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Daylamite Zoroastrian Warriors of Iran The Daylamites or Dailamites were an Iranian people inhabiting the mountainous regions of northern Iran. They were employed as soldiers from the time of the Sasanian Empire, and long resisted the Muslim conquest of Persia and subsequent Islamization. During the Sasanian Empire, (224 AD to 651 AD - the last Persian empire before the Arabic invasion) they were employed as high-quality infantry. According to the Byzantine historians Procopius and Agathias, they were a warlike people and skilled in close combat, being armed each with a sword, a shield and spears or javelins. In the 930s, the Daylamite Buyid dynasty emerged and managed to gain control over much of modern-day Iran, which it held until the coming of the Seljuq Turks in the mid-11th century. The Daylamites resisted the Arabic influences the longest and remained adherents of some form of Iranian Zoroastrianism. According to al-Biruni, the Daylamites and Gilites "lived by the rule laid down by Afridun (also Fereydun or Thraetaona - the mythical Iranian king). Dailamites were strikingly tough and capable of lasting terrible privations. They were armed with javelins and battle axes, and had tall shields painted in gray colours. In battle, they would usually form a wall with their shields against the attackers. Some Daylamites would use javelins with burning naphtha. A major disadvantage of the Daylamites was the low amount of cavalry that they had, which compelled them to work with Turkic mercenaries. Original article: DAILAMIAN : Dailamite Zoroastrian Warriors of Iran. The Daylamites or Dailamites (Middle Persian: Daylamig; Persian: دیلمیان Deylamiān) were an Iranian people inhabiting the mountainous regions of northern Iran on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. They were employed as soldiers from the time of the Sasanian Empire, and long resisted the Muslim conquest of Persia and subsequent Islamization. In the 930s, the Daylamite BUYID dynasty emerged and managed to gain control over much of modern-day Iran, which it held until the coming of the Seljuq Turks in the mid-11th century. The Daylamites lived in the highlands of Daylam, part of the Alborz range, between Gilan and Tabaristan. However, the earliest Zoroastrian and Christian sources indicate that the Daylamites originally came from Anatolia near the Tigris, where Iranian ethnolinguistic groups, including Zazas, live today. They spoke the Daylami language, a now-extinct northwestern Iranian variety similar to that of the neighbouring Gilites. During the Sasanian Empire, they were employed as high-quality infantry. According to the Byzantine historians Procopius and Agathias, they were a warlike people and skilled in close combat, being armed each with a sword, a shield and spears or javelins. The Daylamites first appear in historical records in the late second century BCE, where they are mentioned by Polybius, who erroneously calls them Ἐλυμαῖοι ("Elamites") instead of Δελυμαῖοι ("Daylamites"). In the Middle Persian prose Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, Artabanus V of Parthia (r. 208–224) summoned all the troops from Ray, Damavand, Daylam, and Padishkhwargar to fight the newly established Sasanian Empire. According to the Letter of Tansar, during this period, Daylam, Gilan, and Ruyan belonged to the kingdom of Gushnasp, who was a Parthian vassal but later submitted to Sasanian emperor Ardashir I (r. 224–242). The Daylamites resisted the Arabic influences the longest and remained adherents of some form of Iranian Zoroastrianism. Some became Christian. According to al-Biruni, the Daylamites and Gilites "lived by the rule laid down by the mythical Afridun. Dailamites were strikingly tough and capable of lasting terrible privations. They were armed with javelins and battle axes, and had tall shields painted in gray colours. In battle, they would usually form a wall with their shields against the attackers. Some Daylamites would use javelins with burning naphtha. A poetic portrayal of Daylamite armed combat is present in Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani's Vis and Rāmin. A major disadvantage of the Daylamites was the low amount of cavalry that they had, which compelled them to work with Turkic mercenaries. Long live the memory of the Dailamites Warriors of Iran that resisted the Arab armies the longest of all Iranians |