Pabag
| Pabag 𐭯𐭠𐭯𐭪𐭩 | |
|---|---|
| Shah | |
 A coin with the portrait of Pabag, minted byArdashir I | |
| King ofIstakhr | |
| Reign | 205/6 – 207–10 |
| Predecessor | Gochihr |
| Successor | Shapur |
| Died | 207–210 Istakhr,Pars,Iran |
| Issue | Shapur Ardashir Denag |
| Religion | Zoroastrianism |
Pabag(Middle Persian:𐭯𐭠𐭯𐭪𐭩,Pāpak/Pābag;New Persian:بابکBābak) was anIranianprince who ruledIstakhr,the capital ofPars,from 205 or 206 until his death sometime between 207 and 210. He was the father, stepfather, grandfather, or father-in-law ofArdashir I,the founder of theSasanian Empire.He was succeeded by his eldest son,Shapur.
Background and state of Pars
[edit]Pars(also known asPersis), a region in the southwesternIranian plateau,was the homeland of a southwestern branch of theIranian people,thePersians.[1]It was also the birthplace of the first Iranian Empire, theAchaemenids.[1]The region served as the center of the empire until its conquest by theMacedoniankingAlexander the Great(r. 336–323 BC).[1]Since the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 2nd century BCE, Pars has been ruled by local dynasties subject to theHellenisticSeleucid Empire.[2]These dynasts held the ancient Persian title offrataraka( "leader, governor, forerunner" ), which is also attested in the Achaemenid-era.[3]Later, under thefratarakaWadfradad II(fl. 138 BC), Pars was made a vassal of the IranianParthian (Arsacid) Empire.[2]Thefratarakawere shortly afterwards replaced by theKings of Persis,most likely at the accession of the Arsacid monarchPhraates II(r. 132–127 BC).[4]Unlike thefratarakas,the Kings of Persis used the title ofshah( "king" ) and laid the foundations for a new dynasty, which may be labelled the Darayanids.[4]
Origins
[edit]New Persian and Arabic texts
[edit]
There are various different sources regarding the relationship between Pabag,Sasan,and the firstSasanianmonarch,Ardashir I(r. 224–242).[5]According to theShahnameh( "The Book of Kings" ) by the medieval Persian poetFerdowsi(d. 1020), Sasan was a descendant of the mythologicalKayanianrulersDara II,Dara I,Kay Bahman,Esfandiyar,andVishtaspa.[5]The claim of Sasan belonging to the Kayanian family was designed in order to justify that Ardashir was descended from the ancient Kayanian kings, who reflected memories of the Achaemenids.[5]
Dara II, the last Kayanian king to rule before Alexander, is partly based on the last Achaemenid King of Kings,Darius III(r. 336–330 BC), whose empire was indeed conquered by Alexander's forces.[5]A son of Dara II named Sasan (called "the elder" ) fled toIndiaand lived there in exile until his death.[5]He was survived by a son who was likewise named Sasan (called "the younger" ), "which continued in the family for four generations".[5]A descendant of the family, likewise named Sasan, worked for Pabag, who was a local ruler in Pars.[5]Pabag's daughter married Sasan and bore him a son named Ardashir.[5][6]Following this, Sasan is no longer mentioned.[5]TheShahnamehthus indicates that the ancestors of Sasan resided in India following Alexander's conquests.[5]This report has been used by scholars to point out Sasan'sIndo-Parthianconnection.[5]
According to the medieval Iranian historianAl-Tabari(d. 923), Pabag was the son of Sasan and a princess named Rambihisht, who was from theBazrangidfamily, a dynasty of rulers in Pars.[7][6]He presents Pabag as the father of Ardashir.[7]Like Ferdowsi in hisShahnameh,Al-Tabari also describes Sasan as a foreigner in Pars; however, unlike him, he does not mention Sasan's place of origins.[7]
Middle Persian texts
[edit]TheMiddle PersiantextKar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan( "Book of the Deeds of Ardashir, son of Pabag" ), says the following regarding the ancestry of Ardashir: "Ardashir, the Kayanian, son of Pabag from the parentage of Sasan and from the lineage of King Dara".[5]Another Middle Persian text, theBundahishn,however, gives the genealogy of Ardashir as follows: "Ardashir son of Pabag whose mother was the daughter of Sasan son of Weh-afrid".[5]This demonstrates the inconsistencies between Middle Persian texts regarding the origins of the Sasanian dynasty.[5]Both sources regard Pabag as the father of Ardashir, while Sasan is presented as the latter's grandfather or ancestor.[5]
Roman and Armenian texts
[edit]InRomanandArmeniansources, a different account appears. According to the Roman historiansAgathiasandGeorge Syncellus,Sasan was the biological father of Ardashir, while Pabag was his stepfather.[7]The Armenian writersMovses KhorenatsiandAgathangeloslikewise call Sasan the father of Ardashir. However, they do not make any mention of Pabag.[7]AGreekvariant of Agathangelos' work calls Ardashir "son of Sasanus, which is the origin of the Sasanian name of the Persian kings descended from him".[7]
Sasanian inscriptions and coinage
[edit]Ardashir, in his coin engravings and inscription onNaqsh-e Rostam,claims to be the son of "divine Pabag, the king".[7]His son and successor,Shapur I(r. 240–270), on his inscriptions atNaqsh-e RajabandKa'ba-ye Zartosht,calls himself a son of Ardashir I and grandson of Pabag. Although various figures named "Sasan" are mentioned in the inscription, none of them are associated with the House of Sasan.[7]ThePaikuli inscriptionof Shapur I's sonNarseh(r. 293–303), however, makes direct references to the House of Sasan, such as the phrase "since the gods gave glory and rulership to the family of Sasan", which indicates that Narseh saw Sasan as his ancestor.[8]
Conclusions in modern scholarship
[edit]The modern historian Marek Jan Olbrycht suggests that Sasan was an Indo-Parthian prince who married a Persian princess and gave birth to Ardashir. In order to not be seen as a foreign dynasty, however, Ardashir and Shapur I minimized the role of Sasan. Pabag was seemingly the father-in-law and possibly adoptive father of Ardashir.[9]
Biography
[edit]
Pabag ruled a small principality in the area ofKhir,south ofBakhtegan Lake.[10]He was a vassal ofGochihr,the Bazrangid king of the Persian capital ofIstakhr,who was in turn a vassal of the Arsacid King of Kings.[11][12]With the permission of Gochihr, Pabag sent Ardashir to the fortress ofDarabgerdto serve under its commander, Tiri.[13]Pabag reportedly served as a priest of thefire-temple of Anahitain Istakhr, which served as a rallying point for the local Persian soldiers, who worshipped the Iranian goddess.[12]The Arsacid Empire, then ruled byVologases V(r. 191–208), was at this time in decline, due to wars with the Romans, civil wars, and regional revolts.[14]The Roman emperorSeptimius Severus(r. 193–211) invaded the Arsacid domains in 196, and two years later he did the same, this time sacking the Arsacid capital of Ctesiphon.[14]At the same time, revolts occurred inMediaand Pars.[14]
TheIranologistTouraj Daryaee argues that the reign of Vologases V was "the turning point in Arsacid history, in that the dynasty lost much of its prestige."[14]The kings of Persis were now unable to depend on their weakened Arsacid overlords.[14]Indeed, in 205 or 206, Pabag rebelled and overthrew Gochihr, taking Istakhr for himself.[12][14]According to al-Tabari, it was at the urging of Ardashir that Pabag rebelled. However, Daryaee considers this statement unlikely, and states that it was in reality the eldest sonShapurwho helped Pabag capture Istakhr, as demonstrated by the latter's coinage, which has portraits of both of them.[10]
Pabag subsequently appointed Shapur as his heir.[14]This was much to the dislike of Ardashir, who had become the commander of Darabgerd after the death of Tiri.[14][13]In an act of defiance, Ardashir left forArdashir-Khwarrah,where he fortified himself, preparing to attack his brother Shapur after Pabag's death.[14][a]Pabag died a natural death sometime between 207–210 and was succeeded by Shapur.[16]After his death, both Ardashir and Shapur started minted coins with the title of "king" and the portrait of Pabag.[17]The obverse of Shapur's coins had the inscription "His Majesty, King Shapur" and the reverse had "son of (His) Majesty, King Pabag".[18]Shapur's reign, however, proved short; he died under obscure conditions in 211 or 212.[18][14]Ardashir thus succeeded Shapur, and went on to conquer the rest of Iran, establishing the Sasanian Empire in 224.[18][13]Pabag was also survived by a daughter namedDenag,who married Ardashir.[19]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abcWiesehöfer 2000a,p. 195.
- ^abWiesehöfer 2009.
- ^Wiesehöfer 2000b,p. 195.
- ^abShayegan 2011,p. 178.
- ^abcdefghijklmnoOlbrycht 2016,p. 26.
- ^abFrye 1988,pp. 298–299.
- ^abcdefghOlbrycht 2016,p. 27.
- ^Olbrycht 2016,p. 28.
- ^Olbrycht 2016,pp. 30–31.
- ^abDaryaee 2010,p. 245.
- ^Kia 2016,p. 224.
- ^abcDaryaee 2012,p. 187.
- ^abcWiesehöfer 1986,pp. 371–376.
- ^abcdefghijDaryaee 2010,p. 249.
- ^Daryaee 2010,p. 247.
- ^Frye 1988,pp. 298–299;Daryaee 2010,p. 252;Curtis & Stewart 2008,p. 34
- ^Daryaee 2010,p. 250.
- ^abcDaryaee 2014,p. 4.
- ^Gignoux 1994,p. 282.
Sources
[edit]- Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh; Stewart, Sarah (2008).The Sasanian Era.I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–200.ISBN9780857719720.
- Daryaee, Touraj(2014).Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire.I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–240.ISBN978-0857716668.
- Daryaee, Touraj(2012). "The Sasanian Empire (224–651)". In Daryaee, Touraj (ed.).The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0199732159.
- Daryaee, Touraj (2010)."Ardashir and the Sasanians' Rise to Power".University of California: 236–255.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - Frye, R. N. (1988)."Bābak (1)".Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 3.pp. 298–299.
- Gignoux, Philippe (1994). "Dēnag".Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VII, Fasc. 3.p. 282.
- Kia, Mehrdad (2016).The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia.ABC-CLIO.ISBN978-1610693912.(2 volumes)
- 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.
- Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2016). "Dynastic Connections in the Arsacid Empire and the Origins of the House of Sāsān". In Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh; Pendleton, Elizabeth J.; Alram, Michael; Daryaee, Touraj (eds.).The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires: Adaptation and Expansion.Oxbow Books.ISBN9781785702082.
- Shayegan, M. Rahim (2011).Arsacids and Sasanians: Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia.Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–539.ISBN9780521766418.
- Rezakhani, Khodadad (2017). "East Iran in Late Antiquity".ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity.Edinburgh University Press. pp. 1–256.ISBN9781474400305.JSTOR10.3366/j.ctt1g04zr8.(registration required)
- Wiesehöfer, Joseph (1986). "Ardašīr I i. History".Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 4.pp. 371–376.
- Wiesehöfer, Josef (2000b)."Frataraka".Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. X, Fasc. 2.p. 195.
- Wiesehöfer, Joseph (2000a). "Fārs ii. History in the Pre-Islamic Period".Encyclopaedia Iranica.
- Wiesehöfer, Josef (2009)."Persis, Kings of".Encyclopaedia Iranica.
Further reading
[edit]- Daryaee, Touraj (2018)."Papag".In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.).The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-866277-8.