Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

660 22a. the sasanid monarchy
monarchy would experience bouts of severe dynastic competition: thus,
the long reigns of both Shapur I and Shapur II were both followed by
shorter periods of instability. This danger may have been increased in the
sixth century by the withdrawal of Persian kings from regular active participation
in warfare, a move which fundamentally changed the nature of
royal legitimation. Early rulers from the house of Sasan had demonstrated
divine favour for their rule through personal victories, but the successors
of Khusro I relied on others to win their wars. 58 From the royal perspective,
legitimacy ran in the family, but the nobility and armies might prefer
to give their loyalty to a successful commander such as the non-Sasanid
Vahram Chobin or Shahvaraz. The existence of substantial minority religious
groups, Jews as well as Christians, allowed an established ruler to
secure his position by balancing their different claims against the majority
Zoroastrians, but it also meant that a rival could promote himself by
seeking the support of one particular group: Vahram Chobin is known for
his links with the Jews.
In spite of the attempted reforms of Khusro, the Sasanid state remained
a fairly simple structure in which much economic and military power rested
with the feudal nobility. Royal authority was bolstered by a supremacy of
patronage, but this required a regular inflow of wealth for redistribution.
Wars against the Romans provided considerable short-term gains, and
Roman peace payments under the Endless Peace (532) and the Fifty Years
Peace (562) were also important, but it is impossible to calculate how much
of this wealth drained eastwards, almost immediately, to the Hephthalites
or the Turks. The monetarized heartland of the Sasanid state (as of its
Achaemenid antecedent) lay in the rich agricultural lands of Mesopotamia
and lower Iraq, areas susceptible to attack from the west, and it seems to
have been impossible to increase their tax revenues in the long term.
It is ironic that the most successful Sasanid conqueror, Khusro II, must
also bear responsibility for the monarchy’s subsequent rapid collapse. In
the first decade of his reign, his status as a virtual puppet of the Romans
must have contributed to support for the long-running rebellion of Bistam
in the east. 59 The overthrow of his patron Maurice in 602 gave Khusro an
opportunity to assert his independence, and the disorganization of Roman
defences, particularly during the civil war between supporters of Phocas
and Heraclius in 609–11, permitted Khusro to transform the sequence of
traditional lucrative frontier campaigns into a massive expansionist thrust
towards the west. But, whereas a war of pillage replenished royal coffers,
the annexation of territories reduced the inflow of funds and meant that
the newly acquired resources had to be devoted to the maintenance of
58 Whitby (1994).
59 Niyayat al Irab, Ms. Qq.225, fol.185a; summarized in Browne (1900) 240; Firdausi, Shanamah
2791–6 (ed. S. Nafisy); trans. Jules Mohl, vol. vii (1878) 143–50.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008