Sassanid Army - Azadan Nobility

Azadan Nobility

This class of nobility was first formed in Parthian times, and was carried over into the Sassanid state, where they were a force to be reckoned with. They accompanied the king in the wars and displayed great courage and discipline. They are clearly the forerunners and founders of the "Knights" of later Arab history. The Aztan (Azadan, آزادان, "freemen") jealously guarded their status as descendants of the ancient Aryan conquerors and rulers of the mass of originally non-Aryan peasantry. These Azatan formed a numerous minor aristocracy of lower-ranking administrators, mostly living on their small estates and providing the cavalry backbone of Sassanid army. Most prestigious among them were the armoured "Asvaran" اسوران who normally decided the outcome of a battle.

Despite their downfall in the 7th century AD, the legacy of the Savaran endured in the Caucasus, India and the Muslim world. It was the elite cavalry of Sassanid Persia, who were the forerunners of the later Arabian Faris, the Caucasian horsemen, the Indian Sowar (derived from Persian Savar), and the Turkish Tarkhans.

In point of fact, certain of the later Muslim heavy cavalry, such as the Mamluks, were possibly the descendants of the clibanarii cavalry, as they used similar weapons and tactics.

The amount of money involved in maintaining a warrior of the Asavaran (Azatan) knightly caste required a small estate, and the Asavaran knightly caste received that from the throne, and in return, were the throne's most notable defenders in time of war.