I The Background

ACCORDING to our sources, during the long reign of Khusro Anūshirwān (531-579) the Sasanian monarchy, one of the two great powers on the international arena before the advent of Islam, underwent a series of farreaching transformations. Of the profound changes he is said to have introduced in his realm, only one Byzantine contemporary source, Procopius, shows a dim awareness, when he describes him, in totally uncomplimentary terms, as “a passionate lover of novelty” . The Arabic and the New Persian sources are very detailed, but all of them without exception are late. Written not earlier than three centuries after the events, they all suffer from the usual deficiency of secondary sources. A general tendency to eulogize and idealize Khusro as the model king has left its mark to a greater or lesser extent in all of them. It is therefore naturally very difficult to gain an accurate idea of Khusro's reforms and to assess their consequences.

In modern research Khusro’ s reforms are usually described as an attempt to “modernize” the fiscal system of his country and to make it more efficient. In consequence of the institution of a new taxation mechanism, it is argued, the crown's revenues were increased. Richer resources than ever before have made a refurbishment of the military power possible as well. Instead of an army of retainers, brought to the field by powerful feudal lords over whom the king had little effective control, there was now an army directly recruited and remunerated by the king. No far-reaching changes in fighting tactics or in strategy were involved. The army was still based on the fighting horseman, while the infantry continued to play a secondary role as before. There is some disagreement among scholars concerning their social background: it has been suggested that they were recruited from among the country gentry of the dehkāns, but the more common view is that they belonged to a higher social rank. On the other hand, the agreement concerning the essence of the novelty, namely that Sasanian Iran had for the first time in its history a standing army, completely dependent on the king and totally dedicated to him, is fairly general.