Sentinel
3rd June 2008, 12:21
I'm currently quite fascinated over the Late Antiquity historical period. So, while reading the Wikipedia article on the Sassanid dynasty in Persia, I stumbled over another article -- on the Persian 'prophet' Mazdak.
It would seem that this man held -- for his time -- extremely progressive values both economically and socially. He advocated the abolition of private property and aimed to replace the institution of marriage with free love.
He managed to convert the Sassanid ruler Kavadh I into his faith, and thus gained significant inluence over the empire. However, due to pressure from the Persian nobility, the king later abandoned Mazdakism and allowed his son the crown prince to eliminate the prophet and his followers.
From the wiki article:
Mazdakism
He was the founder of the philosophy called Mazdakism, whose adherents shared a dualistic cosmology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_cosmology) with Manichaeism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism). This doctrine taught that there were two original principles of the universe: Light, the good one; and Darkness, the evil one. These two had been mixed by a cosmic accident, tainting everything except God. Mankind's role in this life was, through good conduct, to release the parts of himself that belonged to Light. But where Manichaeism saw the mixture of good and bad as a cosmic tragedy, Mazdak viewed this in a more neutral, even optimistic way.
Mazdaki principles
The two distinguishing factors of Mazdak's teaching were the reduction of the importance of religious formalities — the true religious person being the one who understood and related correctly to the principles of the universe — and a criticism of the strong position of Zoroastrian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism) clergy, who, he believed, had oppressed the Persian population and caused much poverty.
Mazdak emphasized good conduct, which involved a moral and ascetic life, no killing and not eating flesh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism) (which contained substances solely from Darkness), being kind and friendly and living in peace with other people.
In many ways Mazdak's teaching can be understood as a call for social revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution), and has been referred to as early "communism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism)".[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazdak#cite_note-Quran-0)
He planned to have all private property (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_property) confiscated, and replace marriage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage) with free love (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_love).[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazdak#cite_note-1)
Followers
Despite the concepts of good conduct and Pacifism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifism), the followers of Mazdak raided the palaces and harems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harem) of the rich, removing the valuables to which they believed they had equal rights[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]. Facing the unrest in the empire, the King Kavadh I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavadh_I), ruling from 488 until 531, converted to Mazdakism, and even agreed to allow Mazdak to sleep with the Queen, to demonstrate his adherence to the concept of communal property. The Crown Prince, Anooshiravan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anooshiravan), intervened and convinced Mazdak not to accept the offer.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazdak#cite_note-Quran-0)
With his backing Mazdak could embark on a program of social reform, which involved pacifism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifism), anti-clericalism and aid programs for helping the poor. Mazdak had government warehouses opened to help the poor. Mazdak had most Zoroastrian fire temples closed, except three.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazdak
I'm not interested in discussing superstitious aspects of Mazdakism as a religion as much as the social consequences the teachings and legacy of this man, characterised as a 'communistic proto-socialist', had -- hence I started this thread here in History rather than in Religion.
So, does anyone know more about Mazdakism?
It would seem that this man held -- for his time -- extremely progressive values both economically and socially. He advocated the abolition of private property and aimed to replace the institution of marriage with free love.
He managed to convert the Sassanid ruler Kavadh I into his faith, and thus gained significant inluence over the empire. However, due to pressure from the Persian nobility, the king later abandoned Mazdakism and allowed his son the crown prince to eliminate the prophet and his followers.
From the wiki article:
Mazdakism
He was the founder of the philosophy called Mazdakism, whose adherents shared a dualistic cosmology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_cosmology) with Manichaeism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism). This doctrine taught that there were two original principles of the universe: Light, the good one; and Darkness, the evil one. These two had been mixed by a cosmic accident, tainting everything except God. Mankind's role in this life was, through good conduct, to release the parts of himself that belonged to Light. But where Manichaeism saw the mixture of good and bad as a cosmic tragedy, Mazdak viewed this in a more neutral, even optimistic way.
Mazdaki principles
The two distinguishing factors of Mazdak's teaching were the reduction of the importance of religious formalities — the true religious person being the one who understood and related correctly to the principles of the universe — and a criticism of the strong position of Zoroastrian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism) clergy, who, he believed, had oppressed the Persian population and caused much poverty.
Mazdak emphasized good conduct, which involved a moral and ascetic life, no killing and not eating flesh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism) (which contained substances solely from Darkness), being kind and friendly and living in peace with other people.
In many ways Mazdak's teaching can be understood as a call for social revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution), and has been referred to as early "communism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism)".[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazdak#cite_note-Quran-0)
He planned to have all private property (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_property) confiscated, and replace marriage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage) with free love (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_love).[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazdak#cite_note-1)
Followers
Despite the concepts of good conduct and Pacifism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifism), the followers of Mazdak raided the palaces and harems (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harem) of the rich, removing the valuables to which they believed they had equal rights[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]. Facing the unrest in the empire, the King Kavadh I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavadh_I), ruling from 488 until 531, converted to Mazdakism, and even agreed to allow Mazdak to sleep with the Queen, to demonstrate his adherence to the concept of communal property. The Crown Prince, Anooshiravan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anooshiravan), intervened and convinced Mazdak not to accept the offer.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazdak#cite_note-Quran-0)
With his backing Mazdak could embark on a program of social reform, which involved pacifism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacifism), anti-clericalism and aid programs for helping the poor. Mazdak had government warehouses opened to help the poor. Mazdak had most Zoroastrian fire temples closed, except three.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazdak
I'm not interested in discussing superstitious aspects of Mazdakism as a religion as much as the social consequences the teachings and legacy of this man, characterised as a 'communistic proto-socialist', had -- hence I started this thread here in History rather than in Religion.
So, does anyone know more about Mazdakism?