On the Emergence of the Iranian Apocalypse Between the Sixth and Seventh Centuries

Abstract

The Iranian apocalyptic texts belong to the body of Pahlavi literature that was written in the ninth and tenth centuries. While most scholarship points to the early Islamic reworking and redaction of these apocalyptic accounts, which is clearly evident in the overlapping narratives, various late Sasanian historical and apocalyptic material still seems to be detectable. This article reassesses the identification of some Iranian apocalyptic figures, in order to discuss the origin of some literary models that were likely shared with some coeval neighboring traditions. It will thereby situate the emergence of Iranian apocalyptic ideas between the end of the sixth to the first decades of the seventh century.