Breaking the Rules: Considerations on Zoroastrian Terminology Related to the Idea of Heresy
The present article is a part of a wider project devoted to the Zoroastrian Middle Persian terminology often translated in European languages as "heresy" or "heretic." I offer here an analysis of the Middle Persian ahlomoγ according to only one text of the exegetical literature o...
| Published in: | Numen |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
[2019]
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| In: |
Numen
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Zoroastrianism
/ Heresy
/ Middle Persian language
/ Terminology
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| IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BC Ancient Orient; religion KBM Asia |
| Further subjects: | B
exegetical literature
B Heresy B Denkard 7 B Zoroastrianism B Mazdak(ism) B Orthodoxy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The present article is a part of a wider project devoted to the Zoroastrian Middle Persian terminology often translated in European languages as "heresy" or "heretic." I offer here an analysis of the Middle Persian ahlomoγ according to only one text of the exegetical literature of this religious tradition, written down after the Arab conquest of Iran, namely Denkard 7. I propose a hypothesis according to which the majority of the contexts in which this term is used refers to Mazdak and the Mazdakites, suggesting that the author of Denkard 7 here draws a historical scheme of this sectarian movement. Other meanings, though not so many, can be found, such as "apostasy." Among the methodological considerations, one finds that the same notion may have slightly changed meaning from one text to another, from one period to another. The Avestan a?maoγa, for which the Middle Persian ahlomoγ is a translation, does not clearly lead to the idea of heresy, understood as schism or sect. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5276 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Numen
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341540 |