Was I misinformed, or Sassanid Persia was a largely Christian country before the Arab conquest. Zoroastrianism was a highly elitist religion that didn’t appeal to ordinary peasants like Christianity did.
Eastern edge of the Iranian Plateau was already lost to Indic religion by Parthian times and continued to grow even during the sassanid era even though there was sporadic attempt to repress it, case in point the inscription of the high priest Kadir although the authenticity of it is questionable at best.That's not really accurate. Christianity made some inroads within Mesopotamia (we'll never know exactly to what extent) but traditional Iranian religion survived on the Iranian plateau proper, essentially uncontested. Arguably, it faced a bigger threat of dying out from north india, with which it had significantly more cultural similarities, than from Christianity. The more remarkable thing, I think, is the fact that Christianity made so little progress into Iran, compared to its ultimately success in the Greek east.
Without the significant Zoroastrian population which endured long after the Arab conquest, the prevalence of religious revolts against Arab rule would be rather difficult to explain. Zoroastrianism was hardly an elite cult. (Even if it was a state religion for the Sassanids).
Edit: I should also mention I've lately been skeptical as to the degree to which Christianity in the Sassanid era really penetrated Mesopotamia. I worry that this may be one of those biases that tend to pop up because Christians left more records, have more easily recognizable sites of worship, etc. It might be comparatively difficult to identify traditional Aramaic pagans, and they might have presented far less of a unified political or social bloc, and thus been of less importance to writers at the time.
No , theree were only some minority groups in mesopotamiaWas I misinformed, or Sassanid Persia was a largely Christian country before the Arab conquest. Zoroastrianism was a highly elitist religion that didn’t appeal to ordinary peasants like Christianity did.
Could be wrong but Zoroastrianism did last but that same time was not spreading any time soon in fact one can argue the last sadanids Shas were seen this and either met them with persecution or tried to appease some of them for internal or external political advantagesThat's not really accurate. Christianity made some inroads within Mesopotamia (we'll never know exactly to what extent) but traditional Iranian religion survived on the Iranian plateau proper, essentially uncontested. Arguably, it faced a bigger threat of dying out from north india, with which it had significantly more cultural similarities, than from Christianity. The more remarkable thing, I think, is the fact that Christianity made so little progress into Iran, compared to its ultimately success in the Greek east.
Without the significant Zoroastrian population which endured long after the Arab conquest, the prevalence of religious revolts against Arab rule would be rather difficult to explain. Zoroastrianism was hardly an elite cult. (Even if it was a state religion for the Sassanids).
Edit: I should also mention I've lately been skeptical as to the degree to which Christianity in the Sassanid era really penetrated Mesopotamia. I worry that this may be one of those biases that tend to pop up because Christians left more records, have more easily recognizable sites of worship, etc. It might be comparatively difficult to identify traditional Aramaic pagans, and they might have presented far less of a unified political or social bloc, and thus been of less importance to writers at the time.