King Yazdgird and the Exilarch’s Daughter

In addition to numerous appearances in rabbinic literature, the exilarch and his family are mentioned in a short Middle Persian compilation called Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr (The Provincial Capitals of Iran), a geography organized according to a set of four regions. The work is dated to the sixth-century CE reign of King Khosrow I and preserves a tradition that the early fifth-century king Yazdgird’s queen was none other than the Jewish exilarch’s daughter, who is also, anachronistically, credited with founding the ancient Iranian cities of Susa and Šūštar. The tradition of a Sasanian king marrying a Jewish “princess” is almost certainly manufactured, although the reason for the invented tradition is difficult to determine. Also notable is the mention of an ancient community of Jews dwelling in the city of Isfahan, referred to in the passage by its ancient name, Gay.