Seven Great Houses of Iran

The Seven Parthian clans, also known as the Seven Great Houses of Iran, or Seven (Great) Houses, were seven feudal aristocracies of Parthian origin, who were allied with the Sasanian court.

History

Only two of the seven - the House of Suren and the House of Karen - are actually attested in sources date-able to the Parthian period.

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 clans

The seven houses with their respective main fiefs and ruling-family seats were:

• the House of Ispahbudhan, of Gurgan
• the House of Varaz, of Eastern Khorasan
• the House of Karen, of Nahavand
• the House of Mihran, of Semnan, Iran
• the House of Spandiyadh, of Ray
• the House of Zik, of Adurbadagan
• the House of Suren, of Sakastan

See also

• Seven Achaemenid clans
• Sasanian government
• Chosroid dynasty

References

Citations

Works cited

• Lukonin, V. G. (1983), "Political, Social and Administrative Institutions", in Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3.2, London: Cambridge UP, pp. 681–747
• Yarshater, Ehsan (1997), "Esfandīār (2)", Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. 8, Costa Mesa: Mazda, pp. 592–593.
• Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008), Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran, London: I.B. Tauris.