Jesus in the Talmud

182 Notes to Chapter 970. Geo Widengren, Die Religionen Irans, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1965, pp.274ff.; Jes Asmussen, “Christians in Iran,” The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3(2): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1983, p. 933; Richard N. Frye, The Historyof Ancient Iran, Munich: Beck, 1984, p. 301.71. See in particular the careful analysis by Josef Wiesehöfer, AncientPersia from 550 BC to 650 AD, London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 1996,pp. 199ff.72. Ahura Mazda, the “good god.”73. The “evil god,” Ahura Mazda’s opponent.74. English translation by Wiesehöfer, Ancient Persia, p. 199.75. On the distinction between the “Nazarenes” (presumably native PersianChristians) and the “Christians” (presumably deported Christians of western origin)see Sebastian P. Brock, “Some Aspects of Greek Words in Syriac,” in idem,Syriac Perspectives on Late Antiquity, London: Variorum, 1984, pp. 91–95;Asmussen, “Christians in Iran,” pp. 929f.76. On the status of the Jews under the Sasanians see in particular the classicalarticle by Geo Widengren, “The Status of the Jews in the Sassanian Empire,”in Irania Antiqua, vol. 1, ed. R. Ghirshman and L. Vanden Berghe, Leiden:Brill, 1961, pp. 117–162; and Jacob Neusner, A History of the Jews in Babylonia,vols. 1–5, Leiden: Brill, 1967–1970. More recent and more specific are IsaiahM. Gafni, The Jews of Babylonia in the Talmudic Era: A Social and CulturalHistory, Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 1990 (in Hebrew);Robert Brody, “Judaism in the Sasanian Empire: A Case Study in ReligiousCoexistence,” in Irano-Judaica II: Studies Relating to Jewish Contacts withPersian Culture throughout the Ages, ed. Shaul Shaked and Amnon Netzer,Jerusalem: Yad Itzhak Ben-Zvi, 1990, pp. 52–62; Shaul Shaked, “ZoroastrianPolemics against Jews in the Sasanian and Early Islamic Period,” in Irano-JudaicaII, ed. Shaked and Netzer, pp. 85–104.77. See Asmussen, “Christians in Iran,” pp. 933ff.; Sebastian P. Brock,“Christians in the Sasanian Empire: A Case of Divided Loyalties,” in Religionand National Identity: Papers Read at the Nineteenth Summer Meeting and theTwentieth Winter Meeting of the Ecclesiastical History Society, ed. Stuart Mews,Oxford: Blackwell, 1982, pp. 5ff.78. Spring or early summer of 337: Timothy D. Barnes, “Constantine andthe Christians of Persia,” JRS 75, 1985, p. 130.