مشروعیت و سلب مشروعیت از مزدک

This article reexamines the historical and discursive position of Mazdak, the fifth-century social reformer, within the political and ideological context of the reign of Kavad I of the Sasanian Empire. The primary aim is to investigate the mechanisms through which Mazdak’s legitimacy was constructed and later delegitimized in historical sources. Employing an analytical and library-based methodology, the study explores how the official Sasanian discourse utilized narrative, mythological, and historiographical tools to portray a specific image of Mazdak, interpreting his actions through notions such as “heresy” and “social disorder.” The analysis encompasses Mazdak’s name and identity. The article argues that these historical narratives do not merely reflect historical reality but function as discursive constructs that served to reinforce the hegemony of the royal authority and official religion during the final centuries of the Sasanian monarchy. The examination of historical narratives reveals that the image of Mazdak has been shaped within the framework of discursive relations. In other words, historical events are, in practice, narrated through discursive representations. The function of such representations is to legitimize power structures and to delegitimize socio-ideological alternatives.