PEOPLElanded Persian aristocrats, Persian noblemen were appointed metro-
politan bishops for perath dhe Mayshan (Furat) and Nasibin.^146 A
certain Beraz Siirln became head of the monastery of Beth 'Abhe in
the late seventh century, and another member of the Siiren family tried
to use his position as metropolitan bishop of Hulwan to capture the
office of catholicos in 752, but he was deposed.^147 Riizbihan, a de-
scendent of the Persian nobility that settled at Nasibin, entered the
monastery of Mar Awgin on Mt. Izla above this town in the early
eighth century. He went on to become superior of the monastery and
then metropolitan bishop of Nasibin, and while he was metropolitan
he gave one of his villages to his former monastery.14^8 This pattern is
repeated by the career of Sharzadh, son of Mihroe. Born at Kirkuk in
about 732, he, too, became a monk and rose within the Nestorian
organization from'. 3.d of the monastery of Beth Abhe to metropolitan
of Elam (Khuzistan) and finally to catholicos (825-832).149
In fact, the clearest illustration of the survival of the lower echelons
of the Persian social hierarchy is to be found among the Christian
notables of upper Iraq. ShahrIjan had helped to defend Takrit at the
time of the conquest, and in 641 their strongholds at Tall Shaharija
and Salaq in Adiabene were taken by 'Utba ibn Farqad.^150 But the
ShahrIjan kept their lands and exercised administrative authority over
the lower grade of notables (dahqiine) as part of their superior social
status. At Kefer 'Uzzel they even claimed the right to participate in
the election of the Nestorian metropolitan of Adiabene, in spite of the
fact that by the eighth century the Shahrijan of Salaq were somewhat
heterodox.l51 About 780, the dahqiinewent to the bishop and accused
the ShahrIjan of Salaq of appropriating half the grain, wine, nuts, and
poll tax.^152 Shahrijan preserved their class status, perhaps as a kind
of sect, in northern Iraq at least until the tenth century, when Ibn
J:Iawqal described the town of Kefer 'Uzza (sic) in Ard Hazza (Adi-
abene) as a prosperous place with markets and estates (Ar. g.iyii')
inhabited by wealthy Christian Shaharija.^153
146 Thomas of Margha, Governors, ll, 82, 124, 181-82.
147 Chabot, "Chastete," pp. 150--51; Elias of Nasibin, Opus Chronoiogieum, I, CSCO,
Ser. Syri, 21:56-57, 23:31.
148 Chabot, "Chastete," pp. 271-72.
149 Thomas of Margha, Governors, ll, 332-34.
150 Baladhuri, Futub, p. 332; Tabari, Ta'r"ikh, I, 2474-75.
151 Thomas of Margha, Governors II, 309-10, 383-85.
152 Ibid., II, 311-12.
153 Ibn I:lawqal, $urat ai-an!., p. 217.