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{{Short description|Military title historically used in the Islamic world}}
'''{{Transliteration|fa|Ispahsālār}}''' ({{langx|fa|اسپهسالار}}) or '''{{Transliteration|fa|sipahsālār}}''' ({{lang|fa|سپهسالار}}; {{lit.|army commander}}), in [[Arabic]] rendered as '''{{Transliteration|ar|isfahsalār}}''' ({{lang|ar|إسفهسلار}}) or '''{{Transliteration|ar|iṣbahsalār}}''' ({{lang|ar|إصبهسلار}}), was a title used in much of the [[Islamic world]] during the 10th–15th centuries, to denote the senior-most military commanders, but also as a generic [[general officer]] rank.

== Islamic East and Persia ==
The title derives from [[Middle Persian]] {{Transliteration|pal|spāh-sālār}} ({{lang|pal-Avst|𐬯𐬞𐬁𐬵⸱𐬯𐬁𐬮𐬁𐬭}}),<ref>"Kursi-i hazrat Zartosht", [http://www.avesta.org/pahlavi/nirangs1.htm ''Nirangs''].</ref> already attested in [[Pazend]] texts of the 9th century. It was the equivalent of the old [[Sasanian]] title of {{Transliteration|pal|[[spahbed]]}} (New Persian {{Transliteration|fa|ispahbadh}}), which during the Islamic era fell out of general use and became a regnal title among certain local dynasties in [[Tabaristan]] and [[Khurasan]].{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=208}} The titles of {{Transliteration|fa|ispahsalar}} and {{Transliteration|fa|sipahsalar}} came into prominence in the [[Islamic world]] in the later 10th century, with the rise to power of Iranian dynasties during the so-called "[[Iranian Intermezzo]]". In its sense of '[[commander-in-chief]]', the title was used in parallel to the usual Arabic titles {{Transliteration|ar|[[hajib]] al-hujjab}} ({{lang|ar|حاجب الحجاب}}), {{Transliteration|ar|hajib al-kabir}} ({{lang|ar|حاجب الكبير}}) or {{Transliteration|ar|sahib al-jaysh}} ({{lang|ar|صاحب الجيش}}).{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=208}}

Among the [[Buyids]], it was given as a sign of conciliation as well as of particular honour to two rebellious Turkish generals, [[Sebüktigin al-Mu'izzi]] in 971, and, after his death, [[Alptakin]] in 974/5. With the growing instability of the Buyid states towards the end of the century, the usage of {{Transliteration|fa|ispahsalar}} became debased, and it came to mean simply 'commander' or just 'officer'.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=208}} Among the later [[Saffarid dynasty]] under [[Khalaf ibn Ahmad]] ({{reign|963|1002}}), the title was applied to the commander-in-chief of the army, while the {{Transliteration|ar|hajib al-hujjab}} was a separate office, possibly commanding the slave troops ({{Transliteration|ar|[[mamluk|mamalik]]}} or {{Transliteration|ar|[[ghilman]]}}).{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=208}} Among the [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] dynasties, the Arabic and Persian titles were supplemented by the Turkish title {{Transliteration|trk|sübashi}}. The [[Ghaznavids]] employed {{Transliteration|fa|sipahsalar}} and its Arabic equivalents in its original sense of "commander-in-chief", but also for commanders of specific contingents of their army, alongside the use of "plain" {{Transliteration|fa|salar}} (and in Arabic, {{Transliteration|ar|hajib}}) for less exalted generals.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=208}} The [[Seljuq Empire]] and the [[Sultanate of Rum]] used a number of variants of the title, such as {{Transliteration|fa|ispahsalar-i buzurg}} ({{lang|fa|اسپهسالار بزرگ}}) or {{Transliteration|fa|[[amir]]-i ispahsalar}} ({{lang|fa|امیر اسپهسالار}}), as well as a variety of other Arabic, Persian and Turkish titles both in a technical sense for the commander-in-chief of the army as well as the governors and army commanders of important regions, as well as in a more general sense of "general officer".{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|pp=208–209}} The title was also used by the [[Khwarizmshahs]], originally Seljuq vassals, who employed a unique variant, {{Transliteration|fa|qir isfahsalar}} ({{lang|fa|قیر اسفهسالار}}), for commanders of frontier regions.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=209}}

The [[Mongol Empire|Mongol conquests]] diminished the use of the title, bringing to the fore Turkish and Mongol ones instead, but it remained in widespread use in the isolated and conservative regions of [[Gilan]] and [[Daylam]] on the [[Caspia]]n shore.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=209}} In Persia proper, it was revived by the [[Safavids]] under [[Shah Abbas I]] ({{reign|1587|1629}}), replacing the Arabic title {{Transliteration|ar|[[amir al-umara]]}}, used until then. The office was apparently usually held by the {{Transliteration|fa|[[beglerbegi]]}} of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]], with [[Rustam Khan (Sipahsalar)|Rustam Khan]] the most prominent person to occupy it. The post was abolished again in 1664/77, after which a commander-in-chief ({{Transliteration|fa|[[sardar]]}}) was appointed only in wartime.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=209}} The title re-appeared in the form {{Transliteration|fa|sipahsalar i-a'zam}} ({{lang|fa|سپهسالار اعظم}}) under the late [[Qajar dynasty]], being held as an honorific by Minister of War [[Mirza Mohammad Khan Sepahsalar]] in 1858, the reformist Minister of War (and soon after [[Prime Minister of Iran|chief minister]]) [[Mirza Hosein Khan Sepahsalar]]—who also built the namesake [[Sepahsalar Mosque]] in [[Tehran]]—in 1871, and by chief minister [[Mohammad Vali Khan Tonekaboni]] in 1910.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=209}}{{sfn|Katouzian|2006|pp=26–27, 35, 203}}

== Use in the Caucasus and the Mashriq ==
Buyid, and especially Seljuq influence, led to the spread of ''Ispahsalar'', alongside other Persian titles, westwards to the [[Mashriq]] and even the Christian countries of the [[Caucasus]]: in Armenian it became ''[a]spasalar'', and in Georgian ''[[Amirspasalari]]'', one of the four great ministers of state of the [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgian realm]].{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=209}} The title was also in common use among the Turkic ''[[Atabeg]]'' dynasties of [[al-Sham|Syria]] and [[Iraq]] and later the [[Ayyubids]], both for regional military commanders but also, uniquely, as one of the personal titles of the ''Atabegs'' themselves.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|pp=209–210}}

In [[Fatimid]] [[Egypt]], the ''Isfahsalar'' was the commander-in-chief of the army and jointly responsible with the Head Chamberlain (''[[Sahib al-Bab|Ṣāhib al-Bāb]]'', {{lang|ar|صاحب الباب}} or ''Wazīr al-Ṣaghīr'', {{langx|ar|وزير الصغير}}) for military organization.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=209}} The title survived among the [[Mamluks of Egypt]], where both ''Isfahsalar'' and the ''[[nisba (onomastics)|nisba]]'' "''al-Isfahsalārī''" ({{lang|ar|الإسفهسلاري}}) were commonly used in the titulature of the senior commanders in the 13th century, but it seems to have been debased and fallen out of use thereafter. It is still attested as late as 1475 for a Mamluk commander-in-chief, but by this time the term ''isbahsalar'' was also applied generally to the guards of the Mamluk sultan.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=210}} Among the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], ''sipāhsālār'' ({{lang|ota|سپاهسالار}}) continued to be used but in a generic sense, the usual terms for commander-in-chief being ''[[sardar|serdār]]'' ({{lang|ota|سردار}}) and ''[[serasker]]'' ({{lang|ota|سرعسكر}}).{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=210}}

== Islamic South Asia ==
From the Ghaznavids, the title also passed to the [[Ghurid dynasty]], rulers of [[Afghanistan]], [[Pakistan]], and northern [[India]]. Under the Ghurids, ''Isfahsalar'' signified the commander-in-chief, but in the 13th century it denoted an officer in command of 100 cavalry, and under the [[Tughluqids]] it declined to signify the commander of ten men.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=210}} Aside from this technical meaning, the term continued to be used in the Muslim states of India in the 14th–15th centuries as a generic term for "general officer", e.g. under the [[Lodi dynasty]], or as "commander-in-chief", e.g. in the [[Bengal Sultanate]] or the [[Deccan sultanates]]. Under the [[Mughals]], it was a title sometimes given to the ''Khankhanan'' ("[[Khan (title)|Khan]] of Khans"), the Mughal commander-in-chief, especially when he led the army in place of the Mughal emperor.{{sfn|Bosworth|Digby|1978|p=210}}

==See also==
* [[Amirspasalar]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Sources ==
* {{EI2 | volume = 4 | article=Ispahsālār, Sipahsālār | first1 = C. E. | last1 = Bosworth | author1-link = C.E. Bosworth | last2 = Digby | first2 = S. | pages = 208–210}}
* {{cite book | title = State and Society in Iran: The Eclipse of the Qajars and the Emergence of the Pahlavis | first = Homa | last = Katouzian | publisher = I.B.Tauris | year = 2006 | isbn = 1845112725}}

{{Highest Military Ranks}}
{{Authority control}}
{{italic title}}

[[Category:Military ranks]]
[[Category:Persian words and phrases]]
[[Category:Commanders in chief]]
[[Category:Titles in Iran]]
[[Category:Titles in Iraq]]
[[Category:Samanid Empire]]
[[Category:Government of Safavid Iran]]
[[Category:Ottoman titles]]
[[Category:Military ranks of the Qajar and early Pahlavi eras]]

Ispahsalar - Revision history

DottyN0357445099 at 15:05, 1 May 2026