Talk:Marzban

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I am pretty sure we still have Mazbans and this wasnt just a Sassanid rank? --K a s h ^{Talk | email} 20:43, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

So do we. Hell the Armenian word for province is MARZ. It was created by Sassanids though.--Eupator 20:44, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Marzban might mean something like guardian of the border (although M. Zakheri beliefs this is a mistaken Arab translation of the word) but there were marzbanan all over the Sasanid empire, not just at the borders. Their rank in the army was just as varied as the size and importance of the different territories governed by them. Their duties in their terrritories are a matter of dispute, some regarding them as mere representatives of the Sasanid monarch at the courts of the local princes, others as bureacrats with vast military power, but wielded only in a limited group of provinces. Most experts seem to regard them as responsible for (part of) the local levies, and indeed Tabari and Baladhuri make them local military commanders. The argbadan weren't the only functionaries competing with the marzbanan, there were the dihqanan, padgospanan, spahbadan, shahrijaran, and what not. What offends me in your article is the the rather outdated habit of comparing phenomena of medieval Europe with those of pre-islamic Iran (margraves, castles). The Sasanid empire was a far more centralised state than the kingdoms of feudal Europe. Goverment functions and landownership were always connected and could indeed be inherited, but unlike in Europe, in principle they always could be reclaimed by the monarch, to be given to someone else. The different titles that have come down to us seem to reflect the hierarchy and functions of a centralised military / civil bureaucracy, not the aristocratic titles of the "privatised goverment" of medieval Europe. The nature of ancient Iran is a fascinating puzzle that will not be resolved by bashing the pieces into a European format. (Said KoechlyRuestow)--87.212.28.230 20:11, 6 July 2007 (UTC)