"The Coup against Mazdakite", Reza Akhlaghi, Tehran Bureau, 2009-08-18, is an interesting article drawn from the Iranian epic, Shahnameh by Ferdowsi.
Mazdak was a prime minister of Iran/Persia in the fifth and sixth century A.D. He instituted many reforms to curtail the excessive wealth of the aristrocracy, including access to harems!! Really, the rich had essentially cornered the "market" on women and many common men could not find wives.
Unfortunately, the rich and the clergy swayed the king to their side and many of Mazdak's followers were brutally slain.
Akhlaghi thinks that change against clerical dominance may be easier now than previously. The clerics are the custodians of oral culture; the people only received this knowledge and its interpretation from the clerics. As more and more culture becomes written and literacy spreads, the power of the clergy could become seriously diminished.
The lessons for now and for Iran and the U.S.?? Excessive wealth could be curtailed by a democracy of literate people.
