Impure Gates

This chapter shows how menstrual rituals were a meaningful component of religious identity formation in the Sasanian Empire. Attitudes towards menstruation were used to categorize and differentiate religious communities, while changing attitudes towards menstrual impurity signaled changing religious affiliations. Three main Sasanian non-Jewish attitudes towards menstrual impurity are described: The Zoroastrian, which is shown to be formulistic, Syriac Christian, which intentionally violates widespread menstrual taboos, and Mandaean, which placed ritual washing at the center of religious life.

Ancient history · Categorization · Empire · Epistemology · Islam · Judaism · Menstruation · Ottoman empire · Political science · Religious identity · Sociology · Theology · Zoroastrianism · Ancient Near East History · Eurasian Exchange Networks · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Internal Medicine · Law · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology