INTRODUCTIONpeoples, but only harrassed them."6 By the late Sas ani an period they
had all three. The importance of Iraq for defense and revenue, com-
bined with the presence of a large non-Persian and non-Magian pop-
ulation in this part of their empire (where the capital was located),
led the later Sasanians to experiment with means to ensure loyalty by
providing military protection and by granting a degree of religious
toleration in return for the payment of taxes and assurances of good
behavior. This situation is reflected in the story that Hurmizd IV (579-
90) compared his state to a throne and told his hirbadhs that just as
the throne needed all four legs in order to stand, the Sasanian state
needed to protect its non-Magi an subjects (incidentally described as
the two rear legs of the throne), especially in Iraq, in order to survive.?
In practice, the religious leaders were made responsible for the be-
havior of the members of their own communities.
6 J. Neusner, Talmudic Judaism in Sasanian Babylonia: Essays and Studies (Leiden,
1976), p. 34.
7 Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," II(1), 195.