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The Samanids (819–999)[1] ( Sāmāniyān) were a Persian dynasty in Central Asia and Greater Khorasan, named after its founder Saman Khuda who converted to Islam despite being from Zoroastrian theocratic nobility. It was among the first native Iranian dynasties in Greater Iran and Central Asia after the Arab conquest and the collapse of the Sassanid Persian empire. The Samanid period is considered the beginning of the Tajik nation. Their rule lasted for 180 years, and their territory encompassed Khorasan, Ray, Transoxiania, Tabaristan, Kerman, Gorgan, and the area west of these provinces up to Isfahan. To legitimize the dynasty, the Samanids claimed to be descendants of the Sassanid spahbod and Emperor Bahram Chobin, and thus descendants of the royal Mihran Clan, one of the ancient Seven Parthian Clans who governed mainland Iran for centuries. Their capitals were Bukhara, Samarqand and Herat .