Dilgam ismailov

conventional form of the land ownership was decisively 
established in Atropatena. The word dehghan which meant 
“released community” member in the past had already been 
used in the meaning of a landowner. Dehghanis played an 
important role in Sassanid troops. There was a lot of land area 
available to the Zoroastrian priests, because they played a very 
important role in the life of the Sassanid. Most of the feudal 
lords who took advantage of villagers’ being landless or having 
insufficient land leased their lands out to them.

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62 
In Atropatena major taxes were called kharag and gezit as 
well as in the state of the Sassanid. Kharag was a product tax. 
Gezit was a soul tax and it was collected from craftsmen once a 
year. Besides that Christians living in the territory of the 
Sassanid Empire were also taken soul taxes. Khosrov I – the 
Sassanid king, implemented some tax reforms. All the lands 
were measured. The number of people who had to pay a tax 
was specified. Children, women and men over the age of 60 were 
exempt from the soul tax. Well-known priests, officials and 
scribes were exempt from the soul tax as well. The amount of the 
taxes was specified. These taxes were to be given three times a 
year being divided into parts. Taxes were divided by districts and 
points. The Sassanid collected taxes according to the land area. 
Their tax reforms aggravated the situation of the population.
The Sassanid successors concentrated all administrative 
and judicial power in their hands in Azerbaijan. They had the 
right to pull out a death sentence on population. The successors 
took control over the collection of taxes and prevent rebellion 
against the power of the Sassanid. Sassanid kings pursued a 
policy of population resettlement. The Sassanid’s purpose of 
resettlement was to create an ethnic support and provide 
Iranian landless peasants with fertile land areas. People spea-
king to the Persian dialect were settled in the areas of strategic 
importance. These people are known by the name of the tats.
From the religion view–point the tats were fire-worshipers 
and idolaters. They partially accepted Christian and Jewish 
religions in Albania conditions. Not all of the migrated tats
were of the Persian origin. Some of them were Turks who 
spoke the Persian dialect. The tats’ settlements were created in 
the north of Azerbaijan: Absheron, Shamakhi, Davachi and 
Guba. 

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