Sassanid Work, Markets and Leisure

Work in the Sassanid Empire connected households, fields, workshops and public institutions. A cultivator’s harvest supplied consumers and tax collectors; a potter made containers for storing and moving goods; a scribe turned agreements and assessments into records. Courtly texts describe riding, music and games among the accomplishments valued in wealthy households. Religious gatherings provided other occasions for people to meet.

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Work began with the household and the land

Agriculture required repeated tasks through the year: preparing ground, tending crops and animals, maintaining water channels, harvesting and processing produce. A harvest created additional work in storage, milling and transport. Labour was therefore needed before and after the moment at which crops were gathered. Household production overlapped with specialised occupations. Spinning, weaving, food preservation and repair could be carried out domestically, while larger settlements supported people working for customers or institutional patrons. Enslaved workers owed labour and earnings to owners. Estate dependants performed obligations for landholders, while craftspeople with their own customers could negotiate payment for particular work.

Skilled trades and institutional service

Construction employed people who could prepare bricks, mix mortar, cut stone, work timber and finish surfaces. A major project also needed fuel, transport and the coordination of different stages.

Potters, glassworkers, metalworkers and textile producers transformed raw materials into objects for domestic, military and elite use. Their equipment and working conditions differed. Firing pottery or glass required control of heat; fine metal decoration depended on tools and trained hands; patterned textiles demanded time and organisation at the loom.

Royal and religious commissions employed specialist craftspeople. Syriac material from the western empire also describes craft associations. Private producers could enter commercial partnerships to share assets and income. Scribes and accountants kept records of property, payments and official business. Learning a written language and the forms used in documents equipped them to work for royal, provincial and religious institutions.

Priests, clergy and teachers learned texts and ceremonies. Their establishments also employed people to supply food and fuel and maintain buildings.

Markets and payment

Markets carried rural produce and finished goods through local and regional exchanges. Cultivators supplied towns, where workshops and traders served customers who obtained food and manufactured goods from other households. Silver drahms circulated widely; smaller base-metal issues served more restricted settings. Agreements could state a money value, while obligations were also settled in produce or through credit. Partnerships allowed people to share assets and income, but also created questions about responsibility and loss. Written agreements and seals helped identify claims. Tolls and taxes made commerce a source of revenue for authorities as well as profit for traders.

Music, games and the uses of leisure

In Khosrow and the Page, the speaker offers his knowledge of music and games as qualifications for court service. His ability to judge fine food and horses similarly recommends him to a royal employer. Royal hunts employed attendants to manage animals and equipment. Banquets required cooks and musicians, whose work provided recreation for patrons and guests.

Middle Persian works describe chess and backgammon, although the stories of their introduction do not securely date their invention. Images also depict musical performance. Accounts of the famous musician Barbad survive chiefly in later literature.