{{Short description|Hereditary military title}} {{italic title}} {{otheruses}} '''''Aspet''''' ({{Langx|hy|Ասպետ}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀσπέτης}}, ''Aspetes'' in contemporary Greek) was a hereditary military title of the Armenian nobility, usually found within the Bagratuni family.<ref name="Cyril">Toumanoff, Cyril (1963), ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History III'', pp. 202, 324-26. Georgetown University Press.</ref>
The name has been derived from either the Old Persian *viθa/visapati "head of the clan",<ref>Nicholas Adontz, ''Armenia in the Period of Justinian'', tr. and rev. by N. Garsoïan, Lisbon, 1970, p. 312</ref> or in more likelihood aspapati, later ''aspbed'' (or aspbad)<ref>Joseph Markwart, ''Die Genealogie der Bagratiden und das Zeitalter der Mar Abas und Ps. Moses Xorenaci,'' Caucasica 6/2, 1930, p. 68</ref><ref>Johann Heinrich Hübschmann, Armenische Etymologie, p. 109</ref> which designated the Iranian office of Master of the Horse (commander of the cavalry). The Armenian army was comprised overwhelmingly of cavalry, under the command of the High Constable (''sparapet''), this left no room for a Master of the Horse. There are hardly any references by Armenian historians of the Arshakuni period to any Bagratids in command of the king's forces. Like the ''małxaz'' of the Khorkhoruni family, ''aspet'' seems to have been a special, gentilitial, title of the Bagratunis, who derived from it their other, short-lived, name of Aspetuni.<ref name="Cyril"/> This title disappears following the Arab conquest of Armenia. The existence of this title and name may possibly be due to Arsacid Armenia's imitation of Parthia, where one of the Seven Great Houses bore the name of Aspahbad.<ref name="Cyril"/>
The name of the Aspietai, a Byzantine noble family of Armenian origin, is derived from ''aspet''.
In modern Armenian historiography, the word ''aspet'' also refers to medieval European knights.<ref>{{Cite dictionary |year=1969 |title=Aspet |encyclopedia=Zhamanakakitsʻ hayotsʻ lezvi batsʻatrakan baṛaran [Explanatory Dictionary of Contemporary Armenian] |publisher=Haykakan SSH Gitutʻyunneri akademiayi hratarakchʻutʻyun |location=Erevan |url=http://nayiri.com/imagedDictionaryBrowser.jsp?dictionaryId=29&dt=HY_HY&pageNumber=200 |volume=1 |page=188 |language=hy}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite encyclopedia | title = ASPET | last = Toumanoff | first = Cyril | author-link = Cyril Toumanoff | url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/aspet-armenian-title-in-contemporary-greek-documents-also-aspetes-hereditary-in-the-bagratuni-bagratid-family | editor-last = | editor-first = | editor-link = | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 8 | page = 792 | location = | publisher = | year = 1987 | isbn = }}
Armenia Category:Armenian noble titles Category:Armenian military ranks of Parthian origin
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