ORIGINAL SOURCE:
Mahir Khalifa-zadeh. "Adurbadagan and Arran (Caucasian Albania) in the Late Sasanian Period". International Journal of History, August 2023; vol. 5, issue 2, p15-18.
https://www.historyjournal.net/archives/2023.v5.i2.A.220
DOI: 10.22271/27069109.2023.v5.i2a.220
 |
| Arranshah Javanshir (Pahlavi: Juansher), 637-669 CE, National Museum of History, Baku, Azerbaijan |
Keywords: Sasanian, Adurbadagan, Arran, Caucasian Albania, Azerbaijan
In the 5th-6th
centuries CE, Sasanian kings Kawād I (488-96, 499-531) and his son Xusrō I
Anōšīrvān (531-579)[1]
launched a fortification’ improvement program[2]
around the whole empire. They also initiated administrative reforms to upgrade
the empire’s defense, military, and power architectures.[3]
Parallelly, the reforms were aimed at strengthening the Zoroastrian religion in
the lands challenged by the Christian Orthodox Byzantium.
In the Seleucid
and Parthian eras, the province of Āturpātākān (Pahlavi: Ādurbādagān)
played a central role as a stronghold against the spread of the Greek and Roman
pantheons in Ērānšahr. Moreover, it is highly likely that Āturpātākān was the
place where the prophet Zarathustra was born, and the Holy Avesta was kept in
the sacred fire Ātur (Old Persian) or Ādur Gušnasp (Middle
Persian/Pahlavi) temple (now Takht-e Solayman).[4]
Thus, in the
Sasanian era, Ādurbādagān became the religious center of the empire preserving
and expanding Zoroaster’s faith. The chief Median sacred fire temple of Ādur
Gušnasp was established sometime in the Parthian period on a hill nearby Āturpātākān’s
capital Ganzak. The Sasanians proclaimed Zoroastrianism as the imperial
religion and Ādurbādagān occupied the role of the
empire’s religious core, holding the cathedral temple Ādur Gušnasp as the
imperial sacred fire of the highest grade. Ādur Gušnasp continued to burn until
the 11th century.[5]
Ādur Gušnasp - an
Ataš Bahrām (Parthian: Ātaš-i- Wahram or Pahlavi: Ādur Bahrām -
“fires of Victory,” Zoroastrian name of God of War and Victory) was the
Zoroastrian most sacred or “cathedral” fire of the highest grade established in
the late Achaemenid or Parthian era in Ādurbādagān. The temple was linked to the warrior class
(arteshtar) to which the Sasanian dynasty belonged itself. Since the reign of
King Bahram V (420-438 CE), all Sasanian kings after coronation pilgrimage to
the temple providing royal gifts and celebrated Nowruz (No Ruz).[6]
During the late
Sasanian period, shāhanshāh Xusrō I Anōšīrvān launched the military and
administrative reforms[7]
and accelerated the building of fortifications in the empire’s
defense-sensitive areas, particularly in Caucasus Albania. The reform was
designed to strengthen the empire’s military operational and defense capacity
following the establishment of four quarters or regions (kust) reported to the
assigned trustworthy general (spāhbed) for each region.[8]
King Xusrō I abolished
the one-person command of Ērān-Spāhbed,[9],[10] (iṣbahbadh
al-bilād, Artēštārān sālār, the office of the marshal or general of all Iranian
forces)[11]
and replaced it with four generals reporting directly to shāhanshāh. As a result of the reform, the kust-ī Ādurbādagān (quadrant or region of Ādurbādagān) was
established holding Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed (general)[12]
and, as will be indicated later, Ādurbādagān’s āmārgar (financial or
administrative officer) as well.[13]
The establishment
of the kust-ī Ādurbādagān holding the specially assigned general was designed
to improve the empire’s military and defense capabilities strengthening the
central power of the shāhanshāh and Zoroaster’s faith in the lands contested by
Christian Byzantium, particularly in Caucasia. The Sassanids considered the kust-ī Ādurbādagān to be the most important region for
its military potential and strategic location as well as for its logistical
closeness to the empire’s core – Ādurbādagān province – a power, military, and
Zoroastrian center.[14]
However, the
closeness of the war zones to the key Ādurbādagān province, holding the
principal and foremost fire Ādur Gušnasp, made the province vulnerable, which
needed to be secured by strengthening its defense. Thus, the security of the
empire’s core regions of Media and Azerbaijan had to be guaranteed and both Sasanian
and Zoroastrian influence were to be projected far afield from Ādurbādagān.[15] The Sassanians were focused to ensure the
safety Ādurbādagān, as the Zoroastrian core, from the ideological and religious
contamination generated by Christian Byzantium and infiltrating from Caucasia.
The Sassanids addressed this challenge by establishing the kust-ī Ādurbādagān holding the centralized office of the supreme
military command (isbahbadh) of Azerbaijan with specially assigned Ādurbādagān’s
spāhbed covering Ādurbādagān itself and the surrounding lands of Arrān
(Albania) and Armin (Arminyaya or Armenia).[16],[17]
It should be noted
that the Byzantines, the Sasanian archenemies, acknowledged the imperial,
military, and religious values of Ādurbādagān province. In 623, the Byzantian
emperor Heraclius, during the last Byzantine-Sassanian war of 602-628CE,
occupied Ādurbādagān and sacked out the fire temple Ādur
Gušnasp, aiming to crush the Sassanids’ will and power to fight.[18],[19]
Thus, the kust-ī Ādurbādagān included the province of Ādurbādagān
(a power and religious center of the empire) and all adjoining lands in the
north and west from the Araz River up to the Khazar lands in the Caspian Sea.
The establishment of the kust Ādurbādagān allowed for the re-design of the
Sassanian military and power architecture in this part of the empire. It
initiated the Ādurbādagān province’s military command (spāhbed) and
administrative functions such as the office of tax/revenue (āmārgar) to the
north from the Araz River up to the Darband fortress in Caucasia. The recently
discovered Sasanian kust-ī Ādurbādagān spāhbed seal in Azar Goshnasp (now
Takht-e Solayman)[20]
and the Pahlavi official inscriptions on the Darband fortress walls (now
Derbent) confirm the extension of šahr (region or country in Pahlavi) Ādurbādagān
to the Caucasus.[21]
The Sasanian
reforms’ strategy was pragmatic and effective, allowing an increase in the
empire’s capacity to fight its enemies. It strengthened the empire’s defense
and military capabilities by incorporating Arranian (Albanian) troops into the
Sasanian Imperial army under Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed command. The projection of Ādurbādagān’s
military and administrative functions to the north from the Araxes was of a
paramount significance to the Sassanids, enforcing both the central shāhanshāh’s
power and Zoroaster’s faith in Albania challenged by the Orthodox Byzantium
(Caucasus Albania was re-baptized into Nestorian Orthodox Christianity at the
beginning of the 7th CE).
Generally, this strategy increased the gravity of the Zoroastrian
religion and the importance of the province Ādurbādagān, cementing the Sasanian
power and Zoroaster’s faith (as the unique imperial religion) on the northern
bank of the Araxes (under the entire Ādurbādagān šahr
umbrella)[22],
where the military and religious rivalry with the Orthodox Byzantium were in
the stages of war.
Indeed, the sign
of the Moon, as a key Zoroastrian symbol that was exposed on top of the
principal Sassanian fire temple Ādur Gušnasp in Ādurbādagān, was indicated as
the moon-chariot on Arrānshāh Aswagen’s state seal.[23]
Next, the
establishment of Ādurbādagān’s command (isbahbadh) under a specially assigned
general[24]
increased the effectiveness of military operations up to the Darband fortress
on the frontier with the Turks and Khazars in Caucasia. Despite Darband, at the
time, being within the semi-independent or vassal Arrān country (Arrān šahr),
the Sassanids maintained huge military garrisons under the direct supervision
of Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed. They strongly believed
that Arraninan (Albanian) forces alone were not sufficient to shield the
invaders’ incursions via the Darband passage deep into Ērānšahr.
The Sasanian kings
and kings of Arrān improved Darband’s fortifications by constructing double
walls and the Narin Gala citadel on a hill. The fortified defense line was
erected to protect a narrow passage between the Caucasus Mountains and the
Caspian Sea, blocking the invasion of Turks and Khazars.
It is noteworthy
that Azerbaijani and Dagestani scholars translated many Pahlavi inscriptions on
the Darband walls. One of the inscriptions confirms Darband’s subordination to šahr
Ādurbādagān’s āmārgār (tax or revenue officer). The Pahlavi Darband’s wall
inscription “en ud az en abarbar Darius-i Ādurbādagān āmārgār” was translated
as: “This and higher than this made by Dariush, Ādurbādagān’s revenue/tax
collector.”[25]
It can be assumed
that the Darband walls’ Pahlavi Ādurbādagān inscription and the Sasanian
garrisons[26]
presence in Arrān’s fortresses (Darband, Torpakh kala or Saharestan Yazdagerd,
Beshbarmag, in the Gilgilchay Defense Wall)[27] under Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed command as well
as the kust-ī Ādurbādagān marzpān (administrative
officer) location in Ardebil (at the time Ādurbādagān’s capital city) clearly
confirm the projecting of the province Ādurbādagān political, military and
administrative functions to the north over the Araxes to Arran forming the
entire Ādurbādagān šahr.[28]
It is not
surprising that Ādurbādagān’s
name, military and administrative functions were projected onto Arrān
(Albania). The local Arranian (Albanian) nobility was close to the Sasanian crown.
Since the rein of Arrānshāh Urnayn (350-375), one can speak of the
establishment of close dynastic ties with the shāhanshāh’s family. Thus, King
Urnayn was married to the daughter of shāhanshāh Šāpur
II (309-379) and Arrānshah Aswahen (415-440) was the son of the sister of Šāpur
III (383-388) and the husband of the daughter of shāhanshāh
Yazdagird II (439-457). Arranshah Vache II (440-462) was the son of the sister
of shāhanshāh Hormizd (457-459) and Peroz (459-484).[29]
Undoubtedly, the
close family ties between the Sasanian Kings and the Kings of Arran were a key
element in the Sasanian strategy to enforce central and military power as well
as Zoroaster’s faith which were eroded by the Orthodox Byzantium in
strategically important Arrānšahr. One can state that Arrānshāh and his court
were close to the Sasanian, using Pahlavi as the official language.
Following shāhanshāh
Xusrō I Anōšīrvān’s reform, one can assume that it facilitated the integration
of Arranian (Albanian) troops into the Sasanian army under the command of
Adurbadagan‘s spāhbed. Although Caucasus Albania[30]
was an independent (from time to time) or semi-independent state, the defense
was under Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed command. During the late Sasanian period, the
commander was the famous Iranian military and political hero – spāhbed Rostam Farrokhzad of Ādurbādagān. General and
Prince of Ādurbādagān Rostam Farrokhzad was a member of the Pahlav clan of
Ispahbudhan family (House) - one of the Seven Great (wuzurgān) Houses of the
Sasanian Empire claiming its descent to the Arsacids of Parthia.
At the same time,
the King of Arrān Varaz Grigor (628-637), a Zoroastrian name that may have been
Gadvsnasp before his second baptizing into Dyophysite Orthodox Nestorian
Christianity, was adopted as the title of Arranshah. He was a member of the wuzurgān
Mehrān family (a Pahlav noble- family, separated or branch of the Ispahbudhan
House). Moreover, Arrānshāh Varaz Grigor was related to the Sasanian shāhanshāh
Xusrō I Anōšīrvān or even “being himself a noble of the family of Ardashir I”
and Prince Javanshir (Juansher) of the Caucasus Albania (Arrān) was a son of
Varaz Grigor. The Pahlav House of Mehrān held high-ranking positions in the
Sasanian hierarchy and occupied high command over the frontline in the north,
leading the negotiations with the Khaqan of Turks.[31]
Notably, the
famous Sasanian general Rostam Farrokhzad of Ādurbādagān
escorted and introduced Prince Javanshir to the last Sasanian King Yazdagird
III (632-651) in Ctesiphon, the Sasanian capital. In 16-19 November 636, in the
famous Battle of al-Qadisiyyah between the Sasanians and Muslim Arabs, Prince
Javanshir was the commander (spāhbed) of the Arranian (Albanian) troops, which
were part of the Sasanian Imperial Army under the command of spāhbed Rostam
Farrokhzad of Ādurbādagān. For his gallantry at al-Qadisiyyah, Javanshir was
rewarded with villages as well as military and court insignia.[32]
In 637, Javanshir
with 3000-4000 troops, helped arrange King Yazdagird III’s evacuation from the
Sasanian capital Ctesiphon sieged by Muslims. Sasanian King Yazdagird III
awarded Javanshir two golden spears and shields and acknowledged his bravery,
awarding a flag – the Standard of Jamshid (Derafsh-e Kavian) which was the
highest honor for loyalty and bravery.[33] Before the final defeat of the Sassanian army
in the Battle of Nahavand in 642, Javanshir arrived in Ādurbādagān. One can
assume that he planned to resume command of the Sassanian Ādurbādagān military
in the wake of Rostam’s death and because of Yazdagird’s strong will to collect
a new army in Media to fight the Arabs. However, Rostam’s brother Farrukhzad
was assigned Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed and Javanshir
fled back to the Albanian capital Partaw (now Barda).[34]
There was
confirmed evidence that after the collapse of the Sasanian Empire, Muslim Arabs
offered to Arrānshāh Javanshir to become the ruler of the entire Ādurbādagān šahr,
but he refused it for obscure reasons. Soon after, Javanshir was killed during
Christian service at Partaw’s Albanian church.[35]
Conclusion
In the 5th-6th
century, the Sassanids, particularly King Xusrō I Anōšīrvān, implemented
reforms aimed at improving the empire’s architecture to lead a long-lasting
rivalry with the Orthodox Byzantium to dominate the Near Est. The devastating
incursions of the Turks and Khazars via Darband pass in Caucasia as well as
Arsacids Armenians turned towards the Byzantium prompting the Sassanids to
re-evaluate and recognize the strategic and military importance of Arran
(Caucasus Albania) located on the north bank of the Araxes.
Sasanian King
Xusrō I Anōšīrvān established the region or kust-ī
Ādurbādagān, holding Ādurbādagān’s general (spāhbed) command
covering all lands in the north and northwest of the Araz river. including Arrān
(Arrānšahr). The Sasanian strategy aimed to strengthen both the central power
and Zoroaster’s faith as unique imperial religion eroded by Christian Byzantium
in Caucasia. The establishment of the kust-i Adurbadagan spahbed allowed the
incorporation of Arranian (Albanian) troops into the Sassanian Imperial Army
under Ādurbādagān’s general command containing the Byzantines and Turks, as
well as enforcing the defense of the empire’s power and the religious core
province of Ādurbādagān holding the cathedral fire temple Ādur Gušnasp.
The reform pulled Arrānšahr closer to the Sasanian crown supported by the
establishment of dynastic or family ties between the families of shāhanshāh and
Arrānshah. The recently discovered Arrānshah Aswahen’s
state seal clearly confirms the closeness of Arranian (Albanian) nobility to
the Sasanian crown using Pahlavi as the official court language.
Thus, the
Sassanids reorganized the empire’s architecture, expanding Ādurbādagān’s
military and administrative functions to Arrānšahr to form the entire Ādurbādagān
šahr on both sides of the Araz River to contain the Byzantium and Turks. It was
a turning point to project Ādurbādagān’s name and functions in the northern
bank of Araxes, particularly on Arrān. The
establishment of the kust-ī Ādurbādagān with specially assigned Adurbadagan’s general
strengthened both Sasanian power and Zoroastrianism up to Darband fortress in
Caucasia forming entire Adurbadagan šahr on both sides of the Araxes.
Finally, since Late Antiquity, particularly as a result of the reforms of the Sasanian King Xusrō I Anōšīrvān, names Arrān and Ādurbādagān became interchangeable in the north bank of the Araxes, facilitating of the strengthening of the empire’s central military, administrative and religious power to contain Byzantium. The following historical developments demonstrate that term Arrān (Albania) lost its political functions, surviving as a geographical or toponymical term. However, Ādurbādagān evolved into the Turkified form of Azerbaijan.
NOTES
[1] Katarzina Maksymiuk. “The Parthian nobility in Xusrō I Anōšīrvān court”, Elites in the Ancient World,2, eds. D. Okoń, P. Briks, Szczecin, (2015): 189-198.
[2] Touraj Daryaee T. Sasanian Persia, The Rise and Fall of an Empire, (London/New York: 2009).
[3] Kabekh Farrokh, Gholam Reza, Hamid Karamian. “Military Architecture and the Four-Spāhbed System for Defense of the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE)” Historia i Swiat, 10, (2021): 117-151.
[4] Mehrdad Ghodrat-Dizaji. “Administrative Geography of the Early Sasanian Period: The Case of Ādurbādagān.” Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 45, (2007): 87-96.
[5] Mary Boyce. “ĀDUR GUŠNASP”, Encyclopædia Iranica, I/5, 475-476, 28 February 2014 https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/adur-gusnasp-an-atas-bahram-see-atas-that-is-a-zoroastrian-sacred-fire-of-the-highest-grade-held-to-be-one-of-
[6] Yumiko Yamamoto. “The Zoroastrian Temple Cult of Fire in Archaeology and Literature”, Orient, 17, (1981): 67-104. doi: https://doi.org/10.5356/orient1960.17.67
[7] Zeev Rubin (1995), The Reforms of Khusro Anushiwan, ed. A.Cameron, The Byzantine and early Islamic Near East 3, (Pricenton: 1995), 227-298.
[8] Rika Gyselen. “The Four Generals of the Sasanian Empire: Some Sigillographic Evidence”, Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente, Conferenze 14, Roma, (2001): 53. https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.34354
[9] Touraj Daryaee, and Keyvan Safdari. “Spāhbed Bullae: The Barakat Collection”, e-Sasanica, 12, (2010): 1-15.
[10] Katarzina Maksymiuk. “The Pahlav-Mihrani family faithful allies of Xusto I Anoshirvan”, Metamorvozi Istorii, 6, (2015): 163-179.
[11] Mehrdad Ghodrat-Dizaji. “Ādurbādagān during the Late Sasanian Period: A Study in Administrative Geography”, Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 48, (2010): 69-80. https://doi.org/10.1080/05786967.2010.11864774
[12] Kavekh Farrokh, Gholam Reza and Hamid Karamian. “Military Architecture and the Four-Spāhbed System for Defense of the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE)”. Historia i Swiat, 10, (2021): 117-151. https://doi.org/10.34739/his.2021.10.05
[13] Sara Kasumova. “K tolkovaniyu sredne-persidskikh nadpiseĭ iz Derbenta (On the interpretation of the Middle Persian inscriptions from Darband)”, VDI, 1, (1979): 113-126.
[14] Mehrdad Ghodrat-Dizaji. “Administrative Geography of The Early Sasanian Period: Case of Ādurbādagān”, Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 45, (2007): 87-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/05786967.2007.11864720
[15] James Howard-Johnston. “The Late Sasanian Army”, in: Late Antiquity: Eastern Perspectives ed. Teresa Bernheimer and Adam Silverstein, (Warminster: The Gibb Memorial Trust, 2012), 87-127.
[16] Mehrdad Ghodrat-Dizaji. “Disintegration of Sasanian Hegemony over Northern Iran (AD 623-643)”, Iranica Antiqua, 46, (2011): 315-329.
[17] Sara Kasumova. “New Findings Middle Persian Inscriptions in Derbent”, Vestnik Istorii, 1, (1988): 88-95.
[18] Katarzina Maksymiuk. (2017), “Destruction of the Ādur Gušnasp temple in Ādurbādagān as a revenge for abduction of the Holy Cross from Jerusalem in the context of the letters of Heraclius”, Matamorfozii istorii, 9, (2017): 109-125.
[19] Parvaneh Poursharriati. Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: Sasanian-Parthian Empire Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran, (London/New York: 2006), 552
[20] Rika Gyselen. “Sasanian Seals and Sealings in the A. Saeedi Collection, Acta Iranica”, Peeters, 2007, 407.
[21] Karim Alizadeh. “Borderland Projects of Sasanian Empire: Intersection of Domestic and Foreign Policies”, Journal of Ancient History, 2, (2014): 93-115. https://doi.org/10.1515/jah-2014-0015
[22] Sara Kasumova and Murtuzali Gadjiev M. “Middle Persian Inscriptions of Derbent, the 6-th c. AD”, Moscow, Vosticnaya Literatura, 2006, 128.
[23] Murtuzali Gadjiyev. “A Seal of Āhzwahēn, King of Caucasian Albania”, Journal of Ancient History, 1, (2003): 102-119.
[24] Kavelh Farrokh, Hamid Karamian, Katarzina Maksymiuk. A Synopsis of Sasanian Military Organization and Combat Units, Siedlce University, Tehran, (2018): 160.
[25] Sara Kasumova, On the interpretation, 113-126
[26] Touraj Daryaee. “If these Walls Could Speak The Barrier of Alexander, Wall of Darband and Other Defensive Moats”, Borders: Itineraries on the Edges of Iran”, (Venice: 2016): 79-88.
[27] Asker Aliyev, Murtuzali Gdajiyev, Gayhe Gaithner, Philip Kohl, Rabadan Magomedov and Idris Aliev. “Gilgilchay Long Defensive Wall: New Investigations”, Ancient East and West, 5, 1-2, (2006): 143-177.
[28] Murtuzali Gadjiev. “Armenia and the land of Mazkurt (3rd-5th Centuries AD): Written Sources and Archaeological Data”, ELECTRUM, 28, (2021): 207-119. doi:10.4467/20800909EL.21.014.13372
[29] Katarzina Maksymiuk. (2015), “The Pahlav-Mehrān family faithful allies of Xusrō I Anōšīrvān”, Metamorvozi Istorii, 6, (2015): 163-179.
[30] Clifford Bosworth. ARRĀN, Encyclopædia Iranica, II/5, 520-522, 30 December 2012 https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arran-a-region
[31] Murtuzali Gadjiev. “The Role and Place Of Middle Persian Language And Writing In Caucasus Albania”, Vostok (Oriens), 5, (2021): 59–70.
[32] C.J.Dowsett. Moses Dasxuranc’i’s History of the Caucasus Albanians, (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), 252.
[33] Mahir Khalifa-Zadeh and Leyla Khalifazadeh. “Sasanian Adurbadagan and Modern Azerbaijan: Historical Roots and Development”, Advances in Historical Studies, 12, 2, (2023): 63-75 DOI: 10.4236/ahs.2023.122005
[34] Ismail Zardabli I. The History of Azerbaijan: From Ancient Times to The Present Day, United Kingdom: Lulu Pres, 2014), 600
[35] Robert
Hoyland. FROM ALBANIA TO ARRĀN: The East Caucasus between the Ancient and
Islamic Worlds (ca. 330 BCE–1000 CE), (Gorgias Press LLC: 2020), 406
