Kartir

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Kartir

Kartir Hangirpe (alternatively, Karder or Kirdir) was a highly influential Zoroastrian

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster, after whom the religion is named. The term Zoroastrianism is in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e., the worship of Ahura Mazda, exalted by Zoroaster as the supreme divine authority....
high-priest of the late 3rd century CE and served as advisor to at least three Sassanid

Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name of the last pre-Islamic Iranian empire. It was one of the two main powers in Western Asia for a period of more than 400 years....
emperors.

Kartir was probably instrumental in promoting the cause of Mazdaism (as opposed to Zurvanism

Zurvanism

Zurvanism is a now-extinct branch of Zoroastrianism that had the divinity Zurvan as its First Principle . Zurvanism is also known as Zurvanite Zoroastrianism....
, the other - now extinct - branch of Zoroastrianism), for in his inscription at Naqsh-e Rajab, Kartir makes plain that he has "decided" that "there is a heaven and there is a hell", thus putting himself at odds with the principles of (fatalistic) Zurvanism.

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Kartir Hangirpe (alternatively, Karder or Kirdir) was a highly influential Zoroastrian

Zoroastrianism

Sassanid Empire

Zurvanism

Shapur I

Shapur I was the second Sassanid King of the Sassanid Empire. The dates of his reign are commonly given as 241 - 272, but it is likely that he also reigned as co-regent prior to his father's death in 241....
(r. 241-272) - to whom Kartir was first appointed advisor - that Zurvanism appears to have developed as a cult, and this contradiction remains an issue of scholastic dispute.

Simultaneously, Kartir is also considered to have been a significant force in an iconoclastic movement that would result in the loss of favour of the shrine cults, an alien (to Indo-Iranian

Indo-Iranians

Indo-Iranian people consist of the Indo-Aryans, Iranian people, Dard people and Nuristani people, that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages....
religious tradition) form of worship inherited from the Babylonians and instituted six centuries earlier by Artaxerxes II as an instrument for tax collection. It was during Kartir's time as high-priest that the shrines were - by law - stripped of their statues, and then either abandoned or converted into fire temples (see Atar

Atar

Atar is the Zoroastrianism concept for "burning and unburning fire" and "visible and invisible fire" .In an unrestricted sense, atar is heat - that is, thermal energy, manifest as fire or other luminous source when visible....
).

According to his own inscriptions, Kartir rose to power during the reign of Shapur I

Shapur I

Hormizd I

Hormizd I was the third Sassanid dynasty King of Persia from 272 to 273.He was the son of Shapur I , under whom he was governor of Khorasan, and appears in his wars against Rome ....
(r. 272-273) appointed Kartir Moabadan-Moabad, 'priest of priests', a position Kartir ruthlessly used to promote his own position and to punish lower-ranking priests whose opinions he considered contrary to his own. Under subsequent kings, Kartir called for the persecution of adherents of other religions, in particular Manichaeans

Manichaeism

Manichaeism was one of the major Iranian Gnosticism religions, originating in Sassanid Persia. Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived....
, whose prophet Mani

Mani (prophet)

Mani was the founder of Manichaeism, an ancient gnostic religion that was once widespread but is now extinct. Mani was born of Iranian peoples parentage in Assuristan, located in modern-day Iraq, which was a part of the Persian Empire during Mani's life....
was sentenced to death by Bahram I

Bahram I

Bahram I , was the fourth Sassanid emperor of the Sassanid Empire. He succeeded his brother Hormizd I , who had reigned for only a year....
(r. 273–276), very likely on the instigation of Kartir and even though Shapur I had previously been a patron of the prophet. The persecution ceased during the reign of Narseh

Narseh

Narseh was the seventh Sassanid dynasty King of Persian Empire , and son of Shapur I .During the rule of his father Shapur I, Narseh had served as the Viceroy of Sistan, Baluchistan and Sindh....
(r. 293–302), probably after the death of the high-priest.

Kartir is not well attested in sources other than his own inscriptions on the Ka'ba-i Zartosht (at Naqsh-e Rustam

Naqsh-e Rustam

Naqsh-e Rustam is an archaeological site located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars province, Iran. Naqsh-e Rustam lies a few hundred meters from Naqsh-e Rajab....
) and at Naqsh-e Rajab

Naqsh-e Rajab

Naqsh-e Rajab is an archaeological site just east of Istakhr and about 12 km north of Persepolis.Together with Naqsh-e Rustam, which lies less than a kilometer away, the site is part of the Marvdasht cultural complex....
.

Kartir

Bibliography

Further reading