How Much Iranian in Jewish Babylonia

Among the many ethnic groups living in Sasanian Mesopotamia there were also Jews the larger number of which consisted of farmers and artisans, residing in villages or very smlall towns. They would not have had much contact witll the commnercial and political upperclasses of the large cities. Babylonia should be envisioned as a mosaic of peoples an(l cultures. Among them, the complex Iranian component did not predomlinate, except in political life.