House of Karen in the context of Nahavand

The Seven Great Houses of Iran, also known as the seven Parthian clans, were seven aristocracies of Parthian origin, who were allied with the Sasanian court. The Parthian clans all claimed ancestry from Achaemenid Persians.

The seven Great Houses of Iran had played an active role in Iranian politics since the days of the Arsacid Empire, which they continued to do under their successors, the Sasanians. Only two of the seven – the House of Suren and the House of Karen – however, are actually attested in sources date-able to the Parthian period. The seven houses claimed to have been confirmed as lords in Iran by the legendary Kayanian king Vishtaspa. "It may be that [...] members of them made up their own genealogies in order to emphasize the antiquity of their families." During Sasanian times, the seven feudal houses played a significant role at the Sasanian court. Bahram Chobin, a famed military commander of Hormizd IV (r. 579–590), was from the House of Mihran.

Sukhra (also spelled Sufaray, Sufray, Surkhab, Sarafra'i) was an Iranian nobleman from the House of Karen, who was the de facto ruler of the Sasanian Empire from 484 to 493. He was active during the reign of shah Peroz I (r. 457-484), Balash (r. 484 – 488) and Kavad I (r. 488-496). He is often confused with his father Zarmihr Hazarwuxt and son Zarmihr Karen.

He first appears in 484, when Peroz I appoints him as the minister (wuzurg framadār) of the empire. Peroz I was defeated and killed the same year during a campaign against the Hephthalite Empire, which seized much of the empire's eastern territory. Sukhra then avenged Peroz I by invading Hephthalite territory and inflicting a major defeat on them.

The Masmughans of Damavand (Middle Persian: Masmughan-i Dumbawand, New Persian: مس مغان دماوند, meaning Great Magians of Damavand) were a local dynasty, which ruled Damavand and its surrounding areas from ca. 651 to 760. The founder of the dynasty was a Karenid named Mardanshah of Damavand.

The Qarinvand dynasty (also spelled Karenvand and Qarenvand), or simply the Karenids, was an Iranian dynasty that ruled in parts of Tabaristan (Mazandaran) in northern Iran from the 550s until the 11th century. They considered themselves as the inheritors of the Dabuyid dynasty, and were known by their titles of Gilgilan and Ispahbadh. They were descended from Sukhra, a Parthian nobleman from the House of Karen, who was the de facto ruler of the Sasanian Empire from 484 to 493. The Qarinvand dynasty is also considered to be one of the last Zoroastrian dynasties before the rise of the Islamic Iranian dynasties

Zarmihr Hazarwuxt was an Iranian military leader from the House of Karen, who served as the marzban of Sasanian Armenia briefly in 483.

Zarmihr Karen (died 558) was an Iranian nobleman from the House of Karen, who served as the Sasanian governor of Zabulistan. He was the son of Sukhra.