Constructing clandestine communities: oaths of collective secrecy and conceptual boundaries in the late antique Mediterranean

This article explores fourth- to seventh-century narratives about oaths of collective secrecy, which our sources typically frame negatively. By examining the terminology used in reference to these promises, the dynamics inherent in the practice and its relationship to oath-taking customs in other contexts, and the influence of Christianity on the discourses around such pledges, we can see that late antique authors routinely frame the swearing of these pacts as a transition to a liminal state of existence. Through this rhetoric, church and state authorities constructed conceptual boundaries between those who agreed and disagreed with their definitions of acceptable behaviours.     

Book reviews

The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume I, The Land of Iran. Edited by W. B. Fisher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968. xix + 784 pp., maps, bibliogr., index. $12.50.

The Cambridge History of Iran. Volume V, The Saljug and Mongol Periods. Edited by J. A. Boyle, Cambirdge: Cambridge University Press, 1968. xiii + 763 pp., maps, tables, bibliog., index. $12.50.

Planning and Development in Iran. By George B. Baldwin. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1967. xv + 212. $6.95.     

Book reviews

History of Iranian Literature. By JAN RYPKA. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1967. 928 pages. $35.00

The Sociology of Development: Iran as an Asian Case Study. By NORMAN JACOBS. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1966. 541 pages. $17.50.