Albania (satrapy)

Arran
Province
252 AD–639-643 AD
Caucasian Albania during the Sassanid Empire.
Capital		Kabalak, Partav
Languages		Caucasian Albanian, Armenian, Parthian language,Middle Persian
Religion		Paganism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism
Political structure		Province
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Established	252 AD
•	Disestablished	639-643 AD
Succeeded by Rashidun Caliphate

Albania, or Ardhan in Parthian or Arran in Middle Persian as it was known in Persian, was a Caucasian satrapy (province) of the Sassanid Empire.

In 252-253 AD Caucasian Albania, along with Caucasian Iberia and Greater Armenia, was conquered and annexed by the Sassanid Empire. Albania retained its monarchy, although the king had no real power and most civil, religious, and military authority lay with the Sassanid marzban (military governor) of the territory. In 297 the treaty of Nisibis stipulated the reestablishment of the Roman protectorate over Iberia, but Albania remained an integral part of the Sasanian Empire.

In the middle of the 4th century the king of Albania, Urnayr, arrived in Armenia and was baptized by Gregory the Illuminator, but Christianity spread in Albania slowly, and the Albanian king remained loyal to the Sassanids. After the partition of Armenia between Byzantium and Persia (in 387 AD), Albania with Sassanid help was able to seize from Armenia the entire right bank of the river Kura up to the river Araxes, including Artsakh and Utik.

The Sassanid king Yazdegerd II passed an edict requiring all the Christians in his empire to convert to Mazdaism, fearing that Christians might ally with Roman Empire, which had recently adopted Christianity. This led to rebellion of Albanians, along with Armenians and Iberians. However, the Albanian king Vache, a relative of Yazdegerd II, converted to the official religion of the Sassanian empire, but quickly reverted to Christianity.

In the middle of the 5th century by the order of the Persian king Peroz I Vache built in Utik the city initially called Perozabad, and later Partaw and Barda, and made it the capital of Albania. The seat of the Albanian Catholicos was also transferred to Partaw, as well as the marzban.