The Workshop on Late Antiquity and Byzantium is pleased to announce our next meeting:
Lifting the Yoke of Taxation by Holy Cross:
Taxation and Resistance in Sasanian Iran
Manuscript gospels ornamented and illustrated with Eusebian harmonies and canons. 1497.
Ani Honarchiansaky
Visiting Ph. D. Student, University of California, Los Angeles
The historic norm has been that government has the authority and right to collect taxes, but when the burden of taxation is on certain segments of a society, a resistance is inevitable. This talk will revisit the narratives about the complex issues of taxation and religion in Sasanian Iran and Persarmenia. In the fourth century, the Syriac-speaking Christians of the Empire were subject to double taxation. A century later, a new census increased taxation on Persarmenia. Through the Armenian and Syriac Martyrdom of Simeon bar Ṣabba’e and his History and Ełishe’s History of Vardan and the Armenian War, this paper will offer one possible method for understanding how Armenian and Syriac narratives constructed the Sasanian imperial policies.
Tuesday, April 11 — 4:30 pm in CWAC 156
We look forward to seeing you there!