Afshin (Caliphate General)

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Khaydār b. Kāvūs Afshīn known by his hereditary title as Afshin (Persian: افشین, Arabized Haydar b. Kavus)[1], d. May-June 841, was a senior Iranian general and a son of the vassal prince of Oshrūsana, in Shahristan, at the court of Abbasid caliphs.

The contemporary Arabic sources regard Afshin's rebellious acts as those of a protagonist of Iranian religious and imperial feeling, and as the expression of anti-Arab resentment for the loss of ancient Iranian political domination, feelings which were at this time finding a more harmless outlet on the literary level in the Shu'ubiyya movement[1].

Contents

Etymology

Afshin is a hereditary title of Oshrūsana princes at the time of the Muslim conquest of Iran[1]. The term arabicized form of the Middle Persian Pishin and Avestan Pisinah, a proper name of uncerain etymology[1]. Minorsky suggests that the title Afshin was of Sogdian origin.[2]

Early years

During the reign of the third Abbasid caliph Al-Mahdi (775-85) the Afshin of Oshrusana is mentioned among several Iranian rulers of Transoxania and the Central Asian steppes who submitted nominally to him.[3] But it was not until Harun al-Rashid's reign in 794-95 that Fazl b. Yahya Barmati led an expedition into Transoxania and received the submission of the ruling Akin known as Kharākana[4]. This Karākana had never previously humbled himself before any other potentate. Further expeditions were nevertheless sent to Oshrusana by Al-Ma'mun when he was governor in Marv and after he had become caliph. Kavus, son of the Afshin Karākana who had submitted to Fazl b. Yahya, withdrew his allegiance from the Arabs; but shortly after Ma'mun arrived in Baghdad from the east (817-18 or 819-20), a power struggle and dissensions broke out among the reigning family of Oshrusana.

According to most of the sources, al-Ma'mun's heir, Al-Mu'tasim not only made Afshin governor of Azarbaijan and seconded high-ranking officers to serve under him, but also ordered exceptionally large salaries, expense allowances, and rations for him[5]. In 831-833, he suppressed uprisings in Egypt from remote regions to Alexandria. On June 2, 832 the news was proclaimed of his great success in taking Bima in Egypt. It surrendered to Afshin's extension of al-Ma'mun's promise of safe conduct.

Afshin's betrayal of Babak

Main article: Babak Khorramdin

Caliph al-Mu'tasim appointed Afshin governor of Jibal and sent him against his compatriot, the freedome fighter Babak Khorramdin, in June 835. Babak was a Persian leader of the anti-Islamic and neo-Mazdakite movement of the Korramiya[1]. He was one of a series of such opponents to the Arab invaders of Iran. He in particular had been especially challenging for the occupiers' armies. That year Afshin met Babak in battle, defeated him and inflicted heavy losses. Babak escaped. The next year, Afshin avoided the traps Babak planned and instead surprised Babak, captured his camp and drove off his forces.

Afšhin brought up siege machinery and naphtha-throwers, and finally stormed Babak Castle in August 837. Ya'qubi (Tarikh II, 579) records Afshin freeing 7,600 Arab prisoners from this fortress, and he destroyed the castle. He wrote to the Armenian ruler advising him that Babak was heading his way. This was a highpoint of Afshin's career. and the caliph rewarded him richly, adding the governorship of Sind to his existing ones of Armenia and Azarbaijan province.[1]

All such replies were unsuccessful. Al-Mu'tasim had a special prison built for Afshin. It was known as "The Pearl" and was in the shape of a minaret. There he spent the final nine months of his life and there he died in May-June of 841.

References and notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f C. E. Bosworth, "Afshin", Encyclopedia Iranica
  2. ^ V. Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian history, Cambridge University Press, 1957, (footnote on page 111).
  3. ^ Ya`qubi, II, p.479.
  4. ^ whose name, by inference from Tabari, III, p. 1066, was something like Kharākana; according to Gardīzī led. Habibi, p. 130
  5. ^ Encyclopedia Iranica, "Babak Khorrami" by G.H. Yusofi [1]

Bibliography

  • C. E. Bosworth,"Afshin", Encyclopedia Iranica
  • Tabari History v. 32 "The Reunification of the Abbasid Caliphate", SUNY, Albany, 1987; v. 33 "Storm and Stress along the Northern Frontiers of the Abbasid Caliphate", transl. C.E. Bosworth, SUNY, Albany, 1991
  • John Bagot Glubb, The Empire of the Arabs, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1963
  • E. de la Vaissière, Samarcande et Samarra. Elites d'Asie centrale dans l'empire abbasside, Peeters, 2007 [[2]]

See also

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afshin_(Caliphate_General)"

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