Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mahsa Mahjoob Shishegari
• Kolsoum Ghazanfari

Dep. of History, university of Tehran

Abstract

During the Sasanian period, population movements-including wartime captives and state-organized resettlements-played an important role in shaping the empire's economic development and revenue system. This study examines the relationship between these movements and the economic and fiscal structure of the Sasanian Empire. It seeks to answer the question of how such migrations contributed to changes in the composition of the labor force, the expansion of trade networks, and the consolidation of the Sasanian tax system. The study takes a qualitative approach through the interpretation of historical sources. A wide range of sources is used, including Sasanian inscriptions, Pahlavi texts, Roman-Byzantine, Armenian, and Syriac sources, as well as historiographies from the Islamic period. The evidence suggests that by relocating populations to agricultural, strategic, and commercial regions, the Sasanian state not only secured a labor force for production and trade, but also created favorable conditions for regular taxation, strengthened central authority, and increased economic productivity. These population transfers also contributed to the dynamism of trade routes and the growth of new economic centers. The results indicate that population transfer was one of the Sasanian government's strategic tools for implementing economic policy, managing human resources, and ensuring stable state revenues.

During the Sasanian period, population movements-including wartime captives and state-organized resettlements-played an important role in shaping the empire's economic development and revenue system. This study examines the relationship between these movements and the economic and fiscal structure of the Sasanian Empire.

Keywords

• Sasanian Empire
• population displacement
• economy
• taxation system
• trade
• labor force

Main Subjects

• History