Maziar was an
IranianThe Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...
aristocrat of the
House of KarenThe House of Karen were an aristocratic feudal family of Hyrcania...
and feudal ruler of the mountainous region of Tabaristan (present-day Mazandaran,
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
). For his resistance to the Baghdad Caliphate, Maziar is considered one of the national heroes of
Greater IranGreater Iran refers to the regions that have significant Iranian cultural influence. It roughly corresponds to the territory on the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains, stretching from Iraq, the Caucasus, and Turkey in the west to the Indus River in the east...
by twentieth-century Iranian nationalist historiography, who have recast his struggle as one against 'Arab invaders'.
Maziar, a devout Zoroastrian, revolted against the Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century CE. His revolt began in 839 AD during the rule of
Al-Mu'tasimAbu Ishaq 'Abbas al-Mu'tasim ibn Harun was an Abbasid caliph . He succeeded his half-brother al-Ma'mun...
. Along with
Babak KhorramdinBābak Khorram-Din was one of the main Persian revolutionary leaders of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān , which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasid Caliphate. Khorramdin appears to be a compound analogous to dorustdin and Behdin "Good Religion" , and are considered an offshoot of...
, he repulsed many armies sent against him.
According to the medieval historian Ibn Esfandyar in his
Tarikh-e-Tabaristan, Maziar is said to have proclaimed: "Afshin Kheydar, son of
KavusKāveh the Blacksmith, also known as The Blacksmith of Isfahan or Kaveh of Isfahan is a mythical figure in Persian mythology who leads a popular uprising against a ruthless foreign ruler, Zahhāk. His story is narrated in the Epic of Shāhnāma, the national epic of Iran by the 10th century Persian...
and Babak, and I had made an oath and allegiance that we take the country back from the Arabs and transfer the government and the country back to the family of Kasraviyan"
Maziar was eventually betrayed by his brother Kuhyar and captured by the Caliph's forces. He was imprisoned in
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
awaiting execution when he drank poison and ended his life in order to avoid humiliation at the hands of the Caliph's executioners.
Maziar or
Mah-Izad' or ' is the Avestan language word for both the moon and for the Zoroastrian divinity that presides over and is the hypostasis of the moon....
-Yar means "protected by the
yazataYazata is the Avestan language word for a Zoroastrian concept. The word has a wide range of meanings but generally signifies a divinity...
of the moon".
See also
Babak KhorramdinBābak Khorram-Din was one of the main Persian revolutionary leaders of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān , which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasid Caliphate. Khorramdin appears to be a compound analogous to dorustdin and Behdin "Good Religion" , and are considered an offshoot of...
MardavijMardāvīj , was the founder of the Ziyarids dynasty, who successfully defeated the Abbasid's army firstly in Hamadan , and finally in Kashan and Isfahan...
Al-Mu'tasimAbu Ishaq 'Abbas al-Mu'tasim ibn Harun was an Abbasid caliph . He succeeded his half-brother al-Ma'mun...
AfshinKhaydār b. Kāvūs Afshīn known by his hereditary title as Afshin was a senior general at the court of Abbasid caliphs and a son of the vassal prince of Oshrūsana.-Name and family background:...
Abu Muslim Khorasani
Behafarid