Pushtigban Body Guards

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The Pushtigban Body Guard was an elite Persian military unit during the time of the Sassanid Persian dynasty, charged with the protection of the Emperor.

They were stationed during peacetime in the royal capital of Ctesiphon and were drawn from the best of the Savaran knights. They numbered 1000 men, under the command of the Pushtigban-Salar ; in battle they fought mostly as cataphracts.

A sub-unit of Pushtigban were the Gyan-avspar, the sacrificers of their lives - the best of the Pushtigban. The Pushtigban fought with distinction and zeal befitting their name during Julian's invasion of Persia in the 4th century AD and made a great impression on the Roman forces. Julian's memoirs state that Pushtigban cataphracts were so mighty that they could spit two Roman soldiers on their lances at once due to their furious charge. They were certainly present at Julian's last battle in 363AD, though according to Ammianus Marcellinus it is unknown who among the Persians threw the javelin that slew the emperor.

The Pushtigban bodyguards fought with distinction also during the final years of Sassanid Persia to repel the invading Muslim Arabs. Their institution logically disappeared with the death of the last Sassanid emperor Yazdegerd III and the subsequent submission of the Persian throne to Arabian suzerainty in 651 AD.

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