Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

30 Sasanian kings and Zoroastrianism 215
the fact that Sasanian kingship was particularly weak in this period; from
the fifth century at the latest, Zoroastrianism was firmly established also on
an institutional level.
As the example of Kartēr has shown, already during the third century a
Zoroastrian priest could achieve great power and influence. 27 During the
reigns of Bahrām I (273–6) and Bahrām II (276–93) he seems to have been at
the peak of his power. His epigraphical ‘biography’ at Naqˇs-i Rustam, which
has a strong propagandistic character comparable to the ˇ Sāpūr Inscription
( ˇ SKZ), impressively illustrates his rise in power. 28
Kartēr’s inscriptions at Sar-Maˇshad, at Naqˇs-i Rustam, on the Kaba-i Zarduˇst and
at Naqˇs-i Rajab, pp. 414–16 (ed. Back)
And after . . . Bahrām (II) . . . had become ruler, instigated by his love for Ohrmezd
and the gods and for the sake of my own soul, he elevated my rank and honour in
the empire, and he gave me the rank and honour of the magnates, and at his court
and in every province, in every place, in the entire empire, in the worship of the
gods he made me even more powerful and independent 29 than I had been before.
Already while serving ˇ Sāpūr I Kartēr proudly claimed to have established
many fire sanctuaries in ‘ Ērān’ and ‘Anērān. However, during the reign of the
second Sasanian king religious minorities were not yet persecuted. Whereas
the reign of ˇ Sāpūr I was characterised by caution – religious minorities
were tolerated, the rivalling Manichaeism was attractive for many30 – the
situation of the non-Zoroastrian religions deteriorated under the successors
of ˇ Sāpūr I. Kartēr describes the attempt to destroy all other religions and
to spread Zoroastrianism as the only legal religion.
Kartēr’s inscriptions at Sar-Maˇshad, at Naqˇs-i Rustam, on the Kaba-i Zarduˇst and at
Naqˇs-i Rajab, pp. 419–28 (ed. Back)
And the false doctrines 31 of the Ahreman (Angra Mainyu) and of the dēws
(= demons) 32 disappeared from the empire and were expelled. 33 And the Jews,
Buddhists, Brahmans (= Hindi), Nazarenes, Christians, Baptists and Manichaeans
were broken up, and their idols were destroyed and the dwellings of the dēws were
annihilated and turned into places and seats of the gods.
27 Cf. the references above, p. 27 n. 48; also Sprengling 1953. 28 See Gignoux 1991b.
29 In KSM the order of the two comparatives is exchanged.
30 Brown 1969: 92–103; Sundermann 1986: 40–92 and 239–317; Hutter 1988; Lieu 1992; id. 1994; on the
special relations between Mani and the Sasanian ruler ˇ Sāpūr and the rivalry with Kartēr’s Zoroastrian
priesthood see Hinz 1971: 485–99; Russel 1990: 180–93; also Hutter 1992: 152–69.
31 This means ‘dogma’, in particular of the non-Mazdā-followers, thus ‘false doctrine’.
32 Back 1978: 508 n. 256 talks about ‘demons, false gods’.
33 Differently Back 1978: 414; cf. also MacKenzie 1982: 285.