Egypt under the Sasanians (619-29): "stability, continuity, and tolerance"?

Journal article

In the past two decades revisionist scholarship on the Sasanian occupation of the Roman Near East (603-629) has undermined previous constructions of the period, replacing a model of destruction and decline with one of broad continuity and even vitality. Arguing from the perspective of Egyptian evidence—and in particular its rich papyrological record, which includes documents composed by the conquerors in their own language, Pahlavi—this paper revisits this more recent model. It first points to significant complications around the dominant understanding of the course of the invasion in 618-620, including the contention that violence was restricted to the conquest. In the central sections it explores the nature of the Sasanian occupation and its fiscal and economic impact, highlighting significant gaps in our understanding, and the probable variation of that impact upon the conquered according to a range of contextual factors. As a conclusion, it takes aim at the notion that Persian rule was ‘tolerant’ of existing Christian communities, and points to scattered evidence for the interference of the conquerors in patriarchal and episcopal life, as well as for popular resistance to their rule.

Authors: Booth, P

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: De Boccard Edition Diffusion
• Journal: Mélanges James Howard-Johnston
• Volume: 26
• Pages: 233-258
• Series: Travaux et Memoires
• Publication date: 2022-08-01
• Acceptance date: 2022-04-01
• ISSN: 0577-1471
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR