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The House of Suren-Pahlav, is one of the oldest surviving Iranian clans and was once member one of the Seven Parthian clans.

The Origin

The greatest ruling clans (Vispuhrs) of ancient Iran, at the time of Parthian dynasty, were traditionally seven families, and the two most predominant of them were the Suren and Karen, of the Parthian (Arsacid) descent, and bore the surname of "-Pahlav" meaning “Parthian”.

Suren-Pahlavs were one of the noble members of Parni branch of the Aryan (or better known as the Indo-Iranian) Stock, a member tribe of the Dahae confederation, (Dahae-Parno-Parthian) tribes (chose chiefs for war and princes for peace) from among the closest circle of the princely family. The Parnis were famous for their breeding of horses, for their combat cavalry, and for their fine archers. They have been a people who kept the traditions of patriarchal tribal organisation. The Suren-Pahlavs alongside the other members of the Parni, with Arsaces at their head, took the province of Parthovia (Parthia) after having beaten the Seleucid satrap Andragoras and soon, neighbouring Hyrcania was annexed and the Caspian reached. The first of the Parnis Ashk or Arakhsh (Arsaces) had himself crowned in the city of Asaak, and the tribe took the name of the Parthians, their close relatives, a name that meant "exiled." Their language was from Sacian (Indo-Iranian) family, closely related to Scythian and Median. The dynasty these people produced never broke its links with the people, and rare was the Arsacid dynastic sovereign who did not turn to his people in time of danger.

The Suren-Pahlavs, who were dominated estates in Sistan and area around Nishapur, were first among Parthian nobility, that had the privilege to crown the King of the Ashkanian (Arsacid) as well as Sasanian dynasties

Foundation

The founder of house of Suren-Pahlav was Kofasat Suren-Pahlav, one of the Vispuhrs (Sons of the Clans) and the companion of Mithradates the Great, who lived 111 BC. In an episode of Sistan origin he inserted into the Shahnameh and still localised today at the ruins of mount Ushidar also known as “Kuh-e Kwajeh” in the “Hamun lake” and the ruins on the southern slope, is still known as Kuk-u Kohzadh (is known that, at Bistun there was his sculpture). However, the two centuries following his time were the period in which the older Iranian myth became transformed into a chivalresque epic (similar to the relation of the Edda to the Nibelungen) and in which many historical figures were introduced into the older form of the legend, among them the historical Kofasat as Kohzad.

Another member of Surens, which later his name inserted into Shahnameh was Eran Spahbodh (Iran’s Commander of forces) Rustaham Suren-Pahlav (84BC to 31BC), who defeated Crassus at the battle of Carrhae. The name under which he appears in the western classical sources was apparently no more than his hereditary title, that of Suren, which continues to appear in the record of Iranian history far into Sasanian times.

His name is preserved amongst the throng, of epic heroes whose deeds are recalled in the Kayanian section of the Shahnameh. The feat of arms performed by Suren was certainly the most celebrated of the whole Ashkanian era, was not vanished entirely. Thus in some ways the position of great Suren in the historical tradition is curiously parallel to that of Rustam the hero of the Shahnameh. His figure has been endowed with many features of a historical personality of the Rustam. The latter he was always represented as the mightiest of Iranian paladins, and the atmosphere of the episodes in which he features is strongly reminiscent of the Parthian period.

Eran-Spahbodh Rustaham’s youngest son, Rustaham-Gondofarr Suren-Pahlav, the ruler of the eastern-greater Iran, who ruled between 10BC to AD17, the vast empire of the Saka at the time of Ashkanian dynasty, seems that he was the king of India, who in the Acts of St. Thomas appears as Gaspar or Kaspar/Casper, Persian Jasper among Three Magi, which was inserted in a Biblical story of their visit to Bethlehem.

By AD15, the majority of Suren-Pahlavs were Mithraist, but Goudarz son of Verazdad, the head of Suren-Pahlavs at that time, introduced them to Zoroastrian religion, and built the fire temple at Kuh-e Khwajeh in Sistan.

House During the Sasanian Dynasty (224-651 AD)

At the court of the King of Kings Ardeshir I the founder of Sasanian dynasty, the Arsacid families of Suren-Pahlav and Karen-Pahlav, along with the Persian families of Varazes and Andigans held positions of great honour. Ardeshir’s successor King of Kings Shapour I, was used the Gondophar’s crest (a circle surrounded by crescent), that may indicate, his relationship through his mother to the House of Suren-Pahlav. However, there is a complete analogy with the appearance, at the court of the King of Kings of Iran and Aniran (non-Iranian = Uncivilised Lands, the term for non-Iranians) of the new dynasty, of the kings of Merv, Abarshahr, Carmania, Sakastan, Iberia and Adiabene, mentioned in the ranks of the nobles holding the positions of highest honour. After all, the extensive domains of the Surens, Karens and Varazes also have originally become part of the Sasanian state as semi-independent states: the Suren-Pahlavs maintained their rule over the Sakastan, and one of their branches ruled the area around Nishapur.

In AD 363, after a combat with Iranians, the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate was mortally wounded, and after his death the new emperor, Jovian, found his army in a disadvantageous position. A thirty years peace treaty was made between Iran and Rome, which Varnan Suren-Pahlav son of Kofasat & Shapurdokht , was the ambassador of King of Kings, Shapur II.

Iran obtained most of the former Roman possessions east of the Tigris as well as the cities of Nisibis, Singara and others. Armenia was also abandoned by the Romans and was temporarily conquered by Iranian forces led by Varnan’s eldest son, Eran-Spahbodh Goudarz Suren-Pahlav, the General of Shapur, seized Armenia.

Afterwards, Shapur sought to come to an agreement over Armenia with the emperor Valens, but this was not possible until the invasion of the Goths in the Balkans near Constantinople distracted the Romans. Then in AD 382, the Iranians once again, under the command of Goudarz Suren-Pahlav, the new Shapur’s appointed governor, took the lion's share of Armenia, while the Romans had to be content with a small area mainly around Mount Ararat. Armenia, however, continued to remain a bone of contention between the two empires in coming centuries. Goudarz Suren-Pahlav, was the first member of Suren-Pahlav who appointed as Sasanian governor of Armenia.

Later in 2331 (AD 564), Soren-Nersi Suren-pahlav, the Sasanian governor of Armenia, who had been appointed by the King of Kings Khosrow Parviz, introduced Armenian to Zoroastrian religion, and built a fire temple at Dvin an important town near modern Erevan. Armenian uprising against Iranian rule in AD 751, ended with massacre of Soren-Nersi and most of his family members along with his Iranian bodyguards. Only surviving members of his family was Shapour Suren-Pahlav the governor of Nihavand, and Mehrdad Suren-Pahlav the governor of Sistan.

The grandson of Soren-Nersi Suren-Pahlav, Eran-Sepahbodh Shahin Suren-Pahlav who he was the commander of the northern Iranian forces marched through Anatolia to Chalcedon, opposite the Byzantine capital, and continued his conquests of various towns in Anatolia. In the spring of AD 618 Iranian troops under his and Shahrbaraz able commands, entered Egypt and besieged Alexandria, which soon fell.

House after Arab invasion of Iran & Islamic era

After the invasion of Iran by Arabs in 7th century, many members of the Suren-Pahlav family along with other Parthian as well as Sasanian nobles have fled from mainland Iran to Central Asia, Armenia and even to China. They contributed to the spread of the Persian language in such cities as Bukhara and Samarqand in place of Sogdian. A Pahlavi or Middle Persian-Chinese bilingual inscription on a grave-stone has been found near the town of Sian in Shaanxi province of western China, records the death of a princess of the Suren-Pahlav family from the year AD 872.

Clan's Structure

The clan prior to Arab invasion of Iran in 7th century CE was based on bilateral lineage system, consisting of all the descendants of the apical ancestor through both the male and female lines, but since then it had become patrilineal, meaning its members are related through the male line only. Also as the result of the invasion they become endogamous, meaning that its members cannot marry outsiders.

Most of today Suren-Pahlavs are Zoroastrian, and residing in Sistan va Balucistan and Isfahan provinces, and though, some of the clan members are scattered around the world, but on 22nd December every year, all the members are gathering in Zabol for reunion and updating the clan’s censuses. Currently the chieftain or Vazrag.suren (the Grand Suren) of the clan is 74 years-old retired medical doctor by the name of Ashkzad Suren-Pahlav.

See also

• Seven Parthian clans
• Parni Clan
• Iranian society under Sassanids

References

• The House of Suren-Pahlav
• A. D. H. Bivar, "The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids" in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.) Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. III, Part I. CUP, 1983.
• P. S. R. Payne, The Splendor of Persia 1957.
• N. C. Debevoise, A Political History of Parthia 1938, repr. 1970.
• R. Girshman et al., Persia, the Immortal Kingdom 1971.
• 'A. Reza`i, Tarikh-e Dah-Hezar Saleh Iran, Vol. 1. SH/1376.
• G. J. P. MacEwan, “A Parthian campaign against Elymais in 77 BC.” Iran 24, 1986.
• Fred B. Shore, Parthian Coins and History: Ten Dragons Against Rome, Quarryville, PA: CNG, 1993.
• P. B. Lozinski, The Original Homeland of the Parthians 1959.
• G. M. Cohen, The Seleucid Colonies (Historia Einzelschriften 30). Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1978.
• J. Wolski, L’Empire des Arsacides, Peeters, Gent, 1993.
• M. A. R. Colledge, The Parthians (1967).
• M. J. Mashkur and M. Rajab-Nia, Tarikh-e Siyasi va 'Ejtema'i Ashkanian, SH/1374.
• E. Herzfeld, Archaeological History of Persia 1935.
• A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire 2d ed. 1969.
• G. G. Cameron, History of Early Iran 1936, repr. 1969
• V. S. Curtis, "Parthian culture and costume", in J. Curtis (ed.), Mesopotamia and Iran in the Parthian and Sasanian periods, London, 2000

External link

• General Surena, The Hero of Charhae CAIS

• History of Iran
• Parthian empire