The Military Organization of The Ziyarids in Mardawij's Period

The 'Abbasid rule had been declining since the tenth century. This decline meant the beginning of the period of the rule by army corps in the Islamic world. In this period, it is the Ziyarids that had wielded power in the remote highlands of Daylam at the south-western corner of the Caspian Sea in 319-489/931-1090.The preceding studies which specially dealt with the Ziyarids followed their whole activity. But it is not enough to only study the special features and historical position of the Ziyarids' army in Mardawij's period in Islamic history.In this paper, the author tries to investigate the military organization of the Ziyarids in Mardawij's period and the special features of this army.As a result of studying this army, the author made clear the following points:(1) The military of the Ziyarids in Mardawij's period consisted of two kinds of military groups, that is, (1) Daylamites-Gilites and (2) Turks.(2) In the case of the first group, the soldiers were of the ex-Asfar's soldiers, the Daylamites and Gilites who came to Mardawij after the death of Asfar, and the ex-Makin's soldiers. In the case of the second group, the soldiers were of the Amirs' soldiers and the his bodyguards.(3) In this army, the military group of Daylamites-Gilites was more active than that of the Turks.(4) The number of people in the army was around 40, 000-50, 000.We can see that the military of the Ziyarids in Mardawij's period showed two kinds of features: first, this army was the great armed forces of western Iran and second, a rapid militarization of Daylamites-Gilites occurred in the first half of tenth century.