Military of the Sasanian Empire

The Sasanian army was the primary military body of the Sasanian
armed forces, serving alongside the Sasanian navy. The birth of the
Sassanian army
army dates back to the rise of Ardashir I (r. 224–241), the founder of Military leader Eran-spahbed
the Sasanian Empire, to the throne. Ardashir aimed at the revival of Political leader Sassanian
the Persian Empire, and to further this aim, he reformed the military king
by forming a standing army which was under his personal command
and whose officers were separate from satraps, local princes and Dates of operation 224–651
nobility. He restored the Achaemenid military organizations, retained Allegiance Sasanian
the Parthian cavalry model, and employed new types of armour and Empire
siege warfare techniques. This was the beginning for a military system
Headquarters Ctesiphon
which served him and his successors for over 400 years, during which
the Sasanian Empire was, along with the Roman Empire and later the Active regions Asia Minor,
East Roman Empire, one of the two superpowers of Late Antiquity in Levant, North
Western Eurasia. The Sasanian army protected Eranshahr ("the realm Africa,
of Iran") from the East against the incursions of central Asiatic Caucasus,
nomads like the Hephthalites and Turks, while in the west it was Khorasan,
engaged in a recurrent struggle against the Roman Empire.[2]
Transoxiana,
Balkans,
Mesopotamia,
Contents Arabian
Peninsula
Army
Divisions Size 100,000-
Ranks 150,000[1]
Cavalry Part of Sasanian
War elephants Empire
Infantry Allies Sabir Huns,
Siege warfare Sarmatians,
Foreign and mercenary soldiers Osroene,
Gond-i Shahanshah Armenia,
Iberia,
Azadan nobility
Albania,
Buildings and structures Lakhmids,
Major battles of the Sasanian Empire Lazica, Avars,
Early Sasanian period Sclaveni,
Late Sasanian period Xionites

References Opponents Romans,

Huns,
Sources
Rashidun
Caliphate,
Army Hephthalites,
Kushans,
Khazars,
Western
In the character of their warfare, the Persians of the Sasanian period Turkic
differed greatly from their forebears under the Achaemenid kings. The Khaganate,
principal changes which time had brought about were an almost entire nomadic
disuse of the war chariot, the advance of the elephant corps into a Arabs,
very prominent and important position, and the increased use and pre-
Aksumites,
eminence of cavalry on the Parthian model, including both heavy
and others
cataphracts and horse-archers. Four main arms of the service were
recognized, each standing on a different level: the elephants, the Standard Derafsh
horse, the archers, and the ordinary footmen.[3] Kaviani

Divisions

In Pahlavi language, smaller divisions of the spāh were referred to as

vasht and larger divisions were designated as gond.[4] The Arabic
word jund (‫)ﺟﻨﺪ‬, meaning "army", is derived from the latter.[5]

Ranks

Head of the military was the Shahanshah (the King of Kings). The
empire's military command was split into four. Initially, the offices of
the Great King of Armenia, King of Meshan, King of Gilan, and
King of Sakastan fulfilled these roles. After the reforms of Khosrow I,
there were four spahbeds (Army Commanders), each for a cardinal Sasanian silver plate depicting an
equestrian single combat scene
direction. Other attested military ranks throughout the Sasanian period
are as follows:[6] (the exact nature of some of these are not well-
understood)

Wuzurg-framadar, who could become the commander-in-chief and was entrusted to engage in
diplomatic negotiations.[7]
Ērān-spāhbed, spāhbedān-spāhbed, artēštārān-sālār: all denote the regular commander-in-
chief,[7] apparently chosen from the House of Suren.[6]
Spāhbed: Field general.[6]
Aswārān-sardār, aswārān-sālār: literally "Commander of the Cavalry", but its duties are
unknown.[6]
Aspbed,[7] also means "Commander of the Cavalry"
Andarzbad-i Aspwaragan, chief instructor of the cavalry[8]
Paygān-sālār: Commander of the Infantry[6]
Kanārang, commander in the Abarshahr.[6]
Marzbān: Commander of the border guards; according to Procopius, it had been equivalent in
rank to the East Roman strategos or magister militum.[6]
Pushtigbān-sālār: Head of the royal guard.[6]
Padgōspān or pādhūspān: military commander of a district or province.[7][6]
shahrab, commander of a rural district.[6]
Erān anbāraghbad: Senior rank responsible for army supplies.[6]
Stor Bezashk: Senior vet who looked after the cavalry elite's mounts.[6]
Argbed, commander of a citadel or fort.
Gund-sālār: Commander of a gond division.[6]
 Hazāruft or hazārbed: Commander of a Thousand [man],
probably the commander of the Royal Bodyguard[6]
Sarhang
Framadar or Framandar, battlefield commander[7]

The military appointments were mostly dominated by the noble

houses of Suren, Mihran, and Spandiyadh.[6]

Cavalry

The backbone of the Spâh in the Sasanian era was its heavy armoured
cavalry, known since Classical antiquity in the west as Cataphracts.
This was made up of noblemen who underwent extensive exercises in
warfare and military manoeuvres through military training, gaining
discipline and becoming true soldiers. Within the Sasanian military,
the cavalry was the most influential element, and Sasanian cavalry
tactics were adopted by the Romans, Arabs, and Turks. Their
weaponry, battle tactics, tamgas, medallions, court customs, and
costumes greatly influenced their Romano-Byzantine neighbours. The
Romans had long contended against opponents who fielded heavy
cavalry, notably the Sarmatians and the Parthians, and the recurrent
wars with the Sasanian were an important factor in the Roman turn to
A Sassanid gold sword handle with a
new military organizations and battlefield tactics that centered around
two-point suspension.
the use of heavy cavalry in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The Romans
called these newly formed units clibanarii; It is said that the word
clibanarii is derived from Persian word grivpanvar or griva-pana-
vara meaning neck-guard wearer. Another, more direct and often
quoted, etymology is the Greek word ho klibanos, which refers to a
covered pot in which bread was baked or a small oven; perhaps a
joking reference to the one-piece mask helmets they wore. The
Roman term appears for the first time in the vita Alexandri Severi
(56.5) in the Historia Augusta, a work from the very end of the 4th
century AD.

Shapur II (r. 309–379) further reformed the army by adopting heavier

and more effective cavalry. These mounted units were clad in thick
iron plates which covered their entire body. This made them look very
much like moving iron statues. Some were armed with a lance and
some with a sword and/or mace. Depictions of aforementioned
cavalry still survive, with one of the best preserved ones being a rock
relief at Taq-e Bostan where Khosrau II is seen riding his favourite
horse, Shabdiz. Reconstruction of a Sasanian-era
cataphract.
The fighting equipment of the heavily armed Sasanian horsemen
were:

Clibanarii/Cataphract cavalry: helmet, hauberk (Pahlavi griwban), breastplate, mail, gauntlet

(Pahlavi abdast), girdle, thigh-guards (Pahlavi ran-ban) sword, mace, bowcase with two bows
and two bowstrings, quiver with 30 arrows, two extra bowstrings, and horse armour (zen-abzar).
The heavy cavalry was complemented by lighter cavalry, which were
not made up of Sasanian, but were recruited from among their allies
and supplemented by mercenary troops. Gelani (Guilani), Albani,
Hephthalites, Kushans and the Khazars were the main suppliers of
this light- to medium-armoured cavalry. They were an essential part of
the Spâh because of their endurance and speed on the battlefield.

It is possible that the mainly light cavalry were intended for the battles
with the central Asiatic tribes, while the more heavy cavalry were
used in encounters with Rome.
A medieval Armenian miniature
In short, there were the following classes of mobile cavalry troops: representing the Sasanian War
elephants in the Battle of Vartanantz.
Persian immortal guard (Zhayedan)
Azadan nobility Aswaran: elite cavalry also described as
the Persian knightly caste (see below)
War elephants
Light cavalry: primarily horse-archers
Dehqan cavalry: Medium-armoured cavalry armed with lance and bow
Cataphract /Clibanarii cavalry: Heavy shock cavalry armed with lance, bow, sword and mace or
battle axe (also known as Asvārān)

Depictions from the Sasanian art show different forms of horse archery: frontal shot, Parthian shot, shooting
with stirrups and shooting while riding the horse backwards.[9]

War elephants

Both types of cavalry units were supported by war elephants and foot
archers who showered the enemy with storms of arrows. The elephant
corps held the first position. It was recruited from India, but was at no
time very numerous. Great store was set by it; and in some of the
earlier battles against the Arabs the victory was regarded as gained
mainly by this arm of the service. It acted with best effect in an open
and level district; but the value put upon it was such that, however
rough, mountainous, and woody the country into which the Persian
arms penetrated, the elephant always accompanied the march of the
Persian troops, and care was taken to make roads by which it could
travel. The elephant corps was under a special chief, known as the
Zend−hapet, or "Commander of the Indians," either because the
beasts came from that country, or because they were managed by
natives of Hindustan.[3] These giant beasts acted as walking towers
on battlefields and caused panic and disorder in enemy ranks, creating
openings in the lines that cavalry could take advantage of.

Infantry King Khosrow I on top of an elephant

fighting the Mazdakite Revolt.
Persian miniature
For infantry they find useless for
their sort of fighting and it is not
highly regarded by them. Nor, in
fact, is it necessary to them, since
 the whole of the country that they
inhabit is flat and bare. For a
military force is naturally valued or
slighted in proportion to its actual
usefulness in war. Accordingly, ... it
is granted no great consideration in
their laws.

— Julian, Oration II

The infantry were mostly lightly armed spearmen, who, like their
Achaemenid ancestors, were usually levied troops of little fighting
ability. Procopius of Caesarea famously derided them as "a crowd of
pitiable peasants who come into battle for no other purpose than to dig
through walls and to despoil the slain and in general to serve the
soldiers [i.e. the cavalrymen]".[10] In some battles, however, heavy
infantry was deployed. These were well-paid, heavily armoured
infantry (carrying sword and javelin). The Daylam provinces of the
empire in particular were famous for providing high-quality foot
soldiers.

The archers formed the elite of the Persian infantry. They were trained
to deliver their arrows with extreme rapidity, and with an aim that was
almost unerring. The huge wattled shields, adopted by the A Sasanian army helmet
Achaemenid Persians from the Assyrians (called sparabara by the
Achaemenids), still remained in use; and from behind a row of these,
rested upon the ground and forming a sort of loop−holed wall, the Sasanian bowmen shot their weapons with
great effect; nor was it until their store of arrows was exhausted that the Romans, ordinarily, felt themselves
upon even terms with their enemy. Sometimes the archers, instead of thus fighting in line, were intermixed
with the heavy horse, with which it was not difficult for them to keep pace. They galled the foe with their
constant discharges from between the ranks of the horsemen, remaining themselves in comparative security, as
the legions rarely ventured to charge the Persian armoured cavalry. If they were forced to retreat, they still shot
backwards as they fled; and it was a proverbial saying with the Romans that they were then especially
formidable.[11] Infantry was divided into the following types:

Daylami: Hoplite or heavy infantry

Paighan: medium infantry armed with spears and large wicker shields
Kamandaran: archers
Light ranged troops, such as Kurdish javelin-throwers

Slingers are recorded in Sasanian army (notably in Battle of Singara (344)) and were probably recruited from
the highlands of Media.[12]

Siege warfare

The Sasanian had organized and efficient methods of siege warfare for conquering walled towns. First of all,
they would mine the walls of besieged fortifications, as such a tunnel containing the body of a Sasanian soldier
has been discovered underneath the walls of Roman Dura-Europos. Their siege machinery included
crossbows, catapults and battering rams, but they also had excellent defensive tactics for their fortifications,
such as methods for using and countering catapults, for countering mining, for throwing stones or pouring
boiling liquid on the attackers or by hurling fire brands and blazing missiles. In the fourth century CE, the
Persians still used moving armoured siege towers, in order to strafe the battlements with artillery and to allow
their soldiers to climb over them . In the sixth century however, Procopius and Agathias no longer mention
such towers, perhaps because at that time wheeled vehicles had almost entirely disappeared from the Middle
East (Bulliet The Camel and the Wheel 1975). Instead of siege towers, Sasanian besiegers would now build a
high siege mound, placing their artillery on its summit to target the defenders on the walls below. Like the
Romans, the Sasanians also adopted the perrier or traction-trebuchet originating in the Far East, the forerunner
of the later counterweight-trebuchet. They protected their sappers and soldiers with earthworks, shelters and
mantlets.

Catapult NP kamān-i charkh, kamān-i gāv ("ox-bow") Steingass 1047, the latter name
suggesting that this second type of catapult was not drawn with a ratchet but with the help of a
large and strong domestic animal like an ox. Such weapons are known to have been used in
China.
Battering ram
Siege tower Ammianus Marcellinus 19.5.1, 19.7.2. Elephants were also used as "living mobile
towers"
Siege mound Procopius 1.7.17, 2.26.25-9
Perrier Bernard Lewis (ed.) Islam from the Prophet of Muhammad to the Capture of
Constantinople (NY 1987) I.215: In a rather symbolic discussion between Arabs and Persians,
written by Al-Jahiz, the Arabs are denounced for not knowing the ratila (Arabic for a catapult,
though ziyar seems to have been more usual Hugh Kennedy The Armies of the Caliphs 113; C.
Cahen "Un traité d’armurerie composé pour Saladin" Bulletin d’etudes orientales 12(1947-8)
133), the arrada and the manjaniq (Arabic for a small perrier operated by a few persons or even
a single person (the pole-framed trebuchet) and a large perrier operated by up to 400 people
respectively (the trestle-framed trebuchet)) or any other siege machinery, suggesting all these
machines were already known to the pre-Islamic Persians. Pahlavi mangenik, derived from
Greek manganikon, or koshkanjir[5] NP Steingass 1033, 1062 kashkanjīr
Earth works, shelters, mantlets Ammianus Marcellinus 19.5.1, 7.3

Foreign and mercenary soldiers

The Sasanian army, especially during the late Sasanian
period, employed foreign mercenary troops from many
different regions. The most frequently used types of
mercenaries were Kurdish mercenaries from the northern
boundary of the Zagros, who begin to appear in 6th-
century sources, tribal people from Gilan and Daylam,
Caucasian Albanians (regarded as elite soldiers equal to
Huns in the 4th-century), and Sakastanis.
Coin of emperor Khosrow II, founder of the
The Sasanians also often recruited foreign auxiliaries, notorious Gond-i Shahanshah.
such as Sabir Huns from the North Caucasus - or
resettled on Sasanian territory - The Turks who had been
divided in 568/9 - and the abundant Arab tribes in the south who were integrated into a "nexus of alliances
managed by the Sasanians' Lakhmid client-kingdom from its capital at al-Hira" (James-Howard Johnston).

Gond-i Shahanshah

During the reign of Khosrow II (r. 590-628), probably some time after 600, he resettled 4,000 Daylamites in
Ctesiphon and used them as an elite unit, where they became known as the Gond-i Shāhanshāh ("the army of
the Shahanshah").
After the Sasanian Empire suffered a major defeat in 636 to the Arabs at the battle of al-Qadisiyyah, the Gond-
i Shahanshah defected to the Arabs, converted to Islam, and settled in Kufa, where they had their own quarter.

Azadan nobility
This class of nobility was first formed in Parthian times, and was
carried over into the Sasanian state, where they were a force to be
reckoned with. They accompanied the king in the wars and displayed
great courage and discipline. They are clearly the forerunners and
founders of the "Knights" of later history.[13] The Aztan (Azadan,
‫آزادان‬, "freemen") formed a numerous minor aristocracy of lower-
ranking administrators, mostly living on their small estates and
providing the cavalry backbone of the Sasanian army. Most
prestigious among them were the armoured "Asvaran" ‫اﺳﻮران‬, who
normally decided the outcome of a battle.[14]

Despite their downfall in the 7th century AD, the legacy of the
Savaran endured in the Caucasus, India and the Muslim world. It was
the elite cavalry of Sasanian Persia, who were the forerunners of the
later Arabian Faris, the Caucasian horsemen, the Indian Sowar
(derived from Persian Savar), and the Turkish Tarkhans.

The amount of money involved in maintaining a warrior of the

Depiction (bottom) of a Sasanian
Asavaran (Azatan) knightly caste required a small estate, and the
Clibanarii cavalry equipment in the
Asavaran knightly caste received that from the throne, and in return, monumental reliefs at Taq-e Bostan.
were the throne's most notable defenders in time of war.

Buildings and structures

The Sasanians made use of fortifications, sometimes massive ones (such as Iraj Castle), as military and
campaign bases. Sasanian defense lines of fortifications (such as those of Derbent and Gorgan) were later built
on the borders opposite the territories of the opponents.

Major battles of the Sasanian Empire

Early Sasanian period

Battle of Edessa (260)
Siege of Caesarea (260)
Battle of Satala (298)
Siege of Amida (359)
Battle of Ctesiphon (363)
Battle of Samarra (363)
Battle of Avarayr (451)
Battle of Herat (484)

Late Sasanian period

 Siege of Amida (502-503)
Battle of Thannuris (528)
Battle of Dara (530)
Battle of Callinicum (531)
Siege of Petra (541)
Siege of Edessa (544)
Battle of Bukhara (557)
Siege of Dara (573)
Battle of Solachon (586)
Battle of Blarathon (591)
Battle of Antioch (613)
Battle of Nineveh (627)
Shahnameh illustration of the Sasanian general
Battle of al-Qadisiyyah (636) Sukhra fighting the Hephthalites (484).
Battle of Nahavand (642)
Battle of Ray (651)

References
1. Farrokh, Kaveh; Maksymiuk, Katarzyna; Garcia, Javier Sanchez (2018). The Siege of Amida
(359 CE). Archeobooks. p. 31. ISBN 978-83-7051-887-5.
2. The silk road: a journey from the High Pamirs and Ili through Sinkiang and Kansu Page 53
3. George Rawlinson "The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World: The Seventh
Monarchy: History of the Sassanian or New Persian Empire" Page 189
4. Arthur Christensen, Sassanid Persia, 2nd Ed., 1965, p. 237
5. Dehkhoda Persian Dictionary
6. Maksymiuk, Katarzyna; Syvanne, Ilkka (2018). The Military History of the Third Century Iran.
Archeobooks. p. 55-59. ISBN 978-83-7051-894-3.
7. Farrokh, Kaveh (2012). Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224–642. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 7–8.
ISBN 978-1-78200-848-4.
8. Zakeri, Mohsen (1995). Sasanid Soldiers in Early Muslim Society: The Origins of 'Ayyārān and
Futuwwa (https://books.google.com/books?id=VfYnu5F20coC&pg=PA69). Otto Harrassowitz
Verlag. p. 69. ISBN 978-3-447-03652-8.
9. Farrokh, K., Khorasani, M. M., & Dwyer, B. (2018). Depictions of archery in Sassanian silver
plates and their relationship to warfare. Revista de Artes Marciales Asiáticas, 13(2), 82-113.
10. Procopius, History of the Wars: Persian War, Book I, XIV.22-30 (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/
16764/16764-h/16764-h.htm)
11. George Rawlinson "The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World: The Seventh
Monarchy: History of the Sassanian or New Persian Empire" Page 184
12. Farrokh, Kaveh; Maksymiuk, Katarzyna; Garcia, Javier Sanchez (2018). The Siege of Amida
(359 CE). Archeobooks. p. 48. ISBN 978-83-7051-887-5.
13. David Nicolle "Sassanian Armies : the Iranian empire early 3rd to mid-7th centuries AD" pp. 11
14. David Nicolle "Sassanian Armies : the Iranian empire early 3rd to mid-7th centuries AD" pp. 11

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Papers 26 (1972), pp. 271–291
 Michael B. Charles, ‘The Rise of the Sassanian Elephant Corps: Elephants and the Later
Roman Empire’, Iranica Antiqua 42 (2007), pp. 301–346
Kaveh Farrokh, Sassanian Elite Cavalry, AD 224-642 (Osprey Publishing 2005)
James Howard-Johnston, ‘The Late Sasanian Army’. In: Bernheimer, T. – Silverstein, A. (eds.),
Late Antiquity: Eastern perspectives, Exeter 2012, pp. 87–127.
David Nicolle, Sassanian Armies : the Iranian empire early 3rd to mid-7th centuries AD
(Montvert Publishing 1996). ISBN 1-874101-08-6
Philip Rance, ‘Elephants in Warfare in Late Antiquity’, Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum
Hungaricae 43 (2003), pp. 355–84
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ISBN 0-85045-688-6
Daryaee, Touraj (2009). Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (https://books.googl
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(http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/army-i). London et al. pp. 489–499.
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World We Live In (https://books.google.com/books?id=KBQOAQAAMAAJ). Philadelphia,
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ISBN 978-3-447-03652-8.

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