MAGIANSTHE PRIESTHOOD
Since Magianism was the state religion of the Sasanian empire, the
priestly hierarchy paralleled its administrative system. At the apex of
the hierarchy was the magopatan magopat (M.P., N.P.· mobadhan
mobadh), who was appointed by the king. He supervised the religious
life of Magians, established doctrine, appointed and dismissed sub-
ordinate priests, and enforced Magian religious law as the supreme
judge. As a member of the royal court, he helped to determine the
succession to the throne and headed the semiannual court of judicial
review which judged complaints against the king and had the power
to pass judgment against him.^16
Below the supreme magopat stood a pyramid of hierarchic priestly
districts, under two or three grades of priestly officials, who combined
administrative, judicial, ritual, and educational responsibilities. These
districts appear to have corresponded to the secular administrative
system. There may have been a grade of grand magopat (M.P./Syr.
mohpata rabha) in charge of larger or more important provinces,!?
but most provinces were under a magopat. In Iraq, magopats were
attested for Maysan,18 Beth Aramaye,19 and Adiabene.^20 Subordinate
priestly districts in each province were under subordinate priests, and
some evidence suggests the existence of the lower levels of this system
in Iraq. Syriac martyrologies assume the existence in Adiabene of two
mohpats of districts who were judges (Syr. dayyana),21 and of a Magian
of the district (Syr. magosha dhe ethra) who was a subordinate of the
archimagos (Gk.) of Adiabene in the fourth century.22 The mohpat of
Hale in Radhan in the fifth century is described holding court on the
16 Boyce, Tansar, pp. 61-63; J.-P. de Menasce, "Problemes des Mazdeens dans l'Iran
musulman," Festschrift fur Wilhelm Eilers (Wiesbaden, 1967), p. 221; L. C. Casartelli,
The Philosophy of the Mazdayasnian Religion under the Sassanids (Bombay, 1889), p.
123; 1. Guidi, "Miibedh," E1(1), Ill, 545; Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, 'lqd, IV, 223; Ta;, pp.
15,160-62; Tyan, Histoire, p. 85; Ya'qiibi, Ta'rikh, I, 202.
17 There was a mopata rabha of Khuzistan under Khusraw I (Hoffmann, Persischer
Martyrer, p. 87). The magopatan magopat of Veh-Shapuhr mentioned in the Matikan
may also represent this grade; see J.-P. de Menasce, Feux et fondations, p. 27.
18 E. Herzfeld, Paikuli, Monument and Inscription of the Early History of the Sasanian
Empire (Berlin, 1924), I, 81, pI. 140, no. 9.
19 Braun, Persischer Miirtyrer, pp. 200-202; Hoffmann, Persischer Miirtyrer, pp. 81,
88.
20 Braun, Persischer Miirtyrer, pp. 118, 127; J. Duchesne-Guillemin, La religion de
I'Iran ancien (Paris, 1962), p. 282; P. Peeters, "Le 'Passionaire d'Adiabene'," AB 43
(1925),269, 279, 282.
21 Abbeioos, "Acta Mar ~ardaghi," p. 75.
22 Peeters, "Passionaire d'Adiabene," p. 281.