In 651, the

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

invaded Adurbadagan, which was the domain of the Ispahbudhan brothers

and Bahram. Isfandyadh made a stand against the Arabs, where a battle was fought. He was, however, defeated and captured by the Arabs. 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 Adurbadagan

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 accepted 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. Although, he was quickly defeated by the Arabs, and was forced to flee from Adurbadagan. Adurbadagan thus came under Arab suzerainty.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{Parthian Empire

Origin and ancestry

History

Resistance against the Arabs

See also

References

Sources