1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910460709603321

Autore

Payne Richard E. <1981->

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oakland, California : , : University of California Press, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

0-520-96153-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (320 p.)

Collana

Transformation of the Classical Heritage ; ; 56

Disciplina

275.5/03

Soggetti

Christianity and other religions - Zoroastrianism

Christianity and politics - Iran - History - To 1500

Zoroastrianism - Relations - Christianity

Christians - Iran - Social conditions - To 1500

Electronic books.

Iran Civilization To 640

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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

Sommario/riassunto

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.