The Role of Women in Sasanian Iran

Thus, though a bit was allowed to give his daughter as a stnr, with the income from that going to her father, the musical composition could not "give her as a wife because the termination regarding sexual intercourse belongs to the daughter" (Vahraman 103).

The dominant religious belief in Sasanian Iran was Zoroastrianism, which taught that men and women were spiritually equal (Rose 32). In practice, however, events appear to sport been far different. Aside from the fact that there is not so much as an allusion to the existence of women indoors any kickoff of the Zoroastrian clergy, the very heights of power that they reached all precisely rules out any role for women at all. "The idea that religion and kingship should coexist as twins was in a scent out a living reality in the Sasanian period. ? [Furthermore], throughout Sasanian history, ? gamey priests were appointed to positions in the hierarchy of the court" (Shaked 263) - this to celebrate them range to the king and in a place where the king could keep an eye on them. There were also reports of one churchman rising against a Sasanian king in the late trinity century, and fortifying himself in a mountain stronghold with hundreds of armed men. It would build totally inconceivable at the time that women would have present such a threat, either at the king's court or as a rebellious military force.

The daughter of King Kosrow II and granddaughter of the Roman emperor butterfly Maurice (on her mother's side), Buran came to power only after her brother Kavad II killed no less than seventeen of his brothers. The throne passed to Buran upon Kavad's death.

A second or additional wife was a cagar wife who might be a widow who had had no children by her first save and was hoping to produce an heir for her own family or her husband's. In this way, she became the stnr or guardian of her new husband. The cagar wife still belonged to her first husband (who might also be impotent) who retained complete license over her, and any children by the new marriage would lawfully be the heirs of the first union. Like the padikshay wife, the cagar wife would receive a marriage gift, or dowry, that was hers, and she was given similar accommodations, food and clothing, along with a small annual income. However, she "remained subservient to the padikshay wife and could not inherit" - unless she produced children of her own, which could significantly alter her legal status, even within her new household (Rose 33).

Gavin R.G. Rambly, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998:

Prince, and Deities: the Coinage of Bahram II." American

Journal of coin collection: Second Series 1, 1989: 117-135

Sasanian Period." Gnoli and Panaino, Proceedings of the

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