{"title":"Apocalyptic Imagery and Royal Propaganda in Khosrow II’s Letter to the Byzantine Emperor Maurice","authors":"A. Piras","doi":"10.1163/18747167-bja10018","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n The Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta (fl. 620s) records an exchange of letters with the Sasanian Empire. The correspondence of March 590, from the Iranian shah Khosrow II Parviz (r. 591–628) and addressed to the Byzantine emperor Maurice (r. 582–602), exhibits a particular style, focused on the ideological oppositions of order and disorder and legitimacy and usurpation. This paper suggests that Khosrow’s claims to his kingdom made use of a discourse of catastrophic motifs that reflected common Sasanian apocalyptic beliefs. Thus, the chaotic situation provoked by the inversion of the rightful order elicited, from a Zoroastrian perspective, a response that stressed the dualistic nuance of demonic anarchy in order to stigmatize the risk of deposition. For these reasons, apocalyptic doctrines and royal propaganda share a common language: a political discourse based on the justification of kingship and the demonization of the enemy.","PeriodicalId":41983,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Persianate Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Persianate Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18747167-bja10018","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta (fl. 620s) records an exchange of letters with the Sasanian Empire. The correspondence of March 590, from the Iranian shah Khosrow II Parviz (r. 591–628) and addressed to the Byzantine emperor Maurice (r. 582–602), exhibits a particular style, focused on the ideological oppositions of order and disorder and legitimacy and usurpation. This paper suggests that Khosrow’s claims to his kingdom made use of a discourse of catastrophic motifs that reflected common Sasanian apocalyptic beliefs. Thus, the chaotic situation provoked by the inversion of the rightful order elicited, from a Zoroastrian perspective, a response that stressed the dualistic nuance of demonic anarchy in order to stigmatize the risk of deposition. For these reasons, apocalyptic doctrines and royal propaganda share a common language: a political discourse based on the justification of kingship and the demonization of the enemy.
拜占庭历史学家西莫卡塔（Theophilact Simocatta，fl.620）记录了一次与萨珊帝国的书信往来。590年3月，伊朗国王Khosrow II Parviz（591–628年在位）写给拜占庭皇帝Maurice（582–602年在位）的信件展现了一种独特的风格，重点关注秩序与混乱、合法性与篡夺的意识形态对立。本文认为，Khosrow对其王国的主张利用了一种灾难性主题的话语，反映了萨珊王朝常见的启示录信仰。因此，从琐罗亚斯德教的角度来看，合法秩序颠倒所引发的混乱局面引发了一种反应，这种反应强调了恶魔无政府状态的二元细微差别，以污名化沉积的风险。出于这些原因，世界末日学说和王室宣传有一个共同的语言：一种基于对王权的辩护和对敌人的妖魔化的政治话语。
期刊介绍：
Publication of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies. The journal publishes articles on the culture and civilization of the geographical area where Persian has historically been the dominant language or a major cultural force, encompassing Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, as well as the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and parts of the former Ottoman Empire. Its focus on the linguistic, cultural and historical role and influence of Persian culture and Iranian civilization in this area is based on a recognition that knowledge flows from pre-existing facts but is also constructed and thus helps shape the present reality of the Persianate world.
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