page_title: Yazdegerd I
section_title: Relations with the Jews
hierarchical_section_title: Yazdegerd I / Relations with the Jews
caption_attribution_description: English: The mausoleum of the biblical Esther, wife of Xerxes I, and her cousin Mordechai. Also attributed to Shushan-Dukht, the Jewish wife of the Sassanian king Yazdigird I (399-420). It's the most important jewish pilgrimage centre in Iran. Hamadan. فارسی: آرامگاه استر و مردخای در همدان
context_page_description: Yazdegerd I, also spelled Yazdgerd I and Yazdgird I, was a Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 399 to 420. A son of Shapur III, he succeeded his brother Bahram IV after the latter's assassination.
  Yazdegerd I's largely-uneventful reign is seen in Sasanian history as a period of renewal. Although he was periodically known as "the Sinner" in native sources, Yazdegerd was more competent than his recent predecessors. He enjoyed cordial relations with the Eastern Roman Empire and was entrusted by Arcadius with the guardianship of the latter's son Theodosius. Yazdegerd I is known for his friendly relations with the Jews and Christians of the Church of the East, which he acknowledged in 410. Because of this, he was praised by Jews and Christians as the new Cyrus the Great.
  The king's religious, peaceful policies were disliked by the nobility and Zoroastrian clergy, whose power and influence he strove to curb. This eventually backfired, and Yazdegerd I met his end at the hands of the nobility in the remote northeast. The nobles then sought to stop Yazdegerd's sons from the ascending the throne; his eldest son, Shapur IV, was quickly killed after his accession and replaced with Khosrow.
context_section_description: The Jews of Iran were treated so generously and respectfully by Yazdegerd I that their exilarch called him the new Cyrus the Great, who liberated the Jews from captivity in Babylon. Although Yazdegerd reportedly greeted the rabbis pleasantly and quoted scriptures to them, the report may be the product of biased Jewish historiography. He had a Jewish wife, Shushandukht, the daughter of the exilarch. The identity of her father is obscure; he may have been Mar Kahana I, Mar Yemar, or Mar Zutra. The Middle Persian geography text Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr (The Provincial Capitals of Iran) reports that Yazdegerd had Jews settled in Spahan at Shushandukht's request, and she was the mother of his son Bahram V. According to the Iranologist Ernst Herzfeld, the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan was not the burial site of Esther and Mordechai but that of Shushandukht.
caption: The Tomb of Esther and Mordechai, which may be the tomb of Shushandukht (Yazdegerd's Jewish wife)
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