Living Together in Changing Iran. Pahlavi Documents on Arabs and Christians in Early Islamic Times

Abstract

In this contribution original Pahlavi documents of clearly Zoroastrian provenance from the 7th and early 8th centuries are presented showing direct or indirect connections with increasing Arabic dominance in Iran. There are two groups of documents: 1. documents of the so‑called “Pahlavi Archive”, coming from the region west and south of Qom; 2. the documents from Tabarestān in Northern Iran, i.e. the region of modern Rūdbār on the river Sefīd, dealing mostly with juridical matters. The so-called “Pahlavi Archive” comprises economic documents as well as letters mostly from the second half of the 7th century and are housed in Berlin and Berkeley (about 300 items); there are also some scattered documents in Los Angeles and in private hands, probably in Iran. Though most of the documents in question are of economic content (they refer to daily life) they sometimes give hints at religious facts, taxes and measurements (Iranian and Arabic). Religion is explicitly referred to in a letter on wine growing where we learn of a regular payment for “prosperity” ~ “protection” of the religion (i.e. the Zoroastrian religion). The documents from Tabarestān, again clearly Zoroastrian, show no connections to Arabic matters but mention a Nestorian community.