| SEVEN GREAT HOUSES OF IRAN 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 seven great houses of Iran had played an active role in Iranian politics since the Arsacid Empire, which they continued to do under their successors, the Sasanians. Only two of the seven – the House of Suren and the House of Karen – however, are actually attested in sources date-able to the Parthian period. The seven houses claimed to have been confirmed as lords in Iran by the legendary Kayanian king Vishtasp. "It may be that members of them made up their own genealogies in order to emphasize the antiquity of their families." During Sasanian times, the seven feudal houses played a significant role at the Sasanian court. Bahram Chobin, a famed military commander of Hormizd IV (r. 579–590), was from the House of Mihran.
The seven houses with their respective main fiefs and ruling-family seats were :
1.
The House of Ispahbudhan, of Gurgan
In Detail :
1. The House of Ispahbudhan, of Gurgan :
The House of Ispahbudhan or the House of Aspahbadh was one of the seven Parthian clans of the Sasanian Empire. Like the Sasanians, they claimed descent from the Achaemenid dynasty. They also claimed descent from the legendary Kayanid figure Isfandiyar, who was the son of Vishtaspa, who according to Zoroastrian sources was one of Zoroaster's early followers.
2. The House of Varaz, of Eastern Khorasan :
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3. The House of Karen, of Nahavand :
Clasp with an eagle and its prey found in Nahavand, believed by Ernst Herzfeld to originally belong to the House of Karen
Members : Sukhra, Karin and Alanda
House of Karen (Middle Persian: Karen, Parthian: Karen, Persian: Karin or Karen, also known as Karen-Pahlav (Karen-Pahlaw) was one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran during the rule of Parthian and Sassanian Empires. The seat of the dynasty was at Nahavand, about 65 km south of Ecbatana (present-day Hamadan, Iran). Members of House of Karen were of notable rank in the administrative structure of the Sassanian empire in multiple periods of its four century-long history.
Origin
and history :
The use of the name Karen might also be found earlier in Iranian history. A possible early member of the family was a certain Vishtasp krny (krny being a variation of Karen) who lived in Bactria during the later Achaemenid period. This figure has been identified with Hystaspes, a member of the Achaemenid royal family who fought under Darius III during Alexander the Great’s invasion of Persia. Hystaspes' wife, a granddaughter of Artaxerxes III fell into Macedonian hands following the Battle of Gaugamela, though he was later reunited with her as well as being raised to a high position under Alexander’s command.
However the first verified reference to the Karenas was during the Arsacid era, specifically as one of the feudal houses affiliated with the Parthian court. In this they were similar to the House of Suren, the only other attested feudal house of the Parthian period. Following the conquest of the Parthians, the Karenas allied themselves with the Sassanids, at whose court they were identified as one of the so-called "Parthian clans". The Armenian Kamsarakan family was a branch of the House of Karen.
Following the defeat of the Sasanians by the army of Rashidun at the Battle of Badghis, the Karenas pledged allegiance to the Caliphate. In 783 however, under Vandad Hormozd and allied with the Bavands, the Karenas proclaimed independence and refused to continue to pay tribute. Notwithstanding repeated (and some temporarily successful) attempts to conquer the Karenas, during which the family had withdrawn further eastwards to the Savadkuh region, some of the lands of the Karenas appear to have remained independent until the 11th century, after which the House of Karen is no longer attested. Other notable members of the family include Maziar, the grandson of Vandad Hormozd, and whose devotion to Zoroastrianism and defiance of the Arabs brought him great fame.
In 1910 or 1911, a treasure vault, popularly called the "Zafar Sultan Treasure" after its finder, was discovered near Nahavand. The hoard – which has since gained mythological status – is today presumed to have once been the property of the Karenas.
Karen
Spahbeds :
4. The House of Mihran, of Ray :
The House of Mihran or House of Mehran, was a leading Iranian noble family (šahrdaran), one of the Seven Great Houses of the Sassanid Persian Empire which claimed descent from the earlier Arsacid dynasty. A branch of the family formed the Mihranid line of the kings of Caucasian Albania and the Chosroid Dynasty of Kartli.
History
:
Notable generals from the Mihran clan included: Perozes, the Persian commander-in-chief during the Anastasian War and the Battle of Dara, Golon Mihran, who fought against the Byzantines in Armenia in 572–573, and Bahram Chobin, who led a coup against Khosrau II and briefly usurped the crown from 590 to 591, and Shahrwaraz, a commander of the last Roman-Persian war and a usurper.
In the course of the 4th century, the purported branches of this family acquired the crowns of three Caucasian polities: Iberia (Chosroids), Gogarene and Caucasian Albania/Gardman (Mihranids).
The much later Samanid dynasty that ruled most of Iran in the 9th and 10th centuries claimed descent from Bahram Chobin and thus the House of Mihran, though the veracity of this claim is unclear.
5. The House of Spandiyadh, of Ray :
The House of Spandiyadh (also spelled Spendiad and Isfandiyar, Middle Persian: Spandyat "given by Spenta Armaiti") was one of the seven great houses of the Sasanian Empire. Like the House of Mihran, their seat laid at Ray, which made the German scholar Theodor Nöldeke suggest that they may have been the same family. Like most of the other seven great houses, the House of Spandiyadh was of Parthian origin. The family claimed descent from the legendary Kayanid figure Isfandiyar, who was the son of Vishtasp, who according to Zoroastrian sources was one of Zoroaster's early followers.
6. The House of Zik, of Adurbadagan :
The House of Zik (also recorded as House of Zix; Middle Persian: zikan, transl. Ziks; New Persian: dodmane zik, transl. Zik family) was an Iranian noble family during the Parthian and Sassanian rule in Iran. The house was from Median origin and was centered in Adurbadagan (modern-day Iranian Azerbaijan).
7. The House of Suren, of Sakastan :
House of Suren or Surenas (Parthian: Suren) is one of two Parthian noble families explicitly mentioned by name in sources dateable to the Arsacid period.
History
:
It is probable that the Surenas were landowners in Sakastan, that is, in the region between Arachosia and Drangiana in present-day southeast Iran. The Surenas appear to have governed Sistan (which derives its name from 'Sakastan' and was once a much larger region than the present day province) as their personal fiefdom.
"Ernst Herzfeld maintained that the dynasty of [the Indo-Parthian emperor] Gondophares represented the House of Suren." Other notable members of the family include the 1st century BC cavalry commander Suren, Gregory the Illuminator, and Chihor-Vishnasp, a 6th-century AD governor of Armenia who attempted to establish Zoroastrianism in that country.
Mehr Narseh, the grand vizier of four Sasanian kings, was from the House of Suren.
Sources :
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