Editing Yazdegerd I (section)

== Relations with the Jews ==
[[Image:Hamadan - Mausoleum of Esther and Mordechai.jpg|thumb|alt=Large brick building with a rounded column| The [[Tomb of Esther and Mordechai]], which may be the tomb of [[Shushandukht]] (Yazdegerd's Jewish wife)]]
The [[Persian Jews|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]].{{sfn|Shahbazi|2003}}{{sfn|Kia|2016|p=280}} Although Yazdegerd was reportedly kind to the [[rabbi]]s and quoted scriptures to them, this account may have been a fabrication of Jewish historiography.{{sfn|Daryaee|2014|p=78}} He had a Jewish wife, [[Shushandukht]], the daughter of the exilarch.{{sfn|Daryaee|2002|p=92}} The identity of her father is obscure; he may have been Mar Kahana I, Mar Yemar, or [[Mar Zutra]].{{sfn|Netzer|2007|pp=74-77}} 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,{{sfn|Netzer|2007|pp=74-77}} and she was the mother of his son [[Bahram V]].{{sfn|Netzer|2007|pp=74-77}} 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.{{sfn|Netzer|1998|pp=657-658}}