Balasagan

File:Sasanian Eastern Caucasus.svg

Map of the eastern part of Transcaucasia under the Sasanian Empire

Balāsagān (an Iranian toponym meaning "country of Balas"; Armenian: Bałasakan, the inhabitants known as Bałasičkʻ, Arabic: Balāsajān/Balāšajān), also known as Bazgan, was a region located in the area of the Kura and Aras rivers, adjacent to the Caspian Sea. To the south, it bordered Atropatene/Adurbadagan and Gilan.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn It roughly corresponded to the Armenian province of Paytakaran, albeit extending farther into the north.Template:Sfn It has been suggested that under the Sasanians the region extended as far as the stronghold of Derbent, albeit this remains disputed.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The heartland of Balasagan was the Dasht i-Bałasakan ("Balasagan plain") which corresponds to the Mughan plain.Template:Sfn During the late Sasanian era, Balasagan was included in the northern quadrant (kust) of Adurbadagan.Template:Sfn

History

Pre-Islamic period

File:YazdegerdIICoinHistoryofIran.jpg

Coin of Yazdegerd II

The region is first attested as a Sasanian province in the SKZ inscription of Shapur I (Template:Reign) separately from Caucasian Albania, which indicates that it was its own political entity even if it was virtually subject to Albania.Template:Sfn In the inscription, Shapur I's considers Balasagan and the rest of the Caucasus as part of Iran, and only regards the Roman territories of Anatolia and Syria as part of Aneran. The powerful 3rd-century Zoroastrian high priest Kartir, however, considers Balasagan and the rest of the Caucasus as belonging to Aneran.Template:Sfn What was precisely seen as Aneran is not certain.Template:Sfn According to the medieval Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh (d. 912), the ruler of Balasagan was among the leaders who was acknowledged with the title of king by the first Sasanian monarch Ardashir I (Template:Reign), which suggests that Balasagan was a direct vassal of Iran.Template:Sfn According to the modern historian Robert H. Hewsen, the Sasanians took Balasagan from their Albanian vassals in the 5th-century (or possibly as early as 387).Template:Sfn Administration-wise, Balasagan was part of Adurbadagan.Template:Sfn Nothing is known about the Kingdom of Balasagan; its main hub may have been at the fortress of Khursan.Template:Sfn The Sasanians formed districts such as Spandaran-Peroz, Hormizd-Peroz, At'sibagawan, and (probably) Alewan in order to consolidate the area under a more centralized administration.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In c. Template:Trim, Sanesan, the king of Maskut, occupied a portion of Balasagan, while at least acknowledging the suzerainty of the Sasanians.Template:Sfn During the reign of Yazdegerd II (Template:Reign), the king of Balasagan, Heran, took part in the Sasanian efforts to crush the 450–451 Armenian rebellion of Vardan Mamikonian. However, he himself revolted later on, massacring a Sasanian army in Albania, and raiding Iberian, Armenian and Albanian lands. He was killed under the orders of Yazdegerd II.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Islamic period

File:Map of the Caucasus, 740 CE.svg

Map of the Caucasus c. Template:Trim

Balasagan was conquered in c. Template:Trim by an Arab army led by Salman ibn Rabi'a, who forced some Kurds of the region to pay jizya (poll tax). Furthermore, one of the accords of the peace treaty concluded between the Arab commander Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman and the marzban (margrave) of Adurbadagan was that the Arabs were to protect the locals against the Kurds of Balasagan and the Sabalan mountains. The name of Balasagan rarely appears in classical Arabic chronicles, being replaced with Mughan. Balasagan notably appears in the work of the 10th-century Arab traveller Abu Dulaf al-Yanbu'i, who in his al-Risala al-thania, reports of his journey in the region.Template:Sfn

Religion

During the reign of Khosrow II (Template:Reign), the catholicos of Iberia and Albania, Gregory, attempted to convert the people of Balasagan to Christianity.Template:Sfn Regardless, pockets of local paganism still remained in the country, notably in Mughan. In c. Template:Trim bishop Eliya, who was sent as a missionary to the area, reports of inhabitants worshipping a god named Yazd, who lived in an oak tree called "king of the forest"; the bushes that encircled the tree were called "children of Yazd." The locals alleged that they had inherited the worship of Yazd from their ancestors. In Middle Persian, the term yazd simply means god, which demonstrates influence from Zoroastrianism, which must have taken place in the Sasanian era.Template:Sfn

Sources

• Template:Cambridge History of Iran
• Template:Registration required