The Mihranids were an Iranian family which ruled several regions of Caucasus from 330 to 821. They claimed to be of Sasanian Persian descent but were of Parthian origin. [1] [2]
The dynasty was founded when a certain Mihran, a distant relative of Sasanian, settled in the region of Gardman in Utik. He was probably a member of a branch of the Mihranid family which was listed among the Seven Great Houses of Iran, and whose two other lines ruled Iberia (Chosroid Dynasty) and Gogarene/Gugark. [3]
It is uncertain how the Mihranids became Arranshahs (princes of Albania). Their ancestor, Mihran, was said to have received the region of Gardman by the Sasanian monarch Khosrow II (r. 590–628). [4] In c. 600, the Mihranids who exterminated all of the members of the Aranshahik dynasty with the exception of a certain Zarmihr, who was related to the Mihranids through marriage. [5] This was due to the Aranshahiks still having some authority in Albania, [5] which they had originally ruled until their overthrow in the 1st-century. [6] The Mihranids then conquered all of Albania and assumed the title of Arranshah, but without embracing its royal status. [7] [5] The head of the family's full titulature was thus "Lord of Gardman and Prince of Albania". [8]
The most prominent representatives of the family in the 7th century were Varaz Grigor, his son Javanshir, and Varaz-Tiridates I. Mihranids assumed a Persian title of Arranshahs (i.e. shahs of Arran, Persian name of Albania). The family's rule came to an end after the assassination of Varaz-Tiridates II by Nerseh Pilippean in 822–23. [1]
Subsequently Sahl Smbatean, a descendant of the aforementioned Arranshahik (Eṙanšahik) family, assumed the title of Arranshah [9] and ruled significant part of Caucasian Albania.
Yazdegerd II, was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 438 to 457. He was the successor and son of Bahram V.
Mirian III was a king (mepe) of Iberia or Kartli (Georgia), contemporaneous to the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. He was the founder of the royal Chosroid dynasty.
Juansher was the Mihranid prince of Caucasian Albania, ruling the principality from 637 to 669. He was the son and successor of Varaz Grigor.
Barda is a city and the capital of the Barda District in Azerbaijan, located south of Yevlax and on the left bank of the Tartar river. It served as the capital of Caucasian Albania by the end of the 5th-century. Barda became the chief city of the Islamic province of Arran, the classical Caucasian Albania, remaining so until the tenth century.
Caucasian Albania was a kingdom in the Caucasus, which was under the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire from 252 to 636. The name Albania is derived from the Ancient Greek name Ἀλβανία and Latin Albanía. Caucasian Albania should not be confused with European Albania. The two countries have nothing in common. The toponym was created from Greek sources who incorrectly translated the Armenian language.
The Arsacid dynasty was a dynasty of Parthian origin, which ruled the kingdom of Caucasian Albania from the 3rd to the 6th century. They were a branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia and together with the Arsacid rulers of the neighboring Armenia and Iberia formed a pan-Arsacid family federation.
Urnayr was the third Arsacid king of Caucasian Albania from approximately 350 to 375. He was the successor of Vache I.
Aranshahik was the first ruling dynasty of Caucasian Albania from an unknown date until the late sixth century AD. According to Movses Khorenatsi, the dynasty of Aranshahik was established by the Armenian king Vagharshak.
Vachagan I "the Brave" was the first Arsacid ruler of Caucasian Albania, ruling approximately from 300 to 336.
Vache I was the second Arsacid ruler of Caucasian Albania from approximately 336 to 350. He was succeeded by Urnayr.
Aswagen was the eight Arsacid king of Caucasian Albania, ruling from approximately 415 to 440. He was most likely the son of the previous Albanian king Urnayr, while his mother was a daughter of the Sasanian King of Kings (shahanshah) of Iran, Shapur II. Aswagen was himself married to a daughter of shahanshah Yazdegerd II. It was under Aswagen that the Caucasian Albanian script was created in c. 420.
Vache II was the ninth Arsacid king of Caucasian Albania from approximately 440 to 462. He was the son and successor of Aswagen. His mother was a daughter of the Sasanian king Yazdegerd II, and he was himself married to the niece or sister of Peroz I.
Vachagan IIIthe Pious or Vachagan II was the last Arsacid king of Caucasian Albania, ruling approximately from 485 to 523.
Varaz Grigor was the first known Mihranid king of Caucasian Albania from 628 until at least 654. The last holder of the title was Vachagan III.
Varsken was an Iranian prince from the Mihranid family of Gugark, who served as the bidaxsh (margrave) of the region from 470 to 482. He was the son and successor of Arshusha II.
Barzabod was a high-ranking Iranian official in 5th-century Sasanian Iran. A Mihranid prince of the Gardman region, he served as the viceroy of Caucasian Albania.
Peroz was bidaxsh (vice-king) of Gogarene and Gardman, ruling from 330 to 361. He was the founder of the Mihranid dynasty, an offshoot of the House of Mihran, one of the seven Parthian clans.
The Maskut were a group of Massagetaen-Sarmato-Alanian tribes located in the eastern part of the Caucasus, along the western coast of the Caspian Sea. They lived between Derbent and Shaporan, which corresponds to present-day northeast Azerbaijan and southeast Dagestan (Russia). The name "Maskut" is also sometimes used to refer to a geographic area, rather than an ethnic group. The first wave of these tribes arrived in the 3rd-century from the Volga–Don Canal and the northern coast of the Caspian Sea. The modern Russian-Dagestani historian Murtazali Gadjiev suggests that these tribes had immigrated as a result of not only climate changes and longing to explore new regions, but as well as due to concurrent conflicts.
The Mihranids of Gugark were an Iranian princely dynasty, which ruled the Armeno-Iberian frontier region of Gugark from c. 330 to the 8th-century. They held the title of bidaxsh ("margrave").
Varaz-Trdat II was the last Mihranid king of Caucasian Albania from 800 to 812/822 and the son of the previous ruler Stephanos I.