Djamasp

Djamasp (also transcribed as Jamasp or Zamasp, Persian: جاماسپ‎‎) was a Sasanian king who ruled from 496 to 498. He was the younger brother of king Kavadh I and was installed on the Sasanian throne upon the deposition of the latter by members of the nobility.

Not much is known about Jamasp himself, and his name occurs only in conjunction with his short interregnum. Byzantine accounts of the episode (Joshua the Stylite and Procopius) mention that Kavadh was deposed because of his determination to spread a new "religion" that preached redistribution of property. Following Kavadh's deposition and subsequent imprisonment, Jamasp was elected to succeed his brother.

Later Islamic sources such as Tabari and Dinawari inform us that Jamasp was a good and kind king who reduced taxes in order to relieve the peasants and the poor. He was also a proper adherent of the Mazdean religion (Zoroastrianism), diversions from which had cost Kavadh his throne and freedom.

The sources also tell us that upon the return of Kavadh at the head of a large army given to him by the Hephthalite king, Jamasp loyally stepped down from his position and restored the throne to his brother. Jamasp then went to Persian Armenia, where he defeated the Khazars, conquered some of their territory, and married a woman from Armenia, who bore him a son named Narsi.

After Jamasp's death in 530/540, his son Narsi, who had a son named Piruz, expanded the domains of his family, which included Gilan. He then married one of the princesses of Gilan, who bore him a son named Gil Gavbara, who later started the Dabuyid dynasty, and had two sons named Dabuya and Paduspan. His son Dabuya succeeded him as ispahbadh of the Dabuyid dynasty, while his other son, Paduspan, founded the Paduspanid dynasty.