Shushandukht

Shushandukht (Middle Persian: 𐭱𐭩𐭱𐭩𐭭𐭲𐭥𐭤𐭲 <šyšyntwḥt|> Šīšīntūḥt; New Persian: شوشاندخت Šušanduxt) was the wife of Yazdegerd I and mother of Bahram V. She was the daughter of a Jewish exilarch,[1] Huna bar Nathan. She created the Jewish neighborhood in the city of Isfahan.[2] She also established Jewish colonies in the cities of Shush (Susa) and Shooshtar. The existence of a Jewish queen enhanced the life of Persian Jews and during this period Jewish exilarchs had regular attendance to the Shah's court.[3] The Iranologist Ernst Herzfeld (1879–1948) speculated that the tomb of Esther and Mordechai in the city of Hamedan might be the tomb of Shushandukht.[4]

The Provincial Capitals of Iran

The The Provincial Capitals of Iran (Middle Persian: Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr) is a late 8th century Middle Persian book that mentions Shushandukht as founder of Shush (Susa) and Shooshtar:

The city of Susa and Sustar were built by Shushandukht, the wife of Yazdgerd Shapuran (Yazdgerd son of Shapur), since she was the daughter of Res Galut, the king of the Jews and also was the mother of Bahram Gur.

— Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr

The book also mentions Narseh the son of the Jewish woman (who was probably Shushandukht) who founded Khwarezm.[5]

References
  1. "Bahrām V Gōr". Iranicaonline.org. 1988-12-15. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  2. Laurence D. Loeb, Outcaste: Jewish life in southern Iran (2011) p. 278
  3. The Fire, the Star and the Cross, Aptin Khanbaghi, page 8, I.B.Tauris, Apr 30, 2006
  4. Netzer, Amnon (2012) [1998]. "Esther and Mordechai". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. III:6 (Online ed.). New York. pp. 657–658.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. "Full text of "Šahrestānīhā Ī Ērānšahr"". archive.org. Retrieved 2019-04-12.

Further reading
  • Gross, Samantha (2021). "The Curious Case of the Jewish Sasanian Queen Šīšīnduxt: Exilarchal Propaganda and Zoroastrians in Tenth- to Eleventh-Century Baghdad". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 141 (2): 365–380. doi:10.7817/jameroriesoci.141.2.0365. S2CID 241531954.


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