The Seven Great Houses of Iran, also known as the seven Parthian clans, were seven aristocracies of
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 origin, who were allied with the
Sasanian
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...
court. The Parthian clans all claimed ancestry from
Achaemenid
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...
Persians.
The seven Great Houses of Iran had played an active role in Iranian politics since the days of the
Arsacid Empire, which they continued to do under their successors, the
Sasanians
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...
. Only two of the seven – the
House of Suren and the
House of Karen
The House of Karen (; ; , or ), also known as Karen-Pahlav (), was one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran during the rule of Parthian and Sasanian Empires. The seat of the dynasty was at Nahavand, about 65 km south of Ecbatana (present-day ...
– however, are actually attested in sources date-able to the
Parthian period. The seven houses claimed to have been confirmed as lords in Iran by the legendary
Kayanian king
Vishtaspa. "It may be that
..members of them made up their own genealogies in order to emphasize the antiquity of their families." During Sasanian times, the seven feudal houses played a significant role at the Sasanian court.
Bahram Chobin
Bahrām Chōbīn () or Wahrām Chōbēn (Middle Persian: ; died 591), also known by his epithet Mehrbandak ("servant of Mithra"), was a nobleman, general, and political leader of the late Sasanian Empire and briefly its ruler as Bahram VI ().
So ...
, a famed military commander of
Hormizd IV
Hormizd IV (also spelled Hormozd IV or Ohrmazd IV; ) was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 579 to 590. He was the son and successor of Khosrow I () and his mother was a Khazar princess.
During his reign, Hormizd IV had the high aristoc ...
(r. 579–590), was from the
House of Mihran
The House of Mihrān or House of Mehrān (Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭨𐭥𐭠𐭭; New Persian: ), was a leading Iranian noble family (''šahrdārān''), one of the Seven Great Houses of the Sasanian İranian Empire which claimed descent from the ...
.
The seven houses with their respective main fiefs and ruling-family seats were:
*the
House of Ispahbudhan, of
Tabaristan and
Gurgan
*the
House of Varaz, of
Eastern Khorasan
*the
House of Karen
The House of Karen (; ; , or ), also known as Karen-Pahlav (), was one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran during the rule of Parthian and Sasanian Empires. The seat of the dynasty was at Nahavand, about 65 km south of Ecbatana (present-day ...
, of
Nahavand
Nahavand () is a city in the Central District of Nahavand County, Hamadan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. It is south of the city of Hamadan, west of Malayer and northwest of Borujerd.
Inhabited ...
*the
House of Mihran
The House of Mihrān or House of Mehrān (Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭨𐭥𐭠𐭭; New Persian: ), was a leading Iranian noble family (''šahrdārān''), one of the Seven Great Houses of the Sasanian İranian Empire which claimed descent from the ...
, of
Ray
*the
House of Spandiyadh, of
Ray
*the
House of Zik
The House of Zik (also recorded as House of Zix; Middle Persian: ''zikan'', Ziks; New Persian: ''dodmane zik'', Zik family) was an Iranian noble family during the Parthian and Sasanian rule in Iran. The house was from Median origin and was cent ...
, of
Adurbadagan
Adurbadagan (Middle Persian: ''Ādurbādagān/Āδarbāyagān'', Parthian: ''Āturpātākān'') was a northwestern province in the Sasanian Empire, corresponding almost entirely to the present-day Azerbaijan region in Iran. Governed by a ''marzba ...
*the
House of Suren, of
Sakastan
Legendary origin
Some of the later traditions pertaining to the Seven Great Houses have been interpreted as memories of the Parthian Empire's major administrative divisions.
in his ''
History of the Prophets and Kings'' provides the following legend:
Bištāsef (Vishtaspa) appointed seven persons to the highest ranks, and they were the magnates, ncludingNihābiδa, and his residence was Dihistān in the Land of Jurjān (Hyrcania); and Kārin the Parthian (''Qārin al-Fahlavi'') and his residence was Māh-Nihāvand (i.e., Media); and Sūrēn the Parthian, and his residence was Sejistān (Sakastan); and Isfandyāδ the Parthian, and his residence was Ray.
See also
*
Seven Achaemenid clans
*
Sasanian government
*
Dabuyid dynasty
The Dabuyid dynasty, or Gaubarid dynasty, was a Zoroastrian Iranian dynasty that started in the first half of the 7th century as an independent group of rulers who ruled over Tabaristan and parts of western Khorasan. Dabuyid rule over Tabarista ...
*
Padusbanids
The Baduspanids, Paduspanids or Badusbanids (), were a local Iranian dynasty of Tabaristan which ruled over Ruyan/Rustamdar. The dynasty was established in 665, and with 933 years of rule as the longest dynasty in Iran, it ended in 1598 when t ...
*
Ispahbads of Gilan
Ispahbads of Gīlān () or Esfahbad of Gīlān was a small principality in Iran. In the 14th century, Āstārā became the seat of the principality.
History
According to Minorsky, no detailed record seems to be extant of a principality which ...
*
Bavand dynasty
The Bavand dynasty () (also spelled Bavend), or simply the Bavandids, was an Iranian dynasty that ruled in parts of Tabaristan (present-day Mazandaran province) in what is now northern Iran from 651 until 1349, alternating between outright inde ...
*
Qarinvand dynasty
The Qarinvand dynasty (also spelled Karenvand and Qarenvand), or simply the Karenids, was an Iranian dynasty that ruled in parts of Tabaristan (Mazandaran) in northern Iran from the 550s until the 11th-century. They considered themselves as the ...
*
Chosroid dynasty
References
Sources
*.
*.
*.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seven Great Houses of Iran
Asian clans