Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

654 22a. the sasanid monarchy
the royal bureaucracy (dibiran, i.e. scribes). Finally, the commoners are
enumerated, subdivided into peasants (vastaryoshan) and artisans (hutuxshan).
If the two hierarchies, inscriptional and literary, are to be amalgamated,
the inscriptional hierarchy of nobility should be seen as an
expansion of the second estate in the literary sources; on the other hand,
the literary hierarchy may not be contemporaneous, since there is no evidence
for a separate priestly caste in the early period.
Royal power and influence depended to a large degree on effective
control of the shahrdaran as well as on the active support of the majority
of the vuzurgan, or equivalent groups, whatever their names in later
periods. Their co-operation would be needed for the recruitment of the
asavaran who owed allegiance to them, and their consent would be required
for the imposition of royal taxation within their domains. Sasanid military
organization has been described as ‘feudal’, basically similar to its Arsacid
predecessor, and this definition may help us to understand how the
Sasanid system functioned. From our meagre information about remuneration
for the professional core of soldiery, we may conclude that it was
supported through land grants rather than paid in money or kind. Thus it
is tempting to accept the notion of enfeoffment, which by its very nature
entails bonds of trust and dependence that may be described as ties of vassalage.
Yet, if this picture provides a fairly accurate idea of the relationship
between the king and warriors conscripted in his own domain, as well as
of that between the grandees and their own warriors, it does not reveal the
realities of the links between king and grandees. The latter’s domains
might have been considered as fiefs from the former, but in most cases
this status would only have been theoretical, since forfeiture of such ‘fiefs’
to the crown could hardly be enforced by means of a simple legal procedure,
without the need to resort to arms: as in any feudal monarchy, there
was no guarantee that every Sasanid king could control all the grandees all
the time.
v. taxation and military organization
In an empire which minted a stable silver coinage, the drahm, throughout
most of its history, this continuing resort to grants of land in return for
military service calls for an explanation. The drahm was the only denomination
in constant circulation, which raises the question whether such a
simple economic system can be described as a truly advanced monetary
economy. Gold dinars were issued occasionally – not, so it seems, for purposes
of monetary circulation, but rather in commemoration of solemn
events. Bronze change seems to have been issued only very intermittently,
perhaps in response to specific demands, as at Merv; the volume progressively
decreased, which poses problems for the mechanics of everyday eco-
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008