A state of mixture : Christians, Zoroastrians, and Iranian political culture in late Antiquity / Richard E. Payne.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Payne, Richard E., 1981- author.

Series:

Transformation of the classical heritage ; 56.

Transformation of the Classical Heritage ; 56

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christianity and other religions--Zoroastrianism.

Christianity and other religions.

Christianity and politics--Iran--History--To 1500.

Christianity and politics.

Zoroastrianism--Relations--Christianity.

Zoroastrianism.

Christians--Iran--Social conditions--To 1500.

Christians.

Iran--Civilization--To 640.

Iran.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (320 p.)

Place of Publication:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Christian communities flourished during late antiquity in a Zoroastrian political system, known as the Iranian Empire, that integrated culturally and geographically disparate territories from Arabia to Afghanistan into its institutions and networks. Whereas previous studies have regarded Christians as marginal, insular, and often persecuted participants in this empire, Richard Payne demonstrates their integration into elite networks, adoption of Iranian political practices and imaginaries, and participation in imperial institutions. The rise of Christianity in Iran depended on the Zoroastrian theory and practice of hierarchical, differentiated inclusion, according to which Christians, Jews, and others occupied legitimate places in Iranian political culture in positions subordinate to the imperial religion. Christians, for their part, positioned themselves in a political culture not of their own making, with recourse to their own ideological and institutional resources, ranging from the writing of saints' lives to the judicial arbitration of bishops. In placing the social history of East Syrian Christians at the center of the Iranian imperial story, A State of Mixture helps explain the endurance of a culturally diverse empire across four centuries.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

A Note on Names, Translations, and Transliterations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Myth of Zoroastrian Intolerance

2. Belonging to a Land

3. Christian Law Making and Iranian Political Practice

4. Creating a Christian Aristocracy

5. The Christian Symbolics of Power in a Zoroastrian Empire

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520961531

0520961536

OCLC:

911200767