Parsbit
Encyclopedia
Parsbit, also known as Prisbit, was a Khazar noblewoman active in the 730s CE. In Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 sources, Parsbit is called "the mother of the khagan
Khagan
Khagan or qagan , alternatively spelled kagan, khaghan, qaghan, or chagan, is a title of imperial rank in the Mongolian and Turkic languages equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a khaganate...

."

Whether she was the regent for an infant monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

 (unlikely, since during the same period Barjik
Barjik
Barjik was a Khazar prince who flourished in the late 720s. He is described by al-Tabari as "the son of the Khagan"; his exact status and position is unknown though he may have been the Bek....

 is called "the son of the khagan") or for an incompetent one (again unlikely, since the Khazars during this period practiced ritual
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...

 regicide
Regicide
The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...

once a monarch's ability to rule was compromised), or whether she ruled in her own right is unclear. What is certain is that Parsbit (called Barsbek in some sources) wielded an enormous degree of power, even commanding armies (such as the expeditionary force led against Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

 by Tar'mach
Tar'mach
Tar'mach was a Khazar general, active in the Khazar–Arab Wars of the 720s and 730s CE. He was sent by Parsbit to invade Armenia in 730.-Sources:...

 in 730.

Sources

  • Golden, Peter B. Khazar Studies: An Historio-Philological Inquiry into the Origins of the Khazars. Budapest: Akademia Kiado, 1980.
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