Sasanian Economy :: The Iranian society in the Sasanian era was an Agrarian society and due to this fact, the Sasanian economy relied on farming and agriculture! The main exports of the Sasanians were silk; woolen and golden textiles; carpets and rugs; hides; and leather and pearls from the Persian Gulf. There were also goods in transit from China (paper, silk) and India (spices), which Sasanian customs imposed taxes upon, and which were reexported from the Empire to Europe. Due to special geographical situation of the Iranian world, the Sasanians were able to control the sea routes and due to this, they were arguably most important player in the international trade in the late antiquity. We know that in the early Sasanian period, the empire showed a great interest in establishing ports on the coast of the Persian Gulf. There were important ports on the Iranian side of the Persian Gulf in the Sassanid period, like Sirāf, Hormuz, Kujaran Artaxšīr, etc and particularly "Bōxt-Artaxšīr" or modern-day Bushehr. This port was important for the Sasanians because it linked Kazerun to center of Persis, modernday Shiraz. It`s known that in the sixth century, the Sasanians were not only bent on controlling the Arabian sea and of course, their own home waters, the Persian Gulf, but also looked further east. This brought the Persians into conflict with Rome. Silk was important in the ancient world and was something that the Romans wanted. The Sasanians also did trade with China. Iranian-Chinese trade was conducted through two ways, through the Silk Road and the sea routes! Many Sassanian coins have been found on the coast of China. The city's main economic activities were carried out by merchants (Central Persian: wāzarganan) and in the bazaar. At the Sasanian-era Bazaar, each group of craftsmen had their own department called rāste in Persian. There were also Sasanian-merchant colonies in Far-East as far as in Malaysia. (Credit: Sasanian_economy , Wiki)
Iranian Civilization
