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Mazdak
Mazdak (, Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭦𐭣𐭪, also Mazdak the Younger; died c. 524 or 528) was an Iranian Zoroastrian '' mobad'' (priest) and religious reformer who gained influence during the reign of the Sasanian emperor Kavadh I. He claimed to be a prophet of Ahura Mazda and instituted social welfare programs. Mazdakism Mazdak was the chief representative of a religious and philosophical teaching called Mazdakism, which he viewed as a reformed and purified version of Zoroastrianism,Shaki, Mansour. 1985. The cosmogonical and cosmological teachings of Mazdak.
Papers in Honour of Professor Mary Boyce, Acta Iranica 25, Leiden, 1985, pp. 527–43.
although his teaching has been argued to display influences from

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Kavadh I
Kavad I ( ; 473 – 13 September 531) was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 488 to 531, with a two or three-year interruption. A son of Peroz I (), he was crowned by the nobles to replace his deposed and unpopular uncle Balash (). Inheriting a declining empire where the authority and status of the Sasanian kings had largely ended, Kavad tried to reorganize his empire by introducing many reforms whose implementation was completed by his son and successor, Khosrow I. They were made possible by Kavad's use of the Mazdakite preacher Mazdak, leading to a social revolution that weakened the authority of the nobility and the clergy. Because of this, and the execution of the powerful king-maker Sukhra, Kavad was deposed and imprisoned in the Castle of Oblivion. He was replaced by his brother Jamasp. However, with the aid of his sister and an officer named Siyawush, Kavad and some of his followers fled east to the territory of the Hephthalite king, who provided him with an ...
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Mazdakism
Mazdakism ( Persian: مزدکیه) was an Iranian religion, which was an offshoot of Zoroastrianism. The religion was founded in the early Sasanian Empire by Zaradust-e Khuragen, a Zoroastrian mobad who was a contemporary of Mani (d. 274). However, it is named after its most prominent advocate, Mazdak, who was a powerful and controversial figure during the reign of Emperor Kavad I (), until he was killed by Emperor Khusrau I (). Theology Mazdakism was a dualistic religion that emerged from Zoroastrian thought, teaching about principles of light and darkness, the mixture of which were said to have created the world. Mazdakites believed it was their duty to defeat the darkness and evil in the world. Zaradust and Mazdak may have been influenced by Manichaeanism, Gnosticism, or Platonism; however, unlike many Manichaean or Gnostic sects, they eschewed asceticism and did not teach that the world or matter were evil or needed to be renounced. Ethics Mazdakism opposed ...
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Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign over ancient Iran was second only to the directly preceding Arsacid dynasty of Parthia. Founded by Ardashir I, whose rise coincided with the decline of Arsacid influence in the face of both internal and external strife, the House of Sasan was highly determined to restore the legacy of the Achaemenid Empire by expanding and consolidating the Iranian nation's dominions. Most notably, after defeating Artabanus IV of Parthia during the Battle of Hormozdgan in 224, it began competing far more zealously with the neighbouring Roman Empire than the Arsacids had, thus sparking a new phase of the Roman–Iranian Wars. This effort by Ardashir's dynasty ultimately re-established Iran as a major power of late an ...
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Khurramites
The Khurramites ( , meaning "those of the Joyful Religion") were an IranianW. Madelung, "Khurrammiya" in ''Encyclopaedia of Islam''. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianchi, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2009. Brill Online. Excerpt: "Khurrammiya or Khurramdiniyya refers in the Islamic sources to the religious movement founded by Mazdak in the late 5th century A.D. and to various anti-Arab sects which developed out of it under the impact of certain extremist Shi'i doctrines." religious and political movement with roots in the Zoroastrian movement of Mazdakism. An alternative name for the movement is the ''Muhammira'' (, "Red-Wearing Ones"; in ), a reference to their symbolic red dress. According to Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı, the Qizilbash ("Red-Heads"') of the 16th century – a religious and political movement in Iranian Azerbaijan that helped to establish the Safavid dynasty – have been described as "spiritual descendants of the Khurramites".Ro ...
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Zaradust-e Khuragen
Zaradust-e Khuragen ( Persian: زرتشت خورگان) was the leader of a branch of Zoroastrianism called Dorostdini and teacher of Mazdak,Esposito, John L. (2003). "Mazdakism". The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 198. . leader of Mazdakism. Dorostdini was the root of Mazdakism, and the sect put emphasis on the use of wisdom instead of religious laws. He was from Fasa and for many years he lived in the Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the .... References Iranian Zoroastrians Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown 6th-century Iranian people {{Zoroastrianism-stub ...
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Heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christianity, Christianity, Heresy in Judaism, Judaism, and Bid‘ah, Islam has at times been met with censure ranging from excommunication to the death penalty. Heresy is distinct from apostasy, which is the explicit renunciation of one's religion, principles or cause; and from blasphemy, which is an impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things. Heresiology is the study of heresy. Etymology Derived from Ancient Greek ''haíresis'' (), the English ''heresy'' originally meant "choice" or "thing chosen". However, it came to mean the "party, or school, of a man's choice", and also referred to that process whereby a young person would examine various philosophies to determine how to live. The word ''heresy'' is usually used within a C ...
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Communism
Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange that allocates products in society based on need.: "One widespread distinction was that socialism socialised production only while communism socialised production and consumption." A communist society entails the absence of private property and social classes, and ultimately money and the State (polity), state. Communists often seek a voluntary state of self-governance but disagree on the means to this end. This reflects a distinction between a Libertarian socialism, libertarian socialist approach of communization, revolutionary spontaneity, and workers' self-management, and an authoritarian socialism, authoritarian socialist, vanguardis ...
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Manichaeism
Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century CE by the Parthian prophet Mani (216–274 CE), in the Sasanian Empire. Manichaeism teaches an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process that takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light, whence it came. Mani's teaching was intended to "combine", succeed, and surpass the teachings of Platonism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Marcionism, Hellenistic and Rabbinic Judaism, Gnostic movements, Ancient Greek religion, Babylonian and other Mesopotamian religions, and mystery cults.Arendzen, John (1 October 1910).Ma ...
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Al-Hirah
Al-Hira ( Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient Lakhmid Arabic city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq. The Sasanian Empire, Sasanian government established the Lakhmid state (Al-Hirah) on the edge of the Arabian Desert near Iraq in order to both prevent direct confrontation between the two empires (Persian and Roman Empire, Rome) and to gain its support in battles against Rome.Two Centuries of Silence P 6
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Etymology and Names

It is widely believed that the name ''Al-Hira'' is derived from the Syriac word ''Harta'' (ܚܪܬܐ), meaning "camp" or "encampment". As the city grew in prominence, it came to be known as "Al-Hira, the city of the Arabs," and also as "Hirat al-Nu'man," referring to several kings who bore the name Nu'man and resided ...
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Iranian Peoples
Iranian peoples, or Iranic peoples, are the collective ethnolinguistic groups who are identified chiefly by their native usage of any of the Iranian languages, which are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. The Proto-Iranian language, Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separate branch of the Indo-Iranians in Central Asia around the mid-2nd millennium BC. At their peak of expansion in the mid-1st millennium BC, the territory of the Iranian peoples stretched across the entire Eurasian Steppe; from the Danube, Danubian Plains in the west to the Ordos Plateau in the east and the Iranian Plateau in the south.: "From the first millennium b.c., we have abundant historical, archaeological and linguistic sources for the location of the territory inhabited by the Iranian peoples. In this period the territory of the northern Iranians, they being equestrian nomads, extended over the whole zone of the ste ...
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Mobad
A mobed, mowbed, or mobad (Middle Persian: 𐭬𐭢𐭥𐭯𐭲) is a Zoroastrian cleric of a particular rank. Unlike a '' herbad'' (''ervad''), a ''mobed'' is qualified to serve as celebrant priest at the Yasna ceremony and other higher liturgical ceremonies. A ''mobed'' is also qualified to train other priests. Usage In lay use, the term is also used as an honorific to denote any Zoroastrian priest of any rank. Hormizd I appointed Kartir ''mowbadān-mowbad'' "high priest of ''priests''". The term mobad is a contraction of Old Persian ''magupati'', the first half of the expression derived from and . The word was borrowed as ka, მოგუ-ი ''mogu-i'' and and from Parthian as . Through and , proto-Iranian ''*magu-'' is also identified as the origin of the Latin word ''magus'', a " magi''an''". Through the Greek adjective and , mobed is distantly related to the English language word " magic". Mobedyars Priests in the community in India, the Parsis, are requi ...
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Hedonism
Hedonism is a family of Philosophy, philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Psychological hedonism is the theory that all human behavior is Motivation, motivated by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. As a form of Psychological egoism, egoism, it suggests that people only help others if they expect a personal benefit. Axiological hedonism is the view that pleasure is the sole source of Intrinsic value (ethics), intrinsic value. It asserts that other things, like knowledge and money, only have value insofar as they produce pleasure and reduce pain. This view divides into quantitative hedonism, which only considers the intensity and duration of pleasures, and qualitative hedonism, which identifies quality as another relevant factor. The closely related position of prudential hedonism states that pleasure and pain are the only factors of well-being. Ethical hedonism applies axiological hedonism to morality, arguing that people have a moral obligation, moral dut ...
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