Editing Kavad I (section)

===Persecution of Mazdak and his followers===
With his reforms under way by the 520s, Kavad no longer had any use for Mazdak{{sfn|Axworthy|2008|p=60}} and he officially stopped supporting the Mazdakites.{{sfn|Schindel|2013a|pp=136–141}} A debate was arranged where not only the Zoroastrian priesthood but also Christian and Jewish leaders slandered Mazdak and his followers.{{sfn|Axworthy|2008|p=60}} According to the ''[[Shahnameh]]'', written several centuries later by the medieval Persian poet [[Ferdowsi]], Kavad had Mazdak and his supporters sent to Khosrow. His supporters were killed in a walled orchard, buried head first with only their feet visible.{{sfn|Axworthy|2008|p=60}} Khosrow then summoned Mazdak to look at his garden, saying: "You will find trees there that no-one has ever seen and no-one ever heard of even from the mouth of the ancient sages."{{sfn|Axworthy|2008|p=60}} Mazdak, seeing his followers' corpses, screamed and passed out. He was executed afterwards by Khosrow, who had his feet fastened on a [[gallows]] and had his men shoot arrows at Mazdak.{{sfn|Axworthy|2008|p=60}} The validity of the story is uncertain; Ferdowsi used much earlier reports of events to write the ''Shahnameh'', and thus the story may report some form of contemporary memory.{{sfn|Axworthy|2008|p=61}}