Moving deeper, we look at Later Antiquity and begin an examination of Mazdak and Mazdakism as the key building-block in our macroscopic vision of Persian cultural and religious continuities from pre- to Islamic Iran. Specifically, we must consider the transmigration of ideas from Mazdak to Mohammed. It is important to appreciate that the place of Mazdakism in the history of Persia has remained a subject almost totally ignored, or else glossed over as a Persian mistake best forgotten. The advent of Mazdak brings to attention one of the most successful Persian reactive movements, apart from the earlier implant of Manichaeism. Yet Mazdak is the face of a hidden tradition (allegedly going back to Zarathushtra) that for a time won the favour of the Sasanid court and was rapidly spread throughout the empire and, we should stress, as far as Arabia. If Mazdak and Mazdakism indeed form one of two crucial pieces in the jigsaw puzzle for filling out our alternative Persian macrohistory, the other piece, Salman the Persian, looks like the very joining of Iran and Islam.

MAZDAK'S SOCIO-RELIGIOUS REFORM

The history of the world is filled with some of the most atrocious events that taint the spirit of humanity. The Zoroastrian persecution of Mazdak and his followers is a dark chapter in Iran's history. And it would seem that the Moslem conquest of Persia, as previously implied, was a premeditated act of retribution. However, the finger does not necessarily have to point to the Mazdakite, or rather neo-Mazdakite, resurgents alone, since Salman the Persian is very much a suspect in the fall of Sasanian Iran. The fact that these events may be in any way linked adds further to the intrigue of Persia’s secret past, but nevertheless, this is precisely what encompasses the “Sasanian crisis” upon which we are about to embark.