ANDARZBAD

 

ANDARZBAD, Sasanian administrative title meaning “chief advisor” (from Mid. Pers. andarz “advice, counsel”) for a city, e.g., Ardašīr-Ḵᵛarrah or Gōr (seal, R. N. Frye, Sassanian Remains from Qasr-iAbu Nasr, Cambridge, Mass., 1973, p. 63) or for an entire province, e.g., the Sagastān-andarzbad (Arm. Sakstan anderjapet: Pʿawstos Buzand, History 4.45). There was also the andarzbad ī aswāragān who instructed the knights (Kārnāmag ī Ardašīr ī Pāpakān 10.7, tr. Nöldeke in Beiträge zur Kunde der indogermanischen Sprachen, ed. A. Bezzenberger and W. Prellwitz, IV, 1879, p. 6162 ; Nāma-ye Tansar, ed. Mīnovī, Tehran, 1311 Š./1932, p. 15; Eng. tr. by M. Boyce, The Letter ofTansar, Rome, 1968, p. 41); or according to A. Perikhanian (Camb. Hist. Iran III/2, p. 669) the andarzbadī wāspuhragān, “a dignitary invested with executive authority within the king’s demesne.” Under Šāpūr I, there was an “andarzbad of the queens” (inscription of Šāpūr I, Kaʿba-ye Zardošt: bʾnykn hndrcpt, Mid. Pers., line 33; MLKTEn hndrzpty, Parth., line 27, ed. A. Maricq, Classica et Orientalia, Paris, 1965, p. 71). The darandarzbad “counselor” or “court instructor” seems to have been one of the highest-ranking officers of the court hierarchy (A. Y. Borisov and V. G. Lukonin, Sasanidskie gemmy, Leningrad, 1963. Wizīdagīhā īZātspram, par. 33; Ełišē Vardapet, History,Venice, 1950, chap. 3). The mōgān-andarzbad “advisor of the magi,” a legal consultant, wasone of the highest ranking dignitaries of the priestly class(seal, R. N. Frye, op. cit., p. 46; Mādayān ī hazār dādistān, ed. Modi, Poona, 1901, pp. 57.12, 59.10; ed. Anklesaria, p.37.12; Sūr saxwan, para. 14b, ed. Tavadia, Journal of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute 29, 1935, p. 66; “Martyrs of Karkha,” in G. Hoffmann, Auszüge aus syrischen Akten persischer Märtyrer, Leipzig, 1880, p. 50; EłišēVardapet, History, chap. 8, p. 315; Łazar Pʿarpecʿi, Venice, 1891, chap. 2.55, 57, pp. 326, 345,349. Pʿawstos Buzand, History 4.47 [mogacʿ anderjapetand movan anderjapet]).This position was quite different from that of the mōbadān mōbad (in spite of Christensen, Iran Sass., pp. 120-48).

Bibliography:

See also Christensen, Iran Sass., pp. 99, 114, 120, 135, 411, 418, 521.

E. Herzfeld, Paikuli, Berlin, 1924, I, glossary, no. 101, p. 138.

H. Hübschmann, Armenische Grammatik I, Leipzig, 1897, p. 99.

(M. L. Chaumont)

Originally Published: December 15, 1985

Last Updated: August 3, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. II, Fasc. 1, pp. 22-23

Cite this entry:

M. L. Chaumont, “ANDARZBAD,” Encyclopædia Iranica, II/1, pp. 22-23, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/andarzbad-sasanian-administrative-title-meaning-chief-advisor-from-mid (accessed on 30 December 2012).