page_title: Aswaran
section_title: Banner
hierarchical_section_title: Aswaran / Weaponry, armor, and tactics / Banner
caption_attribution_description: English: Artistic rendering of a asbaran cavalryman holding a banner of homa, a mythical bird of Iranian legends and fables.
context_page_description: The Aswārān, also spelled Asbārān and Savaran, was a cavalry force that formed the backbone of the army of the Sasanian Empire. They were provided by the aristocracy, were heavily armored, and ranged from archers to cataphracts.
context_section_description: Each asbaran unit would have a Drafsh, or heraldric standard. These would have often included legendary creatures and animals. These animals would have included elephants, horses, bears, lions, deer (ahu); these would also include Zoroastrian mythological creatures such as Bashkuch and the army of asbaran would have the Derafsh Kaviani as their banner.
  Some aswaran members with superior bravery, character, and equestrian skills were receiving honorary bracelets, recorded in Islamic sources as suwārī, with the wearer being called a musawwar.
caption: Illustration of an asbaran cavalryman holding a banner showing a Homa, a mythical bird of Iranian legends and fables.
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