Were Sasanians of Priestly Lineage?

Sasanians’ converting to Zoroastrianism and their relations with Zoroastrian clerics have been important issues of the history studies on the Sasanians. In the past one and a half century, a number of scholars, referring to a report on Sasan by Tabari, the eponymous ancestor of the Sasanians, have assumed religious office such as mobed, hērbed, or the guardian of the fire temple for him, and have taken it as evidence for the Sasanians’ presumed priestly lineage. Some have even considered the success of the Sasanians in overcoming the Arsacid Empire as an outcome of their new religious tendency. In addition, Agathias’s report on Ardashir I, the founder of the Sasanian dynasty, has also been used by some scholars as another piece of evidence to suppose a clerical rank for him. Reexamining Tabari’s report and evaluating it in the context of the Zoroastrian legal system, this study demonstrates that Sasan’s office in Anahit’s fire temple was not a priestly one, and Agathias’s report on Ardashir has nothing to do with priestly ranks. To the contrary, these reports, when considered together with all other evidence, confirm Sasanians’ connection with the local nobility of Fars region.