What was the name of the Sasanian military rank equivalent to a general? The rank was spahbed, also spelled spāhbed or spahbod.
The title comes from Middle Persian and means “army chief” or “commander.” In the Sasanian military system, a spāh was a major army formation, traditionally described as numbering about 10,000 warriors, and its commander held the rank of spāhbed.
Originally, the Sasanians used a single Ērān-spāhbed as the empire’s generalissimo. During the reign of Khosrow I, from 531 to 579, the office was divided among four spāhbeds, each responsible for one of the empire’s cardinal regions. This reform reduced the danger of concentrating all military power in one commander while giving the frontier armies clearer regional leadership.
The distractors belong to different spheres. A mobed was a Zoroastrian priest, a satrap was a provincial governor, and a hazarbed was a separate high office whose exact military responsibilities varied. Spahbed is therefore the canonical answer, even though modern translations may compare it with a general or lieutenant general.