TY - BOOK ID - 19142413 TI - The martyrs of Mount Ber'ain AU - Brock, Sebastian Paul AU - Dilley, Paul AU - Gorgias Press PY - 2014 VL - 4 SN - 1941871X SN - 9781463204211 1463204213 PB - Piscataway Gorgias Press DB - UniCat KW - Christian martyrs KW - Christians KW - Syriac literature KW - History and criticism. KW - Iran KW - History KW - History and criticism KW - Christian martyrs - Iran KW - Christians - Iran KW - Syriac literature - History and criticism KW - Mahduct et soc. mm. in Perside KW - Iran - History - To 640 UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:19142413 AB - The Martyrs of Mount Ber’ain is the poignant tale of an Iranian nobleman’s three children, Adarparwa, Mihrnarse, and Mahdukht, who embrace Christianity after the youngest brother’s near-death vision of God. This decision estranges them from their disbelieving father and ultimately results in death at the hands of King Shapur II. Gabriel “the Cow,” abbot of the monastery of Beth ‘Abe, composed the account of these events in the middle of the seventh century. The Martyrs of Mount Ber’ain provides important evidence for enduring concerns of Christian self-definition in the framework of the Sasanian Empire, especially as represented by the Zoroastrian priesthood. The three children, Adarparwa, Mihrnarse, and Mahdukht, work to forget their education by the Magi, with whom they soon find themselves engaged in battle; and yet some key features of the narrative, especially Mihrnarse’s vision, reflect shared idioms between Christians and their Zoroastrian rivals. This rivalry was committed to writing and commemorated even after the Arab conquest, and one of these three sibling-martyrs, the sister Sultana Mahdukht, is still memorialized in both Iraq and the United States. ER -