The ''kanārang'' () was a unique title in the Sasanian military, given to the commander of the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

's northeasternmost frontier province,

Abarshahr Abarshahr ( Persian: اَبَرشهر) or Nishapur ( Persian: نیشاپور) was a Sasanian satrapy (province) in Late Antiquity, that lay within the kust of Khorasan. The province bordered Media in the west, Hyrcania in the north west, Margia ...

(encompassing the cities of

Nishapur Nishapur or Neyshabur (, also ) is a city in the Central District (Nishapur County), Central District of Nishapur County, Razavi Khorasan province, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Ni ...

, Tus and Abiward). In

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

sources, it is rendered as ''chanaranges'' () and often used, for instance by

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

, in lieu of the holder's actual name. The title was used instead of the more conventional ''

marzban Marzbān, or Marzpān (Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭫𐭱𐭰𐭠𐭭𐭯 transliteration: mrzwpn, derived from Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭫𐭱 ''marz'' "border, boundary" and the Middle Persian suffix: 𐭡𐭭𐭯 ''-pān'' "guardian"; Modern Persian: ...

'', which was held by the rest of the Iranian frontier wardens. Like the other ''marzbans'', the position was hereditary. The family holding it (the ''Kanarangiyan'') is first attested in the reign of

Yazdegerd I Yazdegerd I (also spelled Yazdgerd and Yazdgird; ) was the Sasanian King of Kings () of Iran from 399 to 420. A son of Shapur III (), he succeeded his brother Bahram IV () after the latter's assassination. Yazdegerd I's largely-uneventful reig ...

(r. 399–421), but was descended from some pre-Sasanian, most likely

Parthia Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemeni ...

n, dynasty. They enjoyed a high prestige and great authority in the Sasanian Empire's northeastern borderlands, as reflected in their glorified description in the ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

'' of the great Persian poet

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

. They were among the great families that deposed the last powerful Sasanian monarch

Khosrow II Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; and ''Khosrau''), commonly known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran, ruling from 590 ...

() in 628. The family was active until the very end of the Sasanian realm. A man called

Kanara Kanara or Canara, also known as Karāvali, is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern Konkan coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The subregion comprises thr ...

in Arab sources commanded the Iranian light cavalry at the decisive Battle of al-Qadisiyyah, and his son, Shahriyar bin Kanara, is reported to have fought valiantly before being killed. The family is later recorded as assisting the Muslim conquest of Khorasan by Abd-Allah ibn Amir, and being rewarded with the right to keep the province of Tus and half of the province of

under their control. They were ultimately dislodged by the Arab military officer Humayd ibn Qahtaba, probably during the latter's governorship of Khorasan during the reign of the caliph

al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ‎; 714 – 6 October 775) usually known simply as by his laqab al-Manṣūr () was the second Abbasid caliph, reigning from 754 to 775 succeeding his brother al-Saffah (). He is known ...

().

Known holders of the post

Gushnaspdad Gushnaspdād, known in Byzantine sources as Gousanastadēs (), was a Sasanian nobleman, who was ''kanarang'' during the reign of Balash (r. 484–488), and Kavad I (r. 488–531). Biography Gushnaspdad first appears in 496, as one of the supporte ...

, attested 484–488 * Adergoudounbades, 488–541 * Bahram, from 541 * Kanadbak, attested 628–652, son Shahriyar bin Kanara

References

Sources

* * * {{cite book , title = Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran , first = Parvaneh , last = Pourshariati , publisher = I.B. Tauris , year = 2008 , isbn = 978-1-84511-645-3 Persian words and phrases Sasanian military offices