Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 PhD student, Department of Political Science, Khorramabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khorramabad, Iran.
2 PhD, Politics, University of Pune, Pune, India
Abstract
The Religious Foundations of the State in Ancient Iran, the Case Study of the Sasanid Era
Abstract:
State is a modern concept in the field of governance and administration of society, that its existence seems necessary for any socio-political order in any society. The concept of State, also, is one of the critical concepts in ancient Iran with the foundation of the Median Era and the alliance of immigrant Aryans and resident Iranians. Regarding this, the concept of state in ancient Iran can be understood and explained in Iranian culture as an institution for the implementation of worldliness in the framework of the “Shahriari” (Royalty) concept. This thought that started in the Median Era, was transformed and consolidated in the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid Era. As a result, It was in the Sassanid that the connection between politics and religion reached its conceptual peak in the realm of royal politics and Religion as a formal institution entered to politics and the religious class became the first class in ancient Iranian social fabric. The period of encounter between the newly arrived Aryans and the natives of Iran not only did not cause any distortion of political thought, but even hardly caused a minimum of political order and civility (the basic feature of the state). The coalition of the Aryan immigrants and the natives of Iran in the western region created a new life for them, the first characteristic of which was the emergence of a civil society, specifically a society with a professional classification hierarchy. The main reason for the emergence of civil society characterized by the formation of classes and the subsequent unification of many Aryan tribes under the banner of "Diao Ko" and the establishment of the first state in ancient Iran can be the result of the proximity, familiarity and influence of neighboring civilizations (Mesopotamia) knew. Therefore, the beginning of Diaoco's rule can be considered as the beginning of the formation of the ruling institution based on the Shahi political thought, which itself was rooted in a group of beliefs and convictions of the worldview of Iranians, the most important components and elements of this thought were:
a) alignment of religion and politics, b) tendency to monotheism, c) Division of social work, d) The end of political life. Regarding the points, the paper is to find an answer for the following question:” which kinds of conditions and reasons as well as developments in theory and practice provided the contexts and led to establish the first religious state the Sassanians in ancient Iran? In this regard and through the “historical sociology method”, and the primary and secondary peer-rieview sources , the paper has been tried to scrutinize the contexts of philosophical-political concepts of the royal thought (Ideal King, Shahriar Armani) of ancient Iran from the Median period and examine the existing political conditions and its developments in the Achaemenid and Parthian Era as main and basic reasons in theory and practice. The findings of the paper confirm the main hypothesis of the research that the establishment of the first government with religious foundations in the Sassanid Era was the result of the evolution in the structures of royal political thought (religion), political (king) and social (family and classes) domains in the eras Achaemenids and Parthians. Based on the above explanations, the religious foundations of the state and the centralization of political power, as a characteristic of the Sassanid period, constitute the main problem of this research, which was well manifested in the continuation of the idea of "the divine origin of power" or "heavenly legitimacy of the king". continued.
Key words: religious government, ancient Iran, Fareh Izadi, Shah Armani (Ideal King), Iranshahri (Iranian-State) thought, Sassanid government
Keywords
- Key words: Religious Government
- Ancient Iran
- Charisma
- Ideal King
- Iran shahri thought
- Sassanid government
Main Subjects
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