Seven Great Houses of Iran

The Seven Great Houses of Iran,^[1] also known as the seven Parthian clans, were seven aristocracies of Parthian origin, who were allied with the Sasanian court. The Parthian clans all claimed ancestry from Achaemenid Persians.

The seven Great Houses of Iran had played an active role in Iranian politics since the days of the Arsacid Empire, which they continued to do under their successors, the Sasanians.^[2] Only two of the seven – the House of Suren and the House of Karen – however, are actually attested in sources date-able to the Parthian period. The seven houses claimed to have been confirmed as lords in Iran by the legendary Kayanian king Vishtaspa.^[2] "It may be that [...] members of them made up their own genealogies in order to emphasize the antiquity of their families."^[3] During Sasanian times, the seven feudal houses played a significant role at the Sasanian court. Bahram Chobin, a famed military commander of Hormizd IV (r. 579–590), was from the House of Mihran.

The seven houses with their respective main fiefs and ruling-family seats were:

• the House of Ispahbudhan, of Tabaristan^[4] and Gurgan^[5]
• the House of Varaz, of Eastern Khorasan
• the House of Karen, of Nahavand^[5]
• the House of Mihran, of Ray
• the House of Spandiyadh, of Ray
• the House of Zik, of Adurbadagan
• the House of Suren, of Sakastan^[5]

Some of the later traditions pertaining to the Seven Great Houses have been interpreted as memories of the Parthian Empire's major administrative divisions.^[6] Tabari in his History of the Prophets and Kings provides the following legend:

Bištāsef (Vishtaspa) appointed seven persons to the highest ranks, and they were the magnates, [including] Nihābiδa, and his residence was Dihistān in the Land of Jurjān (Hyrcania); and Kārin the Parthian (Qārin al-Fahlavi) and his residence was Māh-Nihāvand (i.e., Media); and Sūrēn the Parthian, and his residence was Sejistān (Sakastan); and Isfandyāδ the Parthian, and his residence was Ray.^[6]

• Seven Achaemenid clans
• Sasanian government
• Dabuyid dynasty
• Padusbanids
• Ispahbads of Gilan
• Bavand dynasty
• Qarinvand dynasty
• Chosroid dynasty