The Dabuyid Spahbeds in Tang Texts: The Position of Tabarestan in the Political-Military Strategy of the Tang Empire in the Eighth Century AD

With the death of Yazdgerd III and the Arab domination of a large part of Sassanid Iran, the local dynasties of Tabarestan turned there into a base of Iranian resistance against the Arabs in order to preserve their culture and identity. One of the most famous of these dynasties was the Dabuyids, which strongly resisted the Arabs at the time of the Umayyads and the Abbasids and even managed to expand their borders from the east to Neishabour. When the Spahbeds were resisting against the Arabs and the Turks, the Tang Empire was able to defeat the Turks and reach the vicinity of the borders of Greater Khorasan. The presence of Tang troops near the territorial borders of Al- Dabuyih and the need of the two to avert the threat of the Arabs paved the way for political contact between them. Details of these relationships are reflected in the Chinese texts. Since no independent and comprehensive research has been provided on the details of this information, the present article intends to first describe the situation of Tabarestan in the Dabuyid period, then analyze the reasons for their efforts to gain the support of the Tang emperors. The researcher believes that on the one hand, the first ambassador of Tabarestan was sent to the Tang court during the time of Farrukhan the Great, On the other hand, the policy of the Tang’s court was not only to support the descendants of Yazdgerd III in Tokharistan, but also to reduce the threat of the Arabs, who were hindering its ambitions in Central Asia, by submitting Tabarestan to Anxi Grand Protectorate