Though accounts disagree on whether empire's class system - which was rooted in the concept of asronih [ahs-ROH-nee] - had three or four estates, all agree the priesthood was the highest caste.
This empire's suppression of social reform included the burial of 3,000 prisoners alive with their feet upward to present a reformer with a "human garden." Though accounts disagree on whether empire's class system - which was rooted in the concept of asronih [ahs-ROH-nee] - had three or four estates, all agree the priesthood was the highest caste. By giving them roles as tax collectors, this empire fostered the rise of a class of middle nobility called dehqans, and also promoted a warrior class called wuzurgan [WOO-zoor-"gone"] whose name may be the origin of the term (*) "vizier." This empire used conscription to fill the ranks of its payghan units with low-morale peasants, who mostly dug ditches while Savaran cataphracts and other horsemen fought. A king of this empire had to be restored to power with the aid of the Hephthalites after encouraging a social and religious reform movement called Mazdakism. For 10 points, name this empire ruled by Kavadh I, who was less of a hard-line Zoroastrianism than his son Khusrau.
This empire's suppression of social reform included the burial of 3,000 prisoners alive with their feet upward to present a reformer with a "human garden.
Sassanid Empire [or Sassanian Empire; or Eranshahr]