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Book Cover
E-book
Author Payne, Richard E., 1981- author.

Title A state of mixture : Christians, Zoroastrians, and Iranian political culture in late Antiquity / Richard E. Payne
Published Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2015]
©2015

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Description 1 online resource : maps
Series Transformation of the classical heritage ; LVI
Transformation of the classical heritage ; 56.
Contents The myth of Zoroastrian intolerance : violence and the terms of Christian inclusion -- Belonging to a land : Christians and Zoroastrians in the Iranian highlands -- Christian lawmaking and Iranian social practice : the reforms of Mar Aba -- Creating a Christian aristocracy : hagiography and empire in northern Mesopotamia -- The Christian symbolics of power in a Zoroastrian empire
Summary "A State of Mixture seeks to resolve the paradox of how East Syrian Christian communities flourished in a Zoroastrian political system, the Iranian Empire. If previous studies have regarded Christians as marginal, insular, and often persecuted, the present book 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 to explain the endurance of a culturally diverse empire across four centuries"--Provided by publisher
Analysis ancient middle eastern religions
ancient persia
ancient political systems
ancient religions
christian inclusion in late antiquity
christian law
christianity and politics
christianity
christians in iran
comparative religion
early iranian civilization
history of religion in iran
iranian political practice
monotheistic religions
religion in the mediterranean
religion in the near east
religion
religions of persia
zoroastrian empire
zoroastrianism
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Christianity and other religions -- Zoroastrianism.
Christianity and politics -- Iran -- History -- To 1500
Zoroastrianism -- Relations -- Christianity.
Christians -- Iran -- Social conditions -- To 1500
RELIGION -- Christianity -- History.
RELIGION -- Ancient.
Christianity
Christianity and politics
Christians -- Social conditions
Civilization
Interfaith relations
Zoroastrianism
SUBJECT Iran -- Civilization -- To 640. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85067885
Subject Iran
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780520961531
0520961536