Maria Macuch, 2025. Sasanian Law in Its Social Context. Harrassowitz Publishing House, Germany.
Sasanian Law in Its Social Context, written by Maria Macuch, has been published by Harrassowitz Publishing House. The book appears in the scholarly series Iranica, volume 34, and consists of sixteen pages of introductory material and 880 pages of main text, along with 5 images and 66 tables. The book is written in English.
This work represents the first systematic and comprehensive attempt to reconstruct the legal system of Iran during the Sasanian period (224–651 CE), a system that, due to the complexity and difficulty of its legal sources, has so far remained largely unknown outside the specialized field of Iranian studies. In this study, Macuch examines all areas of law in a precise and structured manner, insofar as this is possible on the basis of the available sources.
The main focus of the book is on Middle Persian sources and documents written in the Pahlavi cursive script; however, the author also makes extensive use of other important texts relevant to Sasanian law, including the Babylonian Talmud as well as Syriac, Arabic, and New Persian sources. By introducing the fundamental institutions across various branches of law, the work seeks to elucidate core legal concepts reconstructed from scattered, sometimes incomplete and obscure sources.
One of the central themes of the book is the analysis of the complex and interwoven network of legal institutions, particularly in the areas of family law and property law. The author argues that this distinctive set of legal institutions, considered a unique feature of the Sasanian legal system, can only be properly understood within the framework of a highly hierarchical social order, one that granted significant privileges to the nobility and the religious elite. The substantial influence of Sasanian law on other legal systems is examined throughout the book and is discussed in particular detail in the final chapter.
The appendices contain numerous Middle Persian texts, newly edited and translated by the author, and the volume concludes with a glossary of Pahlavi legal terms and expressions to clarify specialized concepts.
The Iranica series is edited by Alberto Cantera and Maria Macuch and aims to present the latest scholarly research in two main fields: Iranian studies and pre-Islamic Iran, with a focus on the Zoroastrian tradition and Iran in the Islamic period. To date, the series has published works on Avestan studies, Zoroastrian studies, Pahlavi studies and Pahlavi literature, religious and legal texts, Manichaeism, Iranian legal systems, New Iranian languages, Judeo-Persian, the formation of New Persian, and Persian literature.
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