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Sasanian-erarock reliefinBishapurdepicting cavalrymen, who were generally drawn from the ranks of theazadanandwuzurgan

TheAzadan(Middle Persian:āzādān,Parthian:āzātān;meaning 'free' and 'noble') were a class ofIraniannobles. They are probably identical to theeleutheroi('the free ones') mentioned inGreeksources to refer to a group ofParthiannobles.[1][2]According to the 1st-centuryRomano-JewishhistorianJosephus(died 100 AD), theParthian armyled by princePacorus Iduring theinvasion of Judeaconsisted of members of theeleutheroi.[1]TheKingdom of Armeniaadopted the same hierarchy as that of the Parthians, which included theazadanclass (azat), which was used to label the Armenian middle and lower nobility.[1][3]The name of theGeorgiannobility,Aznauri,also corresponded to that ofazadan.[4]A class ofazadanare also attested inSogdia,an Iranian civilization located inCentral Asia.[1]

TheSasanians,who supplanted the Parthians in 224, maintained the same divisions of the nobility as their predecessor.[1]Under the Sasanians, theazadanwere members of the lower nobility and the last class-rank of the four types of theSasaniannobility. The four ranks consisted of theshahrdaran(vassal kings and dynasts), thewispuhran(princes of royal blood), thewuzurgan(grandees) and theazadan(lower nobility).[5][6][7]Theazadanandwuzurganformed the bulk of the cavalry (aswaran), which in turn formed the backbone of theSasanian army.[8][9]Theazadanwere analogous to theknightsofMedieval Europe.[10]

Theazadanare first attested in the bilingual Hajjiabad inscription of theKing of Kings(shahanshah)Shapur I(r. 240–270):[1][5]

This is the range of the arrow shot by Us, the Mazda-worshipping god Shapur, the king of kings of Eran and Aneran, whose origin is from the gods, the son of the Mazda-worshipping god Ardashir, the king of kings of Eran, whose origin is from the gods, the grandson of the god Pabag, the king. And when we shot this arrow, we were shooting before the kings [landholders;shahrdaran], the princes [wispuhran], the grandees [wuzurgan] and the nobles [azadan].

They are later mentioned in thePaikuli inscriptionof 293, erected by Shapur I's grandsonNarseh(r. 271–293), who mentions theazadanalong with other groups of the nobility. They are likewise mentioned in the inscription ofShapur II(r. 309–379) atMeshkinshahr.According to the 5th-centuryByzantine ArmenianhistorianFaustus of Byzantium,theazadanformed the bulk of Shapur II's royal bodyguard regiment.[1]

References

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  1. ^abcdefgToumanoff & Chaumont 1987,pp. 169–170.
  2. ^Wiesehöfer 2001,p. 139.
  3. ^Romeny 2010,p. 267.
  4. ^Chkeidze 2001,pp. 486–490.
  5. ^abWiesehöfer 2001,p. 171.
  6. ^Daryaee 2014,p. 10.
  7. ^Shaki 1991,pp. 652–658.
  8. ^McDonough 2013,p. 604.
  9. ^Daryaee 2014,p. 45.
  10. ^Daryaee 2014,p. 121.

Sources

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  • Chkeidze, Thea (2001)."Georgia v. Linguistic contacts with Iranian languages".InYarshater, Ehsan(ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume X/5: Geography IV–Germany VI.London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 486–490.ISBN978-0-933273-53-5.
  • Daryaee, Touraj(2014).Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire.I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–240.ISBN978-0857716668.
  • McDonough, Scott (2013)."Military and Society in Sasanian Iran".In Campbell, Brian; Tritle, Lawrence A. (eds.).The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World.Oxford University Press. pp. 1–783.ISBN9780195304657.
  • Romeny, R. B. ter Haar (2010).Religious Origins of Nations?: The Christian Communities of the Middle East.Brill.ISBN9789004173750.
  • Shaki, Mansour (1991)."Class System iii. In the Parthian and Sasanian Periods".InYarshater, Ehsan(ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume V/6: C̆ihrdād Nask–Class system V.London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 652–658.ISBN978-0-939214-73-0.
  • Waters, Matt (2014).Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE.Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–272.ISBN9781107652729.
  • Toumanoff, C.;Chaumont, M. L. (1987)."Āzād (Iranian Nobility)".InYarshater, Ehsan(ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume III/2: Awāʾel al-maqālāt–Azerbaijan IV.London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 169–170.ISBN978-0-71009-114-7.
  • Wiesehöfer, Josef(2001).Ancient Persia.Translated by Azodi, Azizeh. I.B. Tauris.ISBN978-1-86064-675-1.
  • Zakeri, Mohsen (1995),Sasanid Soldiers in Early Muslim Society: The Origins of 'Ayyārān and Futuwwa,Otto Harrassowitz Verlag,ISBN9783447036528
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