The Masmughans of Damavand (

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 ...

: Masmughan-i Dumbawand,

New Persian New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thr ...

: مس مغان دماوند, meaning ''Great Magians of Damavand'') were a local dynasty, which ruled

Damavand Mount Damavand ( fa, دماوند ) is a dormant stratovolcano, the highest peak in Iran and Western Asia and the highest volcano in Asia and the 2nd highest volcano in the Eastern Hemisphere (after Mount Kilimanjaro), at an elevation of . ...

and its surrounding areas from ca. 651 to 760. The founder of the dynasty was a Karenid named Mardanshah of Damavand.

History

The Masmughans of Damavand are first mentioned by Al-Tabari, where the Masmughan Mardanshah of Damavand reportedly aided the

Mihranid The Mihranids were an Iranian family which ruled several regions of Caucasus from 330 to 821. They claimed to be of Sasanian Persian descent but were of Parthian origin. History The dynasty was founded when a certain Mihran, a distant relative o ...

Siyavakhsh at Ray against the Arabs. The forces of Siyavakhsh and Mardanshah, were, however, defeated. Mardanshah then made peace with the Arabs in return for an annual tribute."Maṣmug̲h̲an." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Brill Online, 2013. Reference. 30 November 2013 In 748/749, Abu Muslim sought to subdue the Masmughan but his general Musa ibn Kab was ambushed by the local forces who enjoyed the advantage of the terrain, which forced him to return to Ray. In 758/759 due to disputes between Abarwiz and his brother, who is simply called ''Masmughan'' in Arabic sources, Abarwiz then went over to the

Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

Al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ar, أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور‎; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Manṣūr (المنصور) w ...

who gave him a pension. In some Arabic sources Abarwiz is called Al-Masmughan Malik ('' malik of the Masmughans''), and is known for his bravery. In 760, Masmughan, the brother of Abarwiz, was at war against his father-in-law, the

Dabuyid The Dabuyid or Gaubarid Dynasty was a Zoroastrian Iranian dynasty that started in the first half of the seventh century as an independent group of rulers, reigning over Tabaristan and parts of western Khorasan. Dabuyid rule over Tabaristan and Kh ...

ispahbadh ''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 Sasan ...

Khurshid Khorshīd or Khorshēd ( , meaning ''the Sun'' or the "Radiant Sun"), also spelled as ''Khurshed'' and ''Khurshid'', is a Persian given name. In the modern day as well as historical Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, but also in Iraqi Kurdistan, Egypt, ...

, but when he heard about the Abbasid expedition to

Tabaristan Tabaristan or Tabarestan ( fa, طبرستان, Ṭabarestān, or mzn, تبرستون, Tabarestun, ultimately from Middle Persian: , ''Tapur(i)stān''), was the name applied to a mountainous region located on the Caspian coast of northern Iran. ...

, he made peace with the latter. The Arabs then defeated the

and the Masmughan, who was captured along with his daughters Bakhtariya and Shakla. One of these daughters became the wife of

Al-Mahdi Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله المنصور; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name Al-Mahdī (, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abb ...

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 Zoroastrian rulers House of Karen Damavand County History of Mazandaran Province Monarchy in Persia and Iran 7th century in Iran 8th century in Iran 651 establishments

History

See also

References

Sources