A State of Mixture: Christians, Zoroastrians, and Iranian Political Culture in Late Antiquity Volume 56 Paperback - 2015

From the rear cover

"This broad yet scrupulous study invites a fundamental rethinking of the history of Christianity in the Sasanian Empire. Rejecting the conventional historiographical framework that focuses on Christian narratives of Zoroastrian persecution, A State of Mixture demonstrates, with cogency and clarity, how thoroughly the Sasanian Empire absorbed the Christian community within its borders. Weaving together a rich array of texts, documents, and archaeology, Payne's study shows how the Christian elites of the Sasanian world created local histories, law, and martyr legends consistent with their own values."--Joel Walker, Associate Professor and Jon Bridgman Endowed Professor of History at the University of Washington "Sasanian history and the place of Christians within pre-Islamic Iran is opaque to most scholars and when narrated often done so with banal statements about intolerance and persecution. Richard Payne integrates archaeological and linguistically complex sources to tell a compelling story about violence, ritual, class, ideology, and social life. More broadly, this is a book about how subjects negotiate their positions within empires and how imperial ideology is compatible with religious difference."--Adam H. Becker, Associate Professor of Classics and Religious Studies at New York University