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Spāhbad (also spelledspahbod)[1] is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" or commander used chiefly in theSasanian Empire.[2] Originally there was a singlespāhbad, called theĒrān-spāhbed, who functioned as thegeneralissimo of theSasanian army. From the time ofKhosrow I (r. 531–579) on, the office was split in four, with aspāhbad for each of thecardinal directions.[3] After theMuslim conquest of Persia, thespāhbed of the East managed to retain his authority over the inaccessible mountainous region ofTabaristan on the southern shore of theCaspian Sea, where the title, often in its Islamic formispahbedh (Persian:اسپهبذ; inArabic:اصبهبذʾiṣbahbaḏ), survived as a regnal title until theMongol conquests of the 13th century.[4] An equivalent title of Persian origin,ispahsālār or sipahsālār, gained great currency across theMuslim world in the 10th–15th centuries.
The title was also adopted by theArmenians (Armenian:սպարապետ,[a]sparapet) and theGeorgians (Georgian:სპასპეტი,spaspeti), as well asKhotan (spāta) and theSogdians (spʾdpt) inCentral Asia. It is also attested inGreek sources asaspabedēs (ἀσπαβέδης).[3][4] The title was revived in the 20th century by thePahlavi dynasty, in theModern Persian formsepahbod (سپهبد), equivalent to a three-starLieutenant General, ranking belowarteshbod (full General).
The title is attested[failed verification] in theAchaemenid Empire in itsOld Persian form,spādapati (from *spāda- "army" and *pati- "chief"[3]), signifying the army's commander-in-chief.[4] The title continued in use under theArsacidParthian Empire, where it seems to have been a hereditary position in one of theseven great houses of the Parthian nobility.[4]
TheSasanian Empire, which succeeded the Arsacids, retained the title, which is attested in a series of inscriptions from the 3rd century,[4] recorded inMiddle Persian (Inscriptional Pahlavi script) as𐭮𐭯𐭠𐭧𐭯𐭲𐭩 spʾhpty and𐭮𐭯𐭠𐭧𐭯𐭲 spʾhpt (read asspāhbed) and inParthian (Inscriptional Parthian script) as𐭀𐭎𐭐𐭀𐭃𐭐𐭕𐭉 ʾspʾdpty and𐭎𐭐𐭃𐭐𐭕𐭉 spdpty (read as(a)spāẟbed).[5]
Until the early 6th century, there was a single holder of the title, theĒrān-spāhbed, who according to the list of precedence provided by the 9th-century Muslim historianYa'qubi occupied the fifth position in the court hierarchy.[4] Twospahbads, both named Raxš, are recorded inShapur-KZ andPaikuli inscriptions.[3]
TheByzantine andSyriac sources record a number of senior officers who might be holders of the rank in the early 6th century. Thus during theAnastasian War of 502–506, a certain Boes (Bōē), who negotiated with the Byzantinemagister officiorumCeler and died in 505, is named in the Syriac sources as an 'astable' (also spelledastabed,astabad,astabadh). His unnamed successor in the negotiations also bore this title. Some modern scholars have interpretedastabed as a new office corresponding to the Byzantinemagister officiorum, supposedly instituted byKavadh I shortly before 503 for the purpose of weakening the authority of thewuzurg framadar. But it is likely that this Syriac word is simply a corrupted form ofspāhbed (which is normally recorded asaspabid in Syriac), or possiblyasp(a)bed ("chief of the cavalry"), since the Greek sources give the name of the second man asAspebedes (Latin:Aspebedus),Aspevedes, orAspetios (Latin:Aspetius).[6][7] Again, during theIberian War (526–532), a man named Aspebedes (i.e.Bawi), according to the historianProcopius a maternal uncle ofKhosrow I (r. 531–579), appears. In 527 he took part in negotiations with Byzantine envoys, and in 531 he ledan invasion of Mesopotamia along withChanaranges andMermeroes. He was executed by Khosrow shortly after his accession for plotting with other nobles to overthrow him in favor of his brotherZames.[6][8]
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 theĒrān-spāhbed into four regional commands, corresponding to the four traditionalcardinal 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 ofAzerbaijan" (kust ī Ādurbādagān spāhbed, where the northwestern province of Azerbaijan substitutes the term "north" because of the latter's negative connotations).[3][9] The exact geographical definition of each command has been retrieved fromAnania Shirakatsi'sGeography.[10] 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,[11] but a series of thirteen recently discovered seals, which provide the names of eightspāhbeds, 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 ofKhosrow II (r. 590–628). The eight knownspāhbeds are:[3][12]
| 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 ofspāhbed was held in tandem with other offices and titles, such asShahrwarāz ("Boar of the Empire"), which are often treated as personal names.[3] A further factor of confusion in later literary sources is the interchangeable use of the rank with the junior provincial ranks ofmarzbān ("frontier-warden, margrave") andpāygōsbān ("district guardian").[3]
During theMuslim conquest of Persia, thespahbad of Khurasan apparently retired to the mountains ofTabaristan.[4] There he invited the last Sasanian shah,Yazdgerd III, to find refuge, but Yazdgerd refused, and was killed in 651.[4][13] Like many other local rulers throughout the former Sasanian domains, including those of the neighboring provinces ofGurgan andGilan, thespahbad then made terms with the Arabs, which allowed him to remain as the practically independent ruler of Tabaristan in exchange for an annual tribute.[14] This marked the foundation of theDabuyid dynasty, which ruled Tabaristan until 759–761, when it was conquered by theAbbasids and incorporated into the Caliphate as a province. The early rulers of the dynasty are ill-attested; they minted coins of their own withPahlavi legends and a dating system starting from the Sasanian dynasty's fall in 651 and claimed the titlesGīlgīlan,Padashwargarshah ("Shah ofPatashwargar", the old name of Tabaristan's mountains), andispahbadh (اسپهبذ, a New Persian form ofspahbad) of Khurasan.[4][15]
The titleispahbadh was also claimed by other lines of local rulers in the region, who claimed distant descent from the Sasanian past: theKaren family, who saw themselves as heirs of the Dabuyids and ruled central and western Tabaristan until 839/840, and theBavandid dynasty in the eastern mountains, whose various branches survived until well after theMongol conquests of the 13th century.[4][16] The title was also used by theDaylamites neighbouring Tabaristan. In some later texts from this region, the title came to signify simply a local chieftain.[4]
In Khurasan, the title survived in usage among the localSoghdian princes. Theispahbadh ofBalkh is mentioned in 709, al-Ishkand, theispahbadh of Nasa in 737, and the same title is used in connection with the king ofKabul in the early 9th century.[4] In the 1090s, it appears as the personal name of aSeljuk commander, Isfabadh ibn Sawtigin, who seized control ofMecca for a while.[4]
TheKingdom 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]sparapet and then again, under Sasanian influence, from the Middle Persian form, giving the formaspahapet. The title was used, as in Persia, for the commander-in-chief of the royal army, and was borne in hereditary right by theMamikonian family.[4]
The institution of the Georgian rankspaspet, like its rough equivalentsparapet in neighboring Armenia, was designed under the influence of theSasanianPersianspahbad, but differed in that it was a non-hereditary rank and included not only military but also civil functions.[17]
According to the medieval Georgian chronicles, the rank ofspaspet was introduced by the first kingP’arnavaz in the 3rd century BC.The office, in a variously modified manner, survived into medieval and early modern Georgia down to theRussian annexation early in the 19th century.