A Note on an Unpublished Seal of a Possible Sasanian Grand-Commander (Wuzurg-Framadār)

Abstract During the fifth century, the Sasanian administrative system underwent a major change with the introduction of the office of the wuzurg-framadār (“the grand commander”) by Yazdegerd I ( r . 399–420). The holder of this office, roughly equivalent to later post of grand vizier, wielded significant power at the top of the Sasanian administration—and yet, the only specific individual known through epigraphic and sigillographic evidence to have held the office is Mehr-Narseh, who served under four Sasanian rulers in the mid-fifth century. The current study examines a newly-identified bulla, which presents sigillographic evidence for the existence of yet another wuzurg-framadār during the Sasanian era.