Representation of the Zoroastrianism Political Theology in the Construction of Centralized Governance in the Sasanian Era of Iran

The hegemonic discourse, through the equivalence of a set of political elements at a particular historical juncture, gives rise to a distinctive spatial configuration of governance. So, governance is interpreted as nonlinear and contingent rather than as uniform processes. In this regard, in the Sasanian era, with the transformation of Zoroastrianism into the official discourse, a unique form of institutional–spatial centralization emerged in Iran, marking a rupture with the feudal pattern of governance characteristic of the Parthian era. Drawing upon discourse analysis, this research aims to explicate the central signifier of Zoroastrian political theology and to demonstrate how its chain of equivalence with other elements of the discourse functioned to legitimize institutional–spatial centralization in the Sasanian era. The research findings indicate that during this period, with the transformation of the monotheistic concept of Ahura Mazda into the political and the marginalization of the polytheistic thought prevalent in the Parthian era, the king’s position as the earthly representative of Ahura Mazda was reinforced and pattern of feudal fragmentation in governance, characteristic of previous eras, was rejected as a malevolent other. Furthermore, within this discourse, a geopolitical othering of other nations, particularly the Roman Empire, was articulated under the religious concept of anīrān, which posited institutional–spatial power centralization as the guarantor of dominance over them. Sacral centralization, in addition to consolidating political institutions in cities, reduced the multiplicity of capital cities and led to the elimination the regional stakeholder’s autonomy across the Sasanian territory.