Balāsagān (anIraniantoponym meaning "country of Balas";Armenian:Bałasakan, the inhabitants known asBałasičkʻ,Arabic:Balāsajān/Balāšajān), also known asBazgan, was a region located in the area of theKura andAras rivers, adjacent to theCaspian Sea. To the south, it borderedAtropatene/Adurbadagan andGilan.[1][2] It roughly corresponded to theArmenian province ofPaytakaran, albeit extending farther into the north.[3] It has been suggested that under theSasanians the region extended as far as the stronghold ofDerbent, albeit this remains disputed.[1][2] The heartland of Balasagan was theDasht i-Bałasakan ("Balasagan plain") which corresponds to theMughan plain.[1] During the late Sasanian era, Balasagan was included in the northern quadrant (kust) of Adurbadagan.[4]
The region is first attested as a Sasanian province in theSKZ inscription ofShapur I (r. 240–270) separately fromCaucasian Albania, which indicates that it was its own political entity even if it was virtually subject to Albania.[1] In the inscription, Shapur I's considers Balasagan and the rest of theCaucasus as part of Iran, and only regards the Roman territories ofAnatolia andSyria as part ofAneran. The powerful 3rd-century Zoroastrian high priestKartir, however, considers Balasagan and the rest of the Caucasus as belonging to Aneran.[5] What was precisely seen as Aneran is not certain.[6] According to the medieval Persian geographerIbn Khordadbeh (d. 912), the ruler of Balasagan was among the leaders who was acknowledged with the title of king by the first Sasanian monarchArdashir I (r. 224–242), which suggests that Balasagan was a direct vassal of Iran.[1] According to the modern historianRobert H. Hewsen, the Sasanians took Balasagan from their Albanian vassals in the 5th-century (or possibly as early as 387).[7] Administration-wise, Balasagan was part of Adurbadagan.[8] Nothing is known about the Kingdom of Balasagan; its main hub may have been at the fortress of Khursan.[9] The Sasanians formed districts such as Spandaran-Peroz, Hormizd-Peroz, At'sibagawan, and (probably) Alewan in order to consolidate the area under a more centralized administration.[10][1]
Inc. 335/6,Sanesan, the king ofMaskut, occupied a portion of Balasagan, while at least acknowledging the suzerainty of the Sasanians.[1] During the reign ofYazdegerd II (r. 438–457), the king of Balasagan, Heran, took part in the Sasanian efforts to crush the 450–451 Armenian rebellion ofVardan Mamikonian. However, he himself revolted later on, massacring a Sasanian army in Albania, and raidingIberian, Armenian and Albanian lands. He was killed under the orders of Yazdegerd II.[1][11]
Balasagan was conquered inc. 645 by an Arab army led by Salman ibn Rabi'a, who forced some Kurds of the region to payjizya (poll tax). Furthermore, one of the accords of the peace treaty concluded between the Arab commanderHudhayfah ibn al-Yaman and themarzban (margrave) of Adurbadagan was that the Arabs were to protect the locals against the Kurds of Balasagan and theSabalan mountains. The name of Balasagan rarely appears in classical Arabic chronicles, being replaced with Mughan. Balasagan notably appears in the work of the 10th-century Arab traveller Abu Dulaf al-Yanbu'i, who in hisal-Risala al-thania, reports of his journey in the region.[1]
During the reign ofKhosrow II (r. 590–628), thecatholicos of Iberia and Albania, Gregory, attempted to convert the people of Balasagan toChristianity.[1] Regardless, pockets of local paganism still remained in the country, notably in Mughan. Inc. 800 bishop Eliya, who was sent as a missionary to the area, reports of inhabitants worshipping a god named Yazd, who lived in an oak tree called "king of the forest"; the bushes that encircled the tree were called "children of Yazd." The locals alleged that they had inherited the worship of Yazd from their ancestors. InMiddle Persian, the termyazd simply means god, which demonstrates influence fromZoroastrianism, which must have taken place in the Sasanian era.[1]
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