Seven Parthian clans

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

• Sasanian government
• Chosroid dynasty

References

Citations

1. Lukonin 1983, p. 704.
2. Pourshariati 2008, p. 49.

Works cited

• Lukonin, V. G. (1983), "Political, Social and Administrative Institutions", in Yarshater, Ehsan, Cambridge History of Iran 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.