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Kerdir and the Nazoraeans

Rebecca Stengel

Universitt Gttingen

Seminar fr Iranistik, 2010

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Introduction

This paper attempts a look at the various theories surrounding the identities of two faiths, of

seven, that were supposed to have suffered religious persecution at the hand of the Zoroastrian

High Priest Kerdir in the third-century Sasanian Empire. The source of this information are fourMiddle Persian inscriptions from the Zoroastrian priest Kerdir that were first deciphered and

translated beginning in the late nineteenth century, though the fourth (KZZ) was first discovered

by archaeologists in 1924 (MacKenzie 1989, 219). The aim of this paper is not to enter the

debate of the historicity of such persecution (at the instigation of Kerdir or within the Sasanian

Empire), nor is it an attempt to present a new theory regarding the supposed victims; but rather to

summarize the solutions that have already been proposed, and to attempt a closer evaluation of

one new theory in particular.

The Inscription

Kerdir, the long-lived Zoroastrian high priest of the early Sasanian Empire left four inscriptions,

all at existing monuments from earlier Sasanian kings1, and all roughly identical in content, with

the exception of the long description of Kerdirs prayers in KNRm (MacKenzie 1989: 273). His

inscriptions were all made during the reign of Bahram II, the fifth Sasanian King, who ruled

from 273-276 AD. The content of the inscriptions, with special focus on Naqsh-e Rajab, can be

summarized as follows: Kerdir introduces himself and describes his service to the gods and the

kings. He tells of how he increased the religious rights of the gods (kerdag!n " yazad!n abz!y")

throughout the (Magian) land, much to the consternation of Ahreman and the demons, and

which led to his ever increasing religious rank in the empire--Shapur named him Herbed,

Hormizd promoted him to Mobed of Ohrmazd, and Bahram (II) named him soul-saver of

Bahram, Mobed of Ohrmezd (b#xt-ruw!n-wahr!m "ohrmezd mowbed), and made him judge of

2

1At Naqsh-e Rostam (KRNm), at Naqsh-e Rajab (KNRb), at Sar Mashhad (KSM), and at Ka$ba-eZardu%t (KKZ).

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the whole empire2. Kerdir then goes on to name the various faiths that he persecuted, the

identities of which are the subject of ongoing debate, and destroyed idols and the abodes of

demons. He then lists regions in both Iran and Aneran which were made prosperous through his

activities and charters (p!dix%"r). Next is Kerdirs description of his journey into the afterworld,

during which his double is accompanied by a beautiful woman as the gods undertake to show

him the nature of heaven and hell. Finally, Kerdir advises all who read his inscription to be true

to the gods and confident in the Mazdayasnian religion, and explains that the purpose of the

inscription is for those who see his name on documents and charters to know who he is.

Problem- Introduction of nsly and mktky

As a first-person, contemporary source, Kerdirs statements regarding the persecution of thevarious religions were long been taken by scholars at face value, and therefore, as proof that such

persecutions took place and thereby coloring the Sasanian Empire and Kerdir as rather fanatical

and intolerant in the Zoroastrian faith. Though it is not the aim of this brief paper to support or

discredit this theory, it is well known that the Sasanian Empires relationship to the Christian

community was determined to a large extent by the tumultuous state of political affairs with

Rome, in particular after Constantines conversion in 325, and tales of Christian martyrdom

during the on-again-off-again state of war between the Romans and the Sasanians exist3.However, it is worth mentioning that this assumption which has broadly shaped the image of the

Sasanian Empire is in the process of being reconsidered4. de Jong reduced the historical accuracy

3

2For Zoroastrian religious hierarchy see Kreyenbroek (1985) The Zoroastrian Priesthood, in TransitionPeriods in Iranian History, Actes du symposium de Fribourg-en-Brisgau (22-24 Mai 1985), IstitutoItaliano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 152.

3See P. Devos. (1966) Les martyrs persans travers leurs actes syriaques,Atti del Convegno sul Tema: LaPersia e il Mondo Greco-Romano, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 363. Rome: 213-25; for martyrs

under Shapur II see G. Wiessner. (1967) Untersuchungen zur syrischen Literaturgeschichte I: ZurMtyrerberlieferung aus der Christenverfolgung Schapurs II, AAWG III.67.

4de Jong (2004) speaks of this generally in his article on Zoroastrian religious polemics though his pointis more than poorly argued and he seems to miss the point. See Clemens (2004), Comment on theLecture of A. F. de Jong for a response to this inadequacy. Regarding the Rabbinical attitude towards theSasanian Empire, Kalmin (2006), inJewish Babylonia between Persia and Roman Palestine argues thatpersecution of Jews was not a problem. See also Brody (1990) Judaism in the Sasanian Empire. Joisten-Pruschke is in the process of reevaluating the case of Christian persecution, in a work that is likely toradically change our understanding of religious relations in the Sasanian Empire.

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of these statements to the level of royal propaganda, stating that with the exception of the

Manichaeans, referred to by Kerdir as zand"k (zndyky), and whose leader and prophet Kerdir had

killed, no record of persecutions in any of the the various religious traditions exist (2000: 51) 5.

That said, the question has not just been whether or not Kerdirs statements of persecution are

true, but what these faiths actually were. They appear in the inscriptions as follows:

W yhwdy W !mny W blmny W nsly W klstydn W mktky W zndyky

The identities of five of these is clear: yhwdy(yahud) are the Jews, !mny(%aman)are Buddhists,

blmny (braman) are Hindus, klstydn (kristiy!n) are Christians, and zndyky (zand"k) are

Manichaeans6. It is regarding the remaining two that questions arise. First, although on the one

hand n"ly (in KKZ and KSM) and (n)s(l)[y] (in KNRm)--two Persian variations of the

Aramaic n!&r!y7--have been consistently understood to refer to Nazoraeans, the question of

who the Nazoraeans were and what their relationship was to the kristiy#n of the same inscription

has been subject to debate. Thus, while some have sought to see a Christian sect in the

Nazoraeans and the kristiy#n as orthodox, the suggestion has also been made that the

Nazoraeans were in fact the orthodox Christians and the kristiy#n were Marcionites8. A more

recent theory from G. Widengren9

that was followed by Mackenzie, was that the Nazoraeansshould be understood to be Mandaeans (MacKenzie 1999: 261).

4

5Though I fail to see how the Acts of the Christian Martyrs fits into this if not belonging to a Christianliterary tradition with stories of persecution of some sort.

6As per de Blois (2002: 5-6 and note 27) !mny (%aman) is from Middle Indian &ama'a-, Old Indian(rama'a-; and blmny (braman) from Middle Indian brama'a-, Old Indian br!hma'a-. He goes on toexplain that these two terms appear in juxtaposition to one another in Indian texts from as early asA(okas inscription in Kandahar basically for the adepts of the two principal directions in Indian

spirituality: those who seek salvation in personal devotion and asceticism, and those who seek it throughthe performance of the Vedic rituals, but in the time of Kird"r they mean in the first instance Buddhistand Brahmanist respectively.

7See de Blois (2002: 6 and note 28).

8See Brock (1974: 92). The Marcionite theory was advanced by P. J. de Menasce. (1945) $kand-Gum#n%kVir. Fribourg: 206f.

9By G. Widengren (1965), in Die Religionen Irans,Stuttgard, 277-8.

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The final unidentified faith, mktky, has continued to confound scholars. Simply put, whereas

much of what complicates a meaningful identification of nsly is the sheer abundance of this and

similar terms10, scholars seem to be confronted with a paucity of options for mktky. This is made

more difficult by the the challenges posed by the Middle Persian writing system, and the fact that

this word has only survived in one of three inscriptions, having been broken off at this point in

the others. However, guesses have been ventured and opinions here are varied. Both Baily and

Sundermann came up with (Mesopotamian) Baptists, albeit in different ways11. Frye suggested

Mandaeans (1967: 83), and Widengren even went so far as to venture a guess with the Jains12.

de Blois hypothesis: mktkyThe by far most recent and arguably most thought-provoking suggestions have been made by de

Blois in his article, Na&r!n" ()*+,-*./0) and 1an"f (23,4560): Studies on the Religious

Vocabulary of Christianity and of Islam, published in 2002. In this extremely thorough study de

Blois takes on both terms. De Blois hypothesis regarding mktkyis based on two factors13. First,

that with the exception of the Jews, who are mentioned first in the inscription, the following six

appear in cohesive pairs. Thus, !aman and braman can be viewed as a pair of two religions

stemming from India and as a juxtaposition that had been current in Indian texts of the time14;and n#sr#y and kristiy#ncan be viewed as a pair of two types of Christianity, which would leave

mktkypaired withzand%k--the Manichaeans. Second, with this first assumption in mind, he takes

5

10The confusion that has arisen among medieval and modern scholars alike is discussed by Pritz (1988)in his introduction and first two chapters of his book. pp. 9-28.

11Baily (1983: 907-8) sought to identify the Iranian root *mak-, to wash, moisten thus *maktak-tobaptize, while Sundermann (1980: 237-42) derived it from Syriac mna''()the purified ones, a theory

that MacKenzie (1999: 261) seems to accept as more convincing. See de Blois (2002: 5-6, n. 31) for adiscussion and his argumentation against both.

12See Widengren (1965: 277). Widengrens proposal stemmed from the suggestion that mktkycould beindentified as Sanskrit mukta-liberated. Given that the Buddhists and Hindus had already beenmentioned, he ventured at Jains, a most unlikely prospect.

13See de Blois (2002: 7-8).

14See note 7 above.

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mktky, which only appears in one of the inscriptions (being broken off at this point in the others)

to be a scribal error for mztky or m"tky. Both of these, he claims, could be acceptable spellings

for Aramaic mzadde', one who justifies, one who declares another one just, one who gives

alms. His idea is that this could be a plausible name for the Manichaean auditors, whose job it

was to give alms to the electi. Thus he writes *mzadde'and zadd%'(MPzand%k) would be the

two components of the Manichaean church, the auditors and the electi (de Blois 2002: 7).

That this identification is not without problems is clear, as de Blois himself is quick to admit, the

most important of which perhaps being that mzadde'is not attested with this definition in any

Aramaic document (de Blois 2002:7). This becomes all the more suspect when one takes into

consideration zealous labeling of dissident faiths as Manichaean (zand%k) even where none

were to be found. Moreover, the breakdown of the faiths into pairs has so far yielded the

following: Hindus and Buddhists, which are very much distinct faiths even if do they appear

together in Indian texts; and Nazoraeans and Christians, which (if we accept de Blois proposal

discussed below) are also distinct even if not to the extent of the first pair. The Manichaean

hearers (or auditors), on the other hand, can hardly be separated from the electi in such a

way, and a distinction of terms between the laypeople and priestly class is hardly foreign to any

of faiths mentioned. It seems therefore unlikely that Kerdir would think to name both in hisannouncement of persecution. However, one point could perhaps render such a redundancy

plausible: of all the faiths mentioned, Kerdirs direct persecution of the Manichaeans is the most

certain. Given that he had Mani killed, their prophet and the highest ranking of all the elect--or

zand%k (as de Blois would have it), those to whom alms were offered--it is conceivable that the

redundancy is to be understood as an emphasis. It could then be viewed as the result of actual

persecution combined with the closer contact Kerdir had to actual members of this faith.

de Blois hypothesis: nsly

De Blois proposal for n#sr#y is similarly aided by this first assumption of pairing. De Blois

thus rules out the Mandaeans, and suggests that Kerdir was in fact referring to the Jewish-

Christian sect that has been historically confused with the Ebionites (Pritz 1988: 9-10). These

6

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Nazoraeans (theNazoraeans), are generally believed to have been Jews who accepted the virgin

birth of Jesus and accepted him as Savior but continued to adhere to the laws of Moses (i.e.

circumcision, dietary laws etc.). That this would be the obvious answer has been complicated by

the fact that the numbers and presence of this sect has been assumed to be marginal. In his

monograph on the subject15, Pritz concludes that the Nazoraeans existed in small communities

probably until the fourth century and were limited geographically to pockets of settlement along

the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, mostly just east of the Jordan rift [...] and in Galilee and

probably Jerusalem until 135 when all the Jews were expelled from the city (1989: 108). They

also maintained a small presence in Syria, near Aleppo towards the end of the fourth century

(ibid.).

The implications that this identification would have, if correct, are interesting. If Kerdirs

Nazoraeans are indeed the same Jewish-Christian sect branded as heretics by some early

Christian patriarchs, it would make Kerdirs inscription both the earliest clear reference to the

Nazoraeans as a group (as versus to a person16), predating that of Epiphanius by more than one

hundred years, and possibly the only reference from a pagan source17. However, de Blois takes

the conclusion one step further. In addressing the Arabic na"r#n%, plural na"#r#, he proposes that

this is not a term that Arabic adopted from elsewhere (i.e. Syriac), bur rather from theNazoraeans themselves; and by extension, that the original na"#r# of the Quran where not

orthodox Christians at all, but rather of the Nazoraean sect 18.

7

15See Pritz (1988)Nazarene Jewish Christianity from the end of the New Testament Period until itsdisappearance in the fourth century.

16In this case Jesus in the New Testament:)*+,-*./0in Matt. 2:23, 26:71; Luke 18:37; John 18:5,7,19:19; Acts 2:22, 3:6, 4:10, 6:14. See Pritz (1988) p. 11 note 1.

17The only could be seen in Plinys mention in hisHistoria Naturalis Book V of Nazerinorum. Pritzcautions however, that the area referred to by Pliny in inhabited today by Nu&airi Muslims, and impliesthat if one were to include all of these similar forms, one would have all the ingredients for a scholasticfree-for-all (1988: 17-18).

18See de Blois (2002: 11-16) for his discussion of the topic.

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With regards to the first hypothesis, de Blois argumentation is ingenious. Much of what he has

to maneuver to support his theory are the other textual references to Nazarenes. In the acts of the

Persian Martyrs this term appears often beside kristiy#n in such a way that Brock (1974: 91-95)

was lead to suggest that the Sasanian Empire called its own native Christians n#"ar#y and the

Christians from the Roman Empire--Christians that had been resettled in Persia--kristiy#n,based

on their own self-designation. de Blois points out, however, that the general term for Christian

in Middle Persian is not n#sr#y, but tars#g (NP. tars#), (God) fearer19, and that n#sr#y only

appears once in the Middle Persian corpus, namely in Kerdirs inscription (2002: 9).

Furthermore, he notes that (in the acts of the Persian martyrs) Nazoraean seems to be term not

of Christian self-designation but one put into the mouths of of non-Christians [...mostly] where

it is the persecuting Zoroastrians who refer to their Christian victims as Nazoraeans (de Blois

2002: 8).

de Blois proposal that the n#"ar#yof the Quran were originally in fact Nazoraeans is also well

argued but seems to present more problems. The first part of his argument is linguistic. Based

on Arabic adjective formation he rejects the possibility that the Arabic form could be based on

either the Aramaic n#"r#y- or the Hebrew n*"r%-20. He also acknowledges thatthe fact that the

necessary Aramaic form, *na"r#n#y-, is not attested in any Aramaic dialect as a considerablehindrance to the theory. Further support that Christians of the Quran are Nazoraean Jewish

Christians is sought in what the Quran itself has to say about Christians. The first has to do the

8

19de Blois (2002: 10) notes also that, Similarly, in the Choresmian glosses to az-Zamax%ar"sMuqddaimatu l-adab, Arabic n#"ar#y (na"#r#) is translated as trskand trsknk. And the Sogdianname Christian is very well attested, both in (Nestorian) Christian and Manichaean texts, as tars#k,

tars#

k#neand tars

#k#

n&. See also note 51 and 52 for references.

20de Blois (2002: 11) states, that this name [na"r#n%] is connected with the town of Nazareth, in Arabican-N!&ir!h, was recognized by most of the medieval Arabic philologists, though it was equally clear tothem that na"r#n%is not easy to explain in terms of Arabic word formation; modern scholars have alsofailed [...] to account adequately for the Arabic form. He states further that one must consequently rejectthe occasional claim that the Muslims had their word for Christian from the Jews. Why this last pointshould be so self-explanatory is something I fail to understand, though this position would seem to besupported statements by Trimingham (1979: 249) on the Jewish communities of the western Arabianpeninsula.

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Qurans rejection of the Trinity 21, the second concerns quranic dietary regulations22. This second

issue of dietary regulations is the most interesting of the two. Given that Christians do not have

similar dietary restrictions, it does seem odd that their food should be acceptable for Muslims.

Granted this is as a people of the Book but nonetheless, by discarding Jewish law Christians

made themselves in this regard very different from the other people of the Book: the Jews. That

one of the defining aspects of the Nazoraeans appear to have been the maintenance of these

practices would seem to speak for the na"#r#of the Quran not as normal Christians but indeed as

Nazoraeans. However, to see this as the only explanation would be limiting. Brock (1982: 9

note 37) notes a story of a girl named Anahid, martyred under Yazgird II, who refused to eat in

front of her parents for fear that they would discover that she had converted to Christianity 23.

Although it is not specified what it was about her eating that would have drawn attention, it is

certainly worth considering that dietary restrictions seem to have existed at least among some

Christians.

9

21He suggests that such a vehement denial of a trinity that includes Jesus mother could actually havestemmed from a group that actually did believe this rather than from a misunderstanding of Christiandoctrine. One passage of the Nazoraean Hebrew Gospel quoted by Origin in which the Nazoraeans aresaid to pray my mother, the holy spirit lift me up. see (de Blois 2002: 15 note 17) for references. Theweakest element of this argument is the sheer diversity of form that the idea of the Trinity took on in earlyChristianity and the prevalence the idea among Manichaeans.

The Quran verses quoted by de Boise (2002: 13), the verses are as follows:(an-Nis# 4:171): Oh people of the book! Do not exaggerate your religion and do not speak of god otherthan the truth. the Christ, 7s!son of Maryam, is only gods emissary and his word, which he cast towardsMaryam, and a spirit from him. So believe in god and his emissaries and do not say: three.(al-M#idah5:73): Verily, those ones were unbelievers who said that god is the third of three.(al-M#idah5:73): The Christ, the son of Maryam, is only an emissary, in advance of whom the (other)emissaries have passed away, and his mother is a righteous woman, the who of whom used to eat food.(al-M#idah5:116): When god said: Oh 7s!son of Maryam! Didst thou say to men: Take me and mymother as two gods apart from god?, (7s!) said: Be thou exalted (above that)! It is not for me to say thatto which I am not entitled..(al-Jinn72:3): And (it was revealed to me) that the good fortune of our lord was elevated, (for) he did nottake for himself a consort, nor a child.

22This verse quoted in this regard is:(al-M#idah5:5) [God to his people:] Today the good things have been permitted to you--and the food ofthose to whom the book was given is permitted to you and your food is permitted to them--and (likewise)the (legal) wives from amongst the believing (i.e. Muslim) women and the (legal) wives from amongstthose to whom the book as given before you, provided you give them their wages (dowries) as (legal)husbands, not as fornicators nor as those who take lovers.

23AMS II p. 569; Refusal to eat ritually slaughtered meat on the part of the Christians was apparentlysomething that set them apart from the Zoroastrians (Brock 1982: 9).

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All of this aside, who would Nazoraeans near Mecca necessarily had to have been?

One issue is that Nazoraeans by definition, or at least the definition that is here under

consideration, were Christians who continued to keep Jewish law. The points specifically

brought out by de Boise concern dietary laws and the Jewish Sabbath. In order for de Blois

hypothesis to be correct, the Christians with whom Mohammad would have had (initial) contact

would have had to have converted. They would have also had to have had contact with the

Nazoraeans of Mesopotamia, or themselves be part of them who settled in Arabian Peninsula

and then continued to be a viable community long after they seem to have disappeared

elsewhere24. While there were certainly Jewish communities in the Arabian Peninsula, there is

not reason to believe that they could have fulfilled such criteria25.

Moreover, as de Blois would have it, the Meccans initial contact with Christians was so limited

that it wasnt until aftertheir conquest of Byzantine and Sasanian territories, the Muslims came

into extensive contact with Catholic Christians and thus transferred the Quranic name to them

(2002 12-13). If one follows the traditionally accepted history of Muhammad and the spread of

Islam, as de Blois has done, this theory would be highly improbable. It can be summarized thus:

Mecca was insignificant and almost completely isolated until the fifth century when it was

occupied by the Quraish clans and by the time of the Prophet it enjoyed extensive trade contactwith the outer world26--an outer world that in the form of Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Axum could

hardly have withheld from the traders more mainstream trends of Christianity of the time27 .

Even the Kaba is said to have had paintings of Jesus and Mary before it was cleansed of its

10

24According to Pritz, in the earliest church Nazoraeans were synonymous with Christians of Jewish background and that it was because they werent considered different enough to take notice of until the churchwas secure enough to narrow its definition of orthodoxy that they found a place among the heretics of theday. That this was more the case rather than because of their supposedly small numbers seems reasonable

to assume, yet it would only account for the initial silence and not second one, as Pritz himself states.25See Trimingham (1979: 248 ff.)

26See ibid(1979: 258)

27Trimingham (1979: 258) writes that the Meccans were in contact with the Christians of Syria throughcommercial relations, as well as with the diffused witness of the monks. They were fully conscious of thelong duel between Byzantium and Persia, which reached it climax during the lifetime of [...]Muhammad.

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pagan past by the Prophet Muhammad in 624. Texts describing this painting have given the

impression that, iconographically, it belonged to a style that was current in the wider Christian

world (King 2004: 221). And it seems likely that an Ethiopian (or Coptic) architect had been

commissioned for at least part of this job28. On a more personal level, traditions of contact even

relate conversion of Mohammads own family member(s) and early followers to Christianity 29.

With this summary how could the Meccans and Muhammad have only encountered the

Nazoraean sect to the exclusion of others even if they had managed to make it to regions around

Mecca?

That the Muslim conquerors transferred the Quranic name na"#r# to the Christians they

encountered during the expansion, and that they were in turn happy to adopt this name, at least

when speaking to Muslims, in Arabic, so as to lay claim to the status of ahlu l-kit#b (de Blois

2002: 13) could make sense enough were it not for the inevitable contact that took place earlier.

In which case, such a dynamic would make no sense prior to Islam. Nor would it have a place in

615 when some of the Prophet Muhammads wives and Companions were said to have traveled

to 8abasha in Ethiopia as the first Mulslim muh#jir+n, where one of them even converted to

Christianity 30.

However, all of this is based on the traditionally accepted version of early Islamic history and the

life of the Prophet. These are accounts that have come under serious (if perhaps unpopular?)

question by Islamic Studies scholar Patricia Crone who suggests that these are the completely

fictional accounts of storytellers and that the only thing we actually know about Mohammad and

11

28See G. R. D. King. (2004) The Paintings of the Pre-Islamic Kaba, inMuqarnas, Vol. 21, Essays inHonor of J. M. Rogers. Brill: 219-229.

29Waraqa ibn Nawfal, a cousin of Khadija, became a Christian; and Ubaid All!h ibn Ja1sh, a follower ofMohammad, became a Christian in Abyssinia in 615. See Trimingham (1979: 263) for references.

30Ubayd Allah b. Jahsh. See King (2004: 222) and references. Here they had viewed Christian paintingsin the Church of St. Mary Zion in Aksum, which his wife Umm Habiba described to him when he was onhis deathbed.

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his environment is these traditions are with certainty not an accurate reflection of the reality 31.

Though not stated outright, Crone seems to conclude that is was not in Mecca that the historical

Mohammad made his appearance, but rather in the Northern Hijaz and southern Syria (Crone

1987: 163) or in the Dead Sea region (2008: par. 30). If this was indeed where much of the

Quran takes place and where Islam was really to have arisen Mohammad would have been

much more likely to have come into contact of Nazoraeans, though on the same note it would

have been impossible that these would have been the onlyChristians he would have known. It is

nonetheless a idea that would fundamentally change de Blois argumentation regarding the

Quranic na"#r#.

ConclusionWhat relevance does de Blois theory have for Kerdirs inscription? Especially with regard to

nsly, if Kerdir was indeed indicating the Nazoraeans it would make this the earliest known

testament of their existence. This testament is not coming from a Christian heresiographer, but

from a Zoroastrian priest who, may or may not have known anything about them, nonetheless

mentioned them as separate from Christians. In fact, given that nsly has been found no where

else in Middle Persian, it is likely that he had had no personal contact with them at all. However,

that Kerdir had heard about them could be taken as an indication of the size or influence of thefaith as distinguishable from orthodox Christianity earlier than was noted by Christians

themselves. Likewise, the na"#r# in the Quran. Though the full theory presented by de Blois

seems unlikely regardless of the version of early Islamic history one follows, Crones theory

would place Mohammad in a place where contact with Nazoraeans could have been realistic.

This would again extend the life of the group several hundred years beyond what was thought. It

is interesting to note that the earliest mention of the Nazoraeans was as a group distinct from the

Christians and all middle literature identifies them as a heretical group of Christians, whereas thelatest sources sees them (or at least their name) become synonymous with Christianity itself.

About Mohammad, Crone (2008: par. 38) concludes that, the prophet was not an outsider

12

31See herMeccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, Princeton: 1987 for her amazing analysis of what Meccantrade was or was not and the consequences this has for the historicity of traditional accounts.

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haphazardly collecting fallout from debates in the monotheist world around him, but rather a full

participant in these debates. Differently put, the rise of Islam has to be related to developments in

the world of late antiquity... Albeit not as dramatic, at least the name Nazoraean has come full

circle, and one is left still to wonder who they were and what their role was is the history of the

early church and among monotheistic faiths.

13

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--- (1982) Christians in the Sasanid Empire: a Case of Divided Loyalties, in Religion and

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