Book contents
- Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity
- Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Jewish Society under Sasanian Rule
- 2 Competing for Power
- 3 Beyond ‘Tolerance’
- 4 Forgetting Persecution
- 5 Rabbis and Fire Temples
- 6 Kings and Religion in the Talmud and in the Imagination of Sasanian Communities
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- General Index
- Source Index
6 - Kings and Religion in the Talmud and in the Imagination of Sasanian Communities
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 April 2024
- Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity
- Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Jewish Society under Sasanian Rule
- 2 Competing for Power
- 3 Beyond ‘Tolerance’
- 4 Forgetting Persecution
- 5 Rabbis and Fire Temples
- 6 Kings and Religion in the Talmud and in the Imagination of Sasanian Communities
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- General Index
- Source Index
Summary
In a landmark essay, Stephen Greenblatt discussed a telling comment attributed to Elizabeth I in 1601.1 The queen learned that the steward of the Earl of Essex commissioned Shakespeare’s own theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, to perform Richard II. Given the earl’s well-known seditious intentions, the queen responded, “I am Richard II. Know ye not that?” As Francis Bacon explained in his treatise indicting the Earl of Essex for treason, the earl’s steward supported the production “to satisfy his eyes with the sight of that Tragedy, which he thought soon his Lord should bring from the Stage to the State.”2 Greenblatt argues that the earl’s steward, and apparently the queen herself, recognized that the story had “the power to wrest legitimation from the established ruler and confer it on another.” In short, “the queen understood the performance as a threat,” and the steward understood its galvanizing potential. The earl commenced his ultimately unsuccessful rebellion against the queen the day after the performance.
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- Information
- Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity , pp. 239 - 271Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024