The state observed at the court resembled that of the most formal and stately of the Oriental monarchies.  The courtiers were organized in seven ranks.  Foremost came the Ministers of the crown; next the Mobeds, or chief Magi; after them, the hirbeds, or judges; then the sipehbeds, or commanders-in chief, of whom there were commonly four; last of all the singers, musicians, and men of science, arranged in three orders.  The king sat apart even from the highest nobles, who, unless summoned, might not approach nearer than thirty feet from him.

A low curtain separated him from them, which was under the charge of an officer, who drew it for those only with whom the king had expressed a desire to converse.

An important part of the palace was the seraglio.  The polygamy practised by the Sassanian princes was on the largest scale that has ever been heard of, Chosroes II. having maintained, we are told, three thousand concubines.  The modest requirements of so many secondary wives necessitated the lodging and sustenance of twelve thousand additional females, chiefly slaves, whose office was to attend on these royal favorites, attire them, and obey their behests.  Eunuchs are not mentioned as employed to any large extent; but in the sculptures of the early princes they seem to be represented as holding offices of importance, and the analogy of Oriental courts does not allow us to doubt that the seraglio was, to some extent at any rate, under their superintendence.  Each Sassanian monarch had one sultana or principal wife, who was generally a princess by birth, but might legally be of any origin.  In one or two instances the monarch sets the effigy of his principal wife upon his coins; but this is unusual, and when, towards the close of the empire, females were allowed to ascend the throne, it is thought that they refrained from parading themselves in this way, and stamped their coins with the head of a male.

In attendance upon the monarch were usually his parasol-bearer, his fan-bearer, who appears to have been a eunuch, the Senelcapan, or “Lord Chamberlain,” the Maypet, or “Chief Butler,” the Andertzapet, or “Master of the Wardrobe,” the Alchorapet, or “Master of the Horse,” the Taharhapet or “Chief Cupbearer,” the Shahpan, or “Chief Falconer,” and the __Krhogpet, or “Master of the Workmen.”  Except the parasol-bearer and fan-bearer, these officials all presided over departments, and had under them a numerous body of subordinates.  If the royal stables contained even 8000 horses, which one monarch is said to have kept for his own riding, the grooms and stable-boys must have been counted by hundreds; and an equal or greater number of attendants must have been required for the camels and elephants, which are estimated m respectively at 1200 and 12,000.  The “workmen” were also probably a corps of considerable size, continually engaged in repairs or in temporary or permanent erections.