Spahbed

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Spāhbad, also spelled spahbod, is a Middle Persian title meaning “army chief” or commander. It was a top military rank in the Sasanian Empire.

Origins and early form
- At first there was a single spāhbad, the Ērān-spāhbed, who acted as the overall commander of the Sasanian army.
- By the time of Khosrow I (531–579), the office was split into four regional spāhbads, one for each cardinal direction.

After the Arab conquest
- The spāhbed of the East kept control of Tabaristan, a difficult mountainous region by the Caspian Sea, where the title survived in Islamic form as ispahbedh for a long time, lasting until the Mongol invasions in the 13th century.

Related titles and spread
- A closely related title, ispahsālār or sipahsālār, became common across the Muslim world from the 10th to the 15th centuries.
- The title spread beyond Persia: it was used by Armenians (aspirapet or asparapet), Georgians (spaspeti), and by rulers in Khotan and among the Sogdians. Greek sources also mention a version, aspabedes.

Revival in modern times
- In the 20th century, the Pahlavi dynasty revived the title as sepahbod in Modern Persian, a three-star rank equivalent to Lieutenant General, below full General (arteshbod).

Earlier uses and lineage
- The Sasanian title has roots that go back to the Achaemenid Empire, where a form like spādapati signified the army’s chief.
- It continued in the Parthian (Arsacid) era, sometimes as a hereditary position within one of the great Parthian noble families.
- In the 3rd century onward, inscriptions in Middle Persian and Parthian show the title in use, with Ērān-spāhbed occupying a high court position (often listed fifth in precedence by later historians).

Four regional commands and evidence
- To curb the power of the supreme general, Khosrow I divided the role into four regional commands: East (Khurasan), South, West, and Azerbaijan (the northern region being represented by the term for north as it was seen as negative).
- This division is described in later sources and supported by a set of seals from the reigns of Khosrow I and Hormizd IV, which name eight spāhbeds.

Tabaristan and the Dabuyid dynasty
- After the conquest, the spahbad of Khurasan retired to Tabaristan and fostered an independent line there, founding the Dabuyid dynasty. They ruled Tabaristan until the 760s, when Abbasid power absorbed the region.
- Early Tabaridan rulers minted their own coins with Pahlavi inscriptions and used titles such as ispahbadh for regional authority, a practice that continued in later local dynasties.

Other local rulers
- The title was claimed by other Tabaristan lines, such as the Karen family and the Bavandid dynasty, and by Daylamite rulers in the region.
- The title appears in other areas as well, including Balkh (in 709) and Nasa (in 737), and in connection with rulers in Kabul during the early 9th century.
- In the 1090s, a Seljuk commander named Isfabadh ibn Sawtigin used the name as a personal title.

Armenia and Georgia
- Armenia adopted a form of the title (aspahapet or asparapet) for its army chief, a hereditary rank within the Mamikonian family.
- Georgia created a similar rank, spaspeti, which was non-hereditary and combined military with civil duties. Georgian chronicles say spaspet was introduced by King P’arnavaz in the 3rd century BCE and the office lasted in various forms into the early modern era.

Summary
- Spāhbed began as a single supreme commander in the Sasanian era, then became a fourfold regional system.
- Its influence extended across neighboring regions and cultures, spawning local forms and lasting in several places for many centuries.
- The title’s legacy lives on in modern revivals and in the names of many regional military offices and noble lineages.