House of Karen

House of Karen
Clasp with an eagle and its prey found in Nahavand, believed by Ernst Herzfeld to originally belong to the House of Karen[1]
Parent house	Arsacids
Country	Parthian Empire, Sasanian Empire
Current head	None, extinct
Members	Sukhra, Karin, Alanda
Estate(s)	Nahavand
Cadet branches	Kamsarakan[2] Qarinvands Masmughans of Damavand Karlani

The House of Karen (Middle Persian: Kārēn; Parthian: 𐭊𐭓𐭍𐭉, romanized: Kārēn; Persian: کارن, romanized: Kārin Pashto کارن Kāren), also known as Karen-Pahlav (Kārēn-Pahlaw), was one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran during the rule of Parthian and Sassanian Empires. The seat of the dynasty was at Nahavand, about 65 km south of Ecbatana (present-day Hamadan, Iran). Members of the House of Karen were of notable rank in the administrative structure of the Sassanian empire in multiple periods of its four century-long history.