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The word comes from the Old Persian word asabāra (from asa- and bar, a frequently used Achaemenid military technical term). [citation needed] The various other renderings of the word are the following: Parthian asbār (spelt spbr or SWSYN), Middle Persian aswār (spelt ʼswbʼl or SWSYA), Classical Persian suwār (سوار), uswār/iswār (اسوار), Modern Persian savār (سوار).
The Persian king, like the Assyrian, was also "King of Kings", xšāyaθiya xšāyaθiyānām (shāhanshāh in modern Persian) – "great king", Megas Basileus, as known by the Greeks. Cyrus's son, Cambyses II , conquered the last major power of the region, ancient Egypt , causing the collapse of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt .
The Achaemenid Empire (559–330 BCE) was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran. The empire possessed a "national army" of roughly 120.000–150.000 troops, plus several tens of thousands of troops from their allies. The Persian army was divided into regiments of a thousand each, called hazarabam.
In short, there were the following classes of mobile cavalry troops: Persian immortal guard ; Azadan nobility Aswaran: elite cavalry also described as the Persian knightly caste (see below) War elephants; Light cavalry: primarily horse-archers; Dehqan cavalry: Medium-armoured cavalry armed with lance and bow
During the Arab invasion of Iran, the Sasanian king Yazdegerd III (r. 632–651) sent 1,000 cavalrymen under Siyah al-Uswari to defend Khuzestan.These 1,000 men were of ethnic Iranians from Isfahan and region between Isfahan and Khuzestan, and served in the aswaran unit.
A lightly armoured Persian Lancer. The most prestigious cavalry units belonging to the State were the Shah's personal guard. One of the most illustrious units was Savaran-e Saltanati (سواران سلطنتی). The title of the unit can be translated as the "Royal Cavalry".
Since the Safavid era, Mamâlek-e Mahruse-ye Irân (Guarded Domains of Iran) was the common and official name of Iran. [21] [22] The idea of the Guarded Domains illustrated a feeling of territorial and political uniformity in a society where the Persian language, culture, monarchy, and Shia Islam became integral elements of the developing national identity. [23]
The Clibanarii or Klibanophoroi (Greek: κλιβανοφόροι, meaning "camp oven-bearers" from the Greek word κλίβανος meaning "camp oven" or "metallic furnace" [citation needed]), in Persian Grivpanvar, were a Sasanian Persian, late Roman and Byzantine military unit of armored heavy cavalry.