Agathias

Agathias, Procopius’ continuator, dealt in the five books of his History with the final phases of Justinian’s wars against the Persians and the Goths, in particular the military campaigns in Lazica and Italy during the years 552 to 559. More than a third of his work consists of digressions, among them an extensive one on the Franks as well as two long ones on the Persians: one on the customs and religion of the Sasanians, and another on Sasanian history (the annals of the Sasanian kings).201 Agathias did not include these digressions out of any genuine interest in Persia and its civilization or because of the importance of the Sasanid Empire for contemporary Roman history, but because he had access to source material, i. e. the Persian Royal Annals, which had not been used by previous historians.202

The first excursus is a mishmash of chronography and Persian history, in particular the origin of the Sasanian dynasty, of Zoroastrian customs, and of Persian habits. Like his predecessors, Agathias referred to Persian funeral practices and the deceased left out to be devoured by dogs and carrion birds. Naturally he also mentioned their sexual customs: men slept with their sisters, daughters, and nieces; sons with their mothers.203 They had not had these habits in olden times, but the teachings of zoroaster enticed them into neglecting their former practices. In ancient times the persians had worshipped zeus and Cronos, the implication being that their customs and habits once had been like those of the Greeks. However, they had given these gods barbarian names in their own language204 and now, i. e. in Agathias’ own time, they resembled the Manichaeans in the sense that they distinguished between the two principles of good and evil. They practiced sacrifice, divination, and purification, and they revered water and fire. The latter was maintained unextinguished by the Magi in fire temples. Although Agathias almost certainly knew that Zoroastrianism went back to much earlier times, he claimed that the Magi grew powerful with the rise of the Sasanid dynasty. The Zoroastrian priesthood was indeed a privileged social class in Sasanian society and Iran was ‘Zoroastrianized’ as never before. However, Zoroastrianism never became the exclusive state religion.

In the second excursus Agathias presents a list of Sasanian kings and their main achievements, allegedly based on Persian records. He calls several kings barbarian and considers many of them wicked, bloodthirsty, cruel, quick to anger, and slow to forgive.205 Interesting is his remark about Kavad I (488-496; 499-531), who is said to have promulgated a law according to which women were to be held in common by men.206 The excursus features an appendix exclusively dedicated to Khusro I.207 This king, generally known for his tolerance, learning, and interest in Greek philosophy, was described in an unfavorable way by Agathias. He is called barbarian and characterized as a ruler who “spent his life completely in the barbarian manner”208 and could therefore never know the true paideia.209 Under his rule every kind of crime was committed in Persia: the powerful abused the weak and they were cruel and inhumane. Every man had countless wives yet still committed adultery. Agathias was particularly critical of Khusro’s interest in Greek philosophy. He called him a man with pretensions to philosophy but with no acquaintance with its subtleties. How could he understand the pure and noble work of Plato from translations in an outlandish and uncouth language? How could he, a barbarian, be trained in Plato’s writings and benefit from them? His only admirable quality was his constant practice in war and his fearlessness.

Agathias was clearly contemptuous of the persians. He thought the persian language “outlandish and uncouth” and considered Persian names barbarian; he accused the Sasanid kings of being wicked and abominable men.210 His digressions show no sympathy for them or for their customs. His impression of Persian religion is that of an outsider with neither real knowledge of nor interest in Zoroastrianism. The same applies to the persian habits. Although Agathias claimed to have had access to good source material, namely records from the royal archives, he bandied about stereotypes that had been in use since the time of Herodotus and clearly suffered from feelings of Roman superiority toward people from another culture.