Aswaran
Historical re-enactment of an aswaran cataphract
Country	Sassanian Empire
Allegiance	Shahanshah, Eran-spahbed
Branch	Sasanian army
Type	Heavy cavalry
Equipment	Lance, bow and arrows, sword, and less commonly dart, mace, and axe

Military of the Sasanian Empire
Armed forces and units
Cataphract Clibanarii Aswaran Grivpanvar War elephants Paygan Immortals Pushtigban Sarmatians Daylamites Sogdian warriors Gond-i Shahanshah Darigan Stor Bezashk Navy
Ranks
Spahbed Aspbed Paygosban Marzban, Kanarang Masmughan Pushtigban Salar Eran anbaraghbad Argbed Hazarbed Paygan-salar Savaran Sardar Gond Salar Darigbed Navbed
Defense lines
Wall of the Arabs Gawri Wall Great Wall of Gorgan Wall of Tammisha Derbent Wall Darial
Conflicts
Romans Arabian tribes Hephthalites Turks Ethiopians Muslim Arabs Revolts and civil wars

Sasanian silverware, showing a combat between two noble horsemen wearing scale armor, cuirass, chaps, and equipped with kontos, swords, quivers and arrows.

The Aswārān (singular aswār), also spelled Asbārān and Savaran, was a cavalry force that formed the backbone of the army of the Sasanian Empire.^[1] They were provided by the aristocracy, were heavily armored, and ranged from archers to cataphracts.

Etymology

The word comes from the Old Persian word asabāra (from asa- and bar, a frequently used Achaemenid military technical term). The various other renderings of the word are the following: Parthian asbār (spelt spbr or SWSYN), Middle Persian aswār (spelt ʼswbʼl or SWSYA), Classical Persian suwār (سوار), uswār/iswār (اسوار), Modern Persian savār (سوار). The Arabic word asāwira (أساورة), used to refer to a certain faction of the Sasanian cavalry after the Muslim conquest, is a broken plural form of the Middle Persian aswār.^[2] However, the word aswār only means "horseman" in Middle Persian literature, and it is only the late Arabic term that has a more specialized meaning. In the Sassanian inscriptions, the formula asp ud mard (literally "horse and man")^[3] was commonly used to collectively refer to the cavalry and the infantry of the military.^[4]

Organization

The aswaran were primarily composed of Iranian aristocrats from the wuzurgan and the azadan,^[6] with members of the staff being from the former.^[7] After the reforms of Khosraw I, warriors from the dehqan class would also be enlisted.

The asbaran have often been demonstrated as an example of existence of feudalism in Iran by modern scholars, who simply refer them as either chevalier, knight, or ritter. According to historians such as Christensen and Widengren, the asbar had the same status as the knight. However, although the asbaran and knight resemble each other in many parts, the economic role and historical role of the knight is very different compared to the role of the asbaran in the Sasanian Empire, which thus makes it incorrect to refer the asbaran as knights.^[8]

The highest annual salary for each cavalryman was 4,000 dirhams.^[9]

Weaponry, armor, and tactics

The aswaran wore chainmail armor, and ranged from archers to cataphracts. They assumed a description with the bravery, tactics, and ethics of the Sasanians. They mastered in single combat in battles (mard o-mard), rode on elephants and horses, and their valor was recognized with ornamental emblems. Titles such as hazārmard ("whose strength is equal to one thousand men"), zih asbār ("superior rider"), and pahlawān-i gēhān ("hero or champion of the world"), were their epithets. They wrote the name of the Sasanian emperor and their valuable family members on their arrows as a good omen. They outperformed others in archery to the extent that later writers thought that they had introduced the profession. They were superior and unmatched in the profession, which was even acknowledged by their enemies.^[10] The major effectiveness of the Sasanian cavalry was noted by contemporaneous Roman writers, including Ammianus Marcellinus, and led the Romans to adopt aspects of Sasanian cavalry including their arms, armour, and techniques.^[1]

Banner

Illustration of an asbaran cavalryman holding a banner showing a Homa, a mythical bird of Iranian legends and fables.

Each asbaran unit would have a Drafsh, or heraldric standard. These would have often included legendary creatures and animals. These animals would have included elephants, horses, bears, lions, and deer (ahu); these banners would also include Zoroastrian mythological creatures such as Bashkuch and the army of Asbaran would have the Derafsh Kaviani as their banner.

Some aswaran members with superior bravery, character, and equestrian skills were receiving honorary bracelets, recorded in Islamic sources as suwārī, with the wearer being called a musawwar.^[23]

Elite Aswaran

Equestrian statue of Khosrow II (r. 590–628) wearing the same armor used by the asbaran.

The aswaran sardar were high-ranking officers who were in charge of the aswaran, their position was so high up in Sasanian society that they were only answerable to the Eran-Spahbad (Commander in Chief) and the Emperor himself. They would be guarded heavily by cataphract style cavalry. The post of aswaran sardar was held by a member of the House of Mihran. Parts of the aswaran division were high-ranking including the Pushtigban Body Guards, a super heavy shock cavalry, who were the royal guards of the Shah himself. The influential aswaran cavalry were mostly made up of heavily armoured cavalry, generally composed of aristocracy or even from the imperial family themselves. There were also commanders who were elite as well. These parts of the aswaran regiments were kept as reserves.

After the fall of the Sasanians

Most of the asbaran was disbanded after suffering defeat and conquest during the Muslim conquest of Persia. However, several factions of the asbaran, each faction led by a different leader, defected to the Arabs in order to preserve their status and wealth. These asbaran factions settled in various places in the newly established Muslim territories, where they each become known by several names, the most known and prominent faction being the asawira, who under their leader Siyah settled in the newly established settlement of Basra.

See also

Military of the Sasanian Empire
Armed forces and units
Cataphract Clibanarii Aswaran Grivpanvar War elephants Paygan Immortals Pushtigban Sarmatians Daylamites Sogdian warriors Gond-i Shahanshah Darigan Stor Bezashk Navy
Ranks
Spahbed Aspbed Paygosban Marzban, Kanarang Masmughan Pushtigban Salar Eran anbaraghbad Argbed Hazarbed Paygan-salar Savaran Sardar Gond Salar Darigbed Navbed
Defense lines
Wall of the Arabs Gawri Wall Great Wall of Gorgan Wall of Tammisha Derbent Wall Darial
Conflicts
Romans Arabian tribes Hephthalites Turks Ethiopians Muslim Arabs Revolts and civil wars

References

Sources

• Bosworth, C. E. (1987). "ASĀWERA". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 7. pp. 706–707.
• Daryaee, Touraj (2009). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–240. ISBN 978-0857716668.
• Daryaee, Touraj (2018). "cavalry, Persian". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.
• Farrokh, Kaveh; Karamian, Gholamreza; Maksymiuk, Katarzyna (2018). A Synopsis of Sasanian Military Organization and Combat Units. Publishing House of Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities. ISBN 978-83-62447-22-0.
• Farrokh, Kaveh; Maksymiuk, Katarzyna; Garcia, Javier Sanchez (2018). The Siege of Amida (359 CE). Archeobooks. ISBN 978-83-7051-887-5.
• Jalalipour, Saeid (2014). The Arab Conquest of Persia: The Khūzistān Province before and after the Muslims Triumph (PDF). Sasanika.
• 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. 600–620. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195304657.013.0031. ISBN 9780195304657.
• Morony, Michael G. (2005) [1984]. Iraq After The Muslim Conquest. Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-59333-315-7.
• Nicolle, David (1996). Sassanian Armies: The Iranian Empire Early 3rd to mid-7th Centuries AD. Montvert Publishing. ISBN 1-874101-08-6.
• Penrose, Jane (2005). Rome and her Enemies: An Empire Created and Destroyed by War. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 978-1-84176-932-5. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
• Potts, Daniel; Rezakhani, Khodadad (2018). "armies and military administration, Persian". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.
• Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008). Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.
• Shapur Shahbazi, A. (1986). "Army i. Pre-Islamic Iran". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 5. London et al. pp. 489–499.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Zakeri, Mohsen (1995). Sāsānid Soldiers in Early Muslim Society: The Origins of ʿAyyārān and Futuwwa. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-03652-8.
• "History of Iran: Sassanian Army". www.iranchamber.com. Retrieved 2022-09-12.

External links

• History of Iran: Sassanian Army
• Savārān - Google Search