by Mahir Khalifa-zadeh*
The bust of Ārānšāh Javanshir, Great Pahlav House of Mehrān, Sculptor: Fuad Abdurahmanov, National Museum of History, Baku, Azerbaijan
Prince and General (Pahlavi: spāhbed) Javanshir (Juanšer) was a member of the Great Pahlav House of Mehrān (wuzurg Pahlav šahrdārān) and the son of Ārānšāh Varaz-Grigor (r. 628 – 637 CE), who possibly had the Zoroastrian name Gadvsnasp before his second baptism into the dyophysite Chalcedonian faith by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius.
The Mehrān House was one of the Seven Great Pahlav (Parthian) Houses of the Sasanian Empire, claiming its descent to the Arsacids of Parthia. The powerful Pahlav House of Mehrān held high-ranking positions in the Sasanian hierarchy. The members of Mehrān occupied high-ranking positions in the Sasanian Imperial Army and led negotiations with the Khaqan of the Turks.
In 16-19 November 636, in the famous Battle of al-Qādisiyyah between the Sasanians and Muslim Arabs, Prince Javanshir was the commander of Arrān's (Albania's) troops, which were part of the Sasanian Imperial Army under the command of the famous Iranian hero and general (spāhbed) Rostam Farrokhzād, prince of Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan].
In 637, Javanshir, with 3000-4000 troops, helped to arrange šāhānšāh Yazdegerd III evacuation from the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon (Arabic: المدائن, al-Madāʾen), which was under the Muslim Arabs' siege.
Sasanian king Yazdegerd III (r. 632-651) awarded Javanshir two golden spears and shields and acknowledged his bravery, awarding also a flag – Standard of Jamshid (Pahlavi: Derafš-e Kāvīān / King's flag), which was a highest honor for loyalty and courage.
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Derafš-e Kāvīān - King's Flag, sometimes called the
Standard of Jamshid |
Before the final defeat of the Sasanian army in the Battle of Nahāvand in 642, Javanshir arrived in Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan]. One may assume that he planned to resume command of the Sasanian Ādurbādagān troops in the wake of Rostam’s death and because of Yazdegerd’s strong will to collect a new army in Media to fight the Arabs. However, possibly Rostam’s brother Farrukhzad was assigned Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed and Javanshir fled back to Arrān's capital of Partaw (now Barda, present-day Azerbaijan).
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| Ārānšāh Javanshir fights Muslim Arabs alongside with the Sasanian troops, painting (1956), National Museum of History, Baku, Azerbaijan |
After the collapse of the Sasanian Empire, Muslim Arabs offered Ārānšāh Javanshir to become a ruler of the entire Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan] šahr, but he refused for obscure reason. Soon after, in 669, Javanshir was killed during Christian service at Partaw’s Arrānian (Latin: Albanian) Dyophysite Orthodox church (Church of Arrān). Javanshir was married to a Turkish Princess.
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| Javanshir fortress, reconstruction, Ismayili region, Republic of Azerbaijan |
* Khalifa-zadeh M., Research Professor, Ph.D, Canadian Historical Association, 130 Albert Street, Suite 1912, Ottawa, ON, K1P5G4, Canada
Source:
Khalifa-zadeh, Mahir, "Adurbadagan and Arran (Caucasian Albania) in the Late Sasanian Period", International Journal of History, 2023, Vol 5, Issue 2, pp 15-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/27069109.2023.v5.i2a.220
Church of Arran, https://orthodoxwiki.org/Church_of_Arran
