Richard Payne
Richard Payne is a historian of the Iranian world in late antiquity, ca. 200–800 CE. His research focuses primarily on the dynamics of Iranian imperialism, specifically how the Iranian (or Sasanian) Empire successfully integrated socially, culturally, and geographically disparate populations from Arabia to Afghanistan into enduring political networks and institutions. His recent book, A State of Mixture: Christians, Zoroastrians, and Iranian Political Culture in Late Antiquity, explores the problem of religious diversity within the empire, showing how Syriac-writing Christians could create a place for themselves in a political culture not of their own making. For A State of Mixture, Payne received the Jacques Barzun Prize in Cultural History from the American Philosophical Society, the Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion from the American Academy of Religion, the Ehsan Yarshater Prize from the International Society for Iranian Studies, an honorable mention from the Middle East Studies Association, and the World Award for Book of the Year of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
