''Aspet'' (; , ''Aspetes'' in contemporary Greek) was a hereditary military title of the

Armenian nobility Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

, usually found within the Bagratuni family.

Toumanoff, Cyril Cyril Leo Toumanoff ( ka, კირილ თუმანოვი; ; 10 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Georgian-American historian, and academic genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armen ...

(1963), ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History III'', pp. 202, 324-26.

Georgetown University Press Georgetown University Press is a university press affiliated with Georgetown University that publishes about forty new books a year. The press's major subject areas include bioethics, international affairs, languages and linguistics, political s ...

. The name has been derived from either the

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

*viθa/visapati "head of the clan", or in more likelihood aspapati, later ''

aspbed Aspbed (also spelled Aspbad and asppat; literally “commander of the cavalry”, from Old Iranian *''aspa-pati-''), was a title of Iranian origin used by the Parthian and Sasanian empires. History The word is first attested in an ''ostracon'' ...

'' (or aspbad) which designated the Iranian office of Master of the Horse (commander of the cavalry). The Armenian army was comprised overwhelmingly of cavalry, under the command of the High Constable (''

sparapet ' () was a military title and office in ancient and medieval Armenia. Under the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia, the ' was the supreme commander of the kingdom's armed forces. During the Arsacid period and for some time afterwards, the office was held ...

''), this left no room for a Master of the Horse. There are hardly any references by Armenian historians of the

Arshakuni The Arsacid dynasty, called the Arshakuni () in Armenian, ruled the Kingdom of Armenia (with some interruptions) from 12 to 428 AD. The dynasty was a branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia. Arsacid kings reigned intermittently throughout the ...

period to any Bagratids in command of the king's forces. Like the ''małxaz'' of the Khorkhoruni family, ''aspet'' seems to have been a special, gentilitial, title of the Bagratunis, who derived from it their other, short-lived, name of Aspetuni. This title disappears following the

Arab conquest of Armenia The Muslim conquest of Armenia occurred in the mid-7th century, with the first Arab raids into the country occurring in 639/640. At that time, the Byzantine and Sasanian sections of Armenia had just been united under the Byzantine-aligned Armen ...

. The existence of this title and name may possibly be due to Arsacid Armenia's imitation of Parthia, where one of the Seven Great Houses bore the name of Aspahbad. The name of the Aspietai, a Byzantine noble family of Armenian origin, is derived from ''aspet''. In modern Armenian historiography, the word ''aspet'' also refers to medieval European

knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

References

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