Hormizd II ruled for seven years (302-9), a hard and strong man who none the less was just and well liked according to various Arabic sources. Otherwise nothing is known of his reign. A short excursus on the urban and agricultural policy of the early Sasanian rulers may help to elucidate internal affairs.
The town-building activities of the early Sasanians are well known. An ancient practice of moving populations from one part of the empire to another was followed by Shapur I when he settled Roman prisoners in the new towns of Gundeshapur and Bishapur. Other new foundations or at least renamings of older settlements are amply attested. Less well known, but more significant, is the enormous expansion of cultivated land in Khuzistan, the Diyala river basin and elsewhere.
The area of cultivated land apparently was larger in Sasanian times than at any period before or since. Archaeological evidence would indicate an enormous effort on the part of the Sasanian government to extend and maintain a costly irrigation system, in many areas of the empire.
This extension of agriculture is more impressive than the founding of cities, for the latter were usually small, though with strong surrounding walls, to judge from the few archaeological surveys which have been made. With the increase of agricultural land, a meritorious act in the Zoroastrian religion, the Sasanian kings also laid the basis for an increase in population.
The increase of population over the earlier periods is difficult to assess but the archaeological evidence for expansion is a good indication. The new Sasanian towns were laid out in a regular order, and most Sasanian settlements over both earlier and later areas of cultivated land were centres of larger agricultural districts. The pattern of towns in the later eastern Islamic caliphate took its form in the Sasanian period.
Hormizd I the Son of Shapur
