Aspet (Armenia)
Aspet ( Armenian Ասպետ , Greek Ἀσπέτης , Aspetes ) was a hereditary military title of the nobility in the late Middle Ages in Armenia . The title was usually held by the Bagratuni family .
origin
The name is derived from the Middle Persian * viƒa / visapati dt. ~ “Head of the clan”, or more likely from “aspapati”, the later aspbed (aspbad), which in Persia referred to the horse master (commander of the cavalry). The Armenian Army consisted mainly of mounted men under the command of the High Constable ( sparapet ). However, this did not leave any office for the horse master free and there is little evidence that any Bagratids appeared as commanders of the royal army in the Arshakuni period. Like the ma¬xaz of the Khorkhoruni dynasty, the title “Aspet” seems to have been a special family title of the Bagratunis, from which their second, short-lived family name, the “Aspetuni”, could have emerged. This title disappears in the course of the Arab conquest of Armenia . A borrowing from Parthia by Arsakid Armenia is also possible, especially since one of the Seven Parthian noble families there was called Aspahbad (House Ispahbudhan, Farsi : خاندان اسپهبد).
The name of the Aspietai , a noble Byzantine family of Armenian origin, is derived from the title aspet .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Cyril Toumanoff : Studies in Christian Caucasian History III. Georgetown University Press 1963: 202, 324-26.
- ↑ Nicholas Adontz : Armenia in the Period of Justinian , tr & rev.. N. Garsoïan, Lisbon 1970: 312.
- ↑ Joseph Markwart : The Genealogy of the Bagratiden and the Age of Mar Abas and Ps. Moses Xorenaci. In: Caucasica 1930, 6/2: 68.
- ↑ Johann Heinrich Hübschmann : Armenian Etymology: 109.