Bavand

The Bavandids were an Iranian dynasty that ruled the mountains of Tabaristan along the southern Caspian shore from 651 to 1349. They claimed descent from Bav, a supposed grandson of the Sasanian prince Kawus who was said to have fled the Arab conquest; their kings styled themselves ispahbadh and kept Sasanian-style coronation rites.

Their rule fell into three branches: the Kayusiyya of 665–1006, overthrown by the Ziyarid Qabus; the Ispahbadhiyya of 1073–1210, who ruled from Sari as vassals of the Seljuqs and then the Khwarezmshahs; and the Kinakhwariyya, restored in 1237 after the Mongol invasions, who governed as Ilkhanid vassals.

In 1337 the throne at Amol belonged to Hasan II, the last mainline king. In 1349 he was killed by Kiya Afrasiyab, head of a Bavandid cadet branch, who seized the realm and ended the dynasty's rule.