Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Socialism
- The Cambridge History of Socialism
- The Cambridge History of Socialism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- Abbreviations
- Introduction to Volume I
- Part I Beginnings
- Egalitarianism
- 1 Mazdak and Late Antique ‘Socialism’
- 2 Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought and Praxis
- 3 Egalitarianism in Europe: Hussites, Anabaptists, Racovians, Hutterites, and Diggers
- 4 The Taiping Land Programme: Creating a Moral Environment
- Early Socialisms
- The Arrival of the Hostile Siblings: Marxism and Anarchism
- Part II Negating State Power
- Index
- References
1 - Mazdak and Late Antique ‘Socialism’
from Egalitarianism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 November 2022
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Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Socialism
- The Cambridge History of Socialism
- The Cambridge History of Socialism
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume I
- Abbreviations
- Introduction to Volume I
- Part I Beginnings
- Egalitarianism
- 1 Mazdak and Late Antique ‘Socialism’
- 2 Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought and Praxis
- 3 Egalitarianism in Europe: Hussites, Anabaptists, Racovians, Hutterites, and Diggers
- 4 The Taiping Land Programme: Creating a Moral Environment
- Early Socialisms
- The Arrival of the Hostile Siblings: Marxism and Anarchism
- Part II Negating State Power
- Index
- References
Summary
During the reign of Kawād I (AD 498–531), king of Ērānšahr (Realm of the Iranians), a Zoroastrian priest by the name of Mazdak, son of Bāmdād, appears in some sources whose rulings about property and ownership have been deemed proto-socialist. According to sources in Middle Persian of the late Sasanian Empire (AD 224–651), Mazdak promoted the sharing of women and property.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Socialism , pp. 39 - 55Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
Further Reading
de Blois, François, ‘A New Look at Mazdak’, in Bernheimer, Teresa and Silverstein, Adam (eds.), Late Antiquity: Eastern Perspectives (Exeter: E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Trust, 2012), pp. 13–24.Google Scholar
Crone, Patricia, ‘Zoroastrian communism’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 36, 3 (July 1994), pp. 447–62.Google Scholar
Daryaee, Touraj, Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (London: I. B. Tauris, 2013).Google Scholar
Shaki, Mansour, ‘The social doctrine of Mazdak in the light of Middle Persian evidence’, Archív Orientální 46, 4 (1978), pp. 289–306.Google Scholar
Yarshater, Ehsan, ‘Mazdakism’, in The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. iii, The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods, Part 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 991–1024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar