Seven Great Houses of Iran
The Seven Parthian clans or Seven 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. The placement of the remaining five in Parthian times is "in all probability not in accordance with reality." "It may be that [...] members of them made up their own genealogies in order to emphasize the antiquity of their families."[1]
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[2]
- the House of Varaz, of Eastern Khorasan
- the House of Karen, of Nahavand[2]
- the House of Mihran, of Ray
- the House of Spandiyadh, of Ray
- the House of Zik, of Adurbadagan
- the House of Suren, of Sakastan[2]
See also
References
- Citations
- ^ Lukonin 1983, p. 704.
- ^ a b c Pourshariati 2008, p. 49.
- 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.