![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Part of a series on |
Zoroastrianism |
---|
![]() |
![]() |
Zoroastrianism is considered to be the oldest religion still practiced in Iran. It is an Iranian religion that emerged around the 2nd millennium BCE, spreading through the Iranian plateau and eventually gaining official status under the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE. It remained the Iranian state religion until the 7th century CE, when the Arab conquest of Persia resulted in the fall of the Sasanian Empire to the nascent Rashidun Caliphate. Over time, the persecution of Zoroastrians led to them becoming a religious minority amidst the Islamization of Iran, as many fled east to take refuge in India. [1] Some of Zoroastrianism's holiest sites are located in Iran, such as Yazd.
Today, Iran has the second- or third-largest Zoroastrian population in the world, behind only India and possibly the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The official Iranian census of 2011 recorded a total of 25,271 Zoroastrians in the country, but several unofficial accounts suggest higher figures. [2] [3]
The Zoroastrian religion is supposed to have been founded around the middle of the second millennium BCE by the prophet Zoroaster, also known as Zarathushtra, for whom the religion is named. [1] Contemporary Zoroastrianism is a religion whose followers worship one God, Ahura Mazda, which is the good divine. He has sacred beings alongside him, like individual deities but also natural phenomena. In opposition, there is also an embodiment of evil that wants to bring disorder and destruction. This evil comes in the form of Angra Mainyu in the Avestan and in the form of Ahreman in Middle Persian. [4]
The belief in a good and bad divine seems to be part of a dualistic religion. The Zoroastrian religion can therefore be seen as a dualistic or polytheistic religion, but some modern scholars see Zoroastrianism as the only monotheistic religion of Indo-European origin. [5] These are terms of modern scholarship, and there is no indication that the ancient Zoroastrians themselves would have understood their religion in these terms, at least not until the early Islamic period. [6]
Zarathushtra and his first followers were Iranians who lived during the Bronze Age and Iron Age (1200–600 BCE). [7] : 1 No written records about the religion survive from Zarathushtra's own time or from ancient Iran. The earliest surviving written references to Zarathushtra seem to be those of Greek writers.[ citation needed ] The time of the Iranian peoples' migration to Iran can be mainly estimated through Assyrian records. [7] : 48 Herodotus (I, 101) called one of the Mede tribes Magoi, Latin Magi , a tribe known to have included many priests who served both Medes and Persians. By the time of the Median empire (est. 612 BCE), Zoroastrianism was well established in both the Pars region (later capital of Persia) as well as in the Eastern regions. [7] : 49
European academics first came into contact with Zoroastrianism in Iran during the seventeenth century, at a time when Islam was the dominant religion. European interest in Iranian culture grew as part of the academic study of the Orient. [8] Zoroastrianism was of particular interest to academics as a surviving pre-Islamic Iranian religion, and scholars viewing it from a Christian perspective were interested in the shared characteristics of monotheistic theology and dualistic cosmology present in both religions. [9] This intellectual exchange likely also changed Zoroastrians ideas about their own religion, as intellectual exchange rarely occurs in isolation. [9] These first studies set the tone for ideas about Zoroastrianism in Iran, but discussions about the origin and nature of the religion still continue in both western and in Iranian studies.
Persians led by Cyrus the Great soon established the second Persian dynasty and the first empire, the Achaemenid Empire, by defeating the Medes in 549 BCE. [7] : 49 As Persians expanded their empire, Zoroastrianism was introduced to Greek historians such as Hermodorus, Hermippus, Xanthos, Eudoxus and Aristotle; each giving a different date regarding the life of Zoroaster but naturally believed him to be a Persian prophet and called him "Master of the magi" [7]
Although there are no inscriptions left from the time of Cyrus about his religion, the fire-altars found at Pasargadae, as well as the fact that he called his daughter Atossa, name of the queen of Vishtaspa (Zoroaster's royal patron), suggests that he indeed may have been a Zoroastrian. [7]
It is suggested that by the time of Darius the Great (549 BCE–485/486 BCE), the empire was Zoroastrian. This is due to one of Darious' inscriptions, which goes as follow:
"A great God is Ahuramazda, who created this earth, who created yonder sky, who created man, who created happiness for man, who made Darius king, one king over many, one lord over many." [7]
This leads to the belief that the Zoroastrian religion is the oldest religion in Iran. More importantly, it is suggested to be the original religion of Iran. Besides the inscription above, there is, however not necessarily any notion or evidence for these statements. [10]
Persepolis (or Parsa) was one of the four capitals of the Achaemenid empire, built by Darius the Great and his son Xerxes. It was a glorious city known to the world as the "richest city under the sun". It was also the trading capital of the Near East.
One of the main functions of Persepolis was to serve as the host of the ancient Zoroastrian festival, Norouz. Therefore, every year representatives from each country under the rule of Persia would bring gifts to Persepolis to show their loyalty to the king and the empire.
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008) |
The Sasanian Empire (224-651) declared Zoroastrianism as the state religion and promoted a religious revival.[ citation needed ]
During the period of their centuries-long suzerainty over the Caucasus, the Sasanians made attempts to promote Zoroastrianism there with considerable successes, and it was prominent in the pre-Christian Caucasus, especially in what is now Azerbaijan.[ citation needed ]
Due to its ties to the Roman Empire, Persia's archrival since the Parthian Empire, the Sasanians were suspicious of Christianity as the Roman state religion. After the reign of Constantine the Great, they sometimes persecuted it. [11] The Sasanian authorities clashed with their subjects in Sasanian Armenia in the Battle of Avarayr in 451, making them officially break with the Roman Church.
However, the Sasanians tolerated or even sometimes favored Christianity in the form of the Sasanian-centered Church of the East. The acceptance of Christianity in Caucasian Iberia saw Zoroastrianism there slowly but surely decline, [12] and as late as the 5th century, it was still widely practiced, almost having the status of a second established religion. [13] [14]
The prophet Mani was a Parthian of noble roots who established Manichaeism which contained many elements of Zoroastrianism as well as gnosticism; however, it saw the experience of life on earth by humans as miserable, which was in contrast to the Zoroastrian view which was to celebrate life through happiness.
Mani was received kindly by Emperor Shapur I and spent many years at his court, where he was protected during all of Shapur's reign. However, Mani wrote in Syriac, a Semitic language, and all his work had to be translated into Middle Persian by his followers, who rendered the name of Mani's supreme god as Zurwān and called him the father of Ohrmazd, which was the Middle Persian version of Ahura Mazda [15]
Although the origins of Zurvanite Zoroastrianism are unclear, it was during the Sassanid period that it gained widespread acceptance, and many of the Sassanid emperors were, at least to some extent, Zurvanites. Zurvanism enjoyed royal sanction during the Sassanid era but no traces of it remain beyond the 10th century.
Unlike Mazdean Zoroastrianism, Zurvanism considered Ahura Mazda not the transcendental Creator, but one of two equal-but-opposite divinities under the supremacy of Zurvan. The central Zurvanite belief made Ahura Mazda (Middle Persian: Ohrmuzd) and Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) twin brothers that had co-existed for all time.
Non-Zoroastrian accounts of typically Zurvanite beliefs were the first traces of Zoroastrianism to reach the west, which misled European scholars to conclude that Zoroastrianism was a dualist faith.
The Zoroastrian cult of Zurvan should not be confused with Manichaeism's use of the name Zurvan in Middle Persian texts to represent the Manichean deity of light. Mani had himself introduced this practice (for perhaps political reasons) in his Shapurgan, which he dedicated to his patron Shapur II. For much of the rest of the Sassanid era, the Manichaens were a persecuted minority, and Mani was sentenced to death by Bahram I.
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008) |
The three great sacred fires of Persia at the time of the Sassanids were the Adur Farnbag, Adur Gushnasp and Adur Burzen-Mihr which burned in Pars, Media, and Parthia, respectively. Of these three, the Adur Burzen-Mihr was the most sacred fire as it was linked to the prophet Zarathustra himself and king Vishtaspa. [16]
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008) |
The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran led to the end of the Sasanian Empire in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Iran. Arabs first attacked the Sassanid territory in 633, when general Khalid ibn Walid invaded Mesopotamia (what is now Iraq), which was the political and economic center of the Sassanid state. Following the transfer of Khalid to the Roman front in the Levant, the Muslims eventually lost their holdings to Iranian counterattacks. The second invasion began in 636 under Saad ibn Abi Waqqas, when a key victory at the Battle of Qadisiyyah led to the permanent end of Sasanian control west of Iran. The Zagros mountains then became a natural barrier and border between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sassanid Empire. Owing to continuous raids by Persians into the area, Caliph Umar ordered a full invasion of the Sasanian Iranian empire in 642, which was completed with the complete conquest of the Sasanians around 651 The quick conquest of Iran in a series of well coordinated multi-pronged attacks, directed by Caliph Umar from Medina several thousand kilometres from the battlefields in Iran, became his greatest triumph, contributing to his reputation as a great military and political strategist.
Iranian historians have sought to defend their forebears by using Arab sources to illustrate that "contrary to the claims of some historians, Iranians, in fact, fought long and hard against the invading Arabs." By 651, most of the urban centers in Iranian lands, with the notable exception of the Caspian provinces and Transoxiana, had come under the domination of the Arab armies. Many localities in Iran staged a defense against the invaders, but in the end none was able to repulse the invasion. Even after the Arabs had subdued the country, many cities rose in rebellion, killing the Arab governor or attacking their garrisons, but reinforcements from the caliphs succeeded in putting down all these rebellions and imposing the rule of Islam. The violent subjugation of Bukhara after many uprisings is a case in point. Conversion to Islam was, however, only gradual. In the process, many acts of violence took place, Zoroastrian scriptures were burnt and many mobads executed. Once conquered politically, the Persians began to reassert themselves by maintaining Persian language and culture. Regardless, Islam was adopted by many, for political, socio-cultural or spiritual reasons, or simply by persuasion, and became the dominant religion.
The Mongol invasion of Persia and Mesopotamia resulted in millions of deaths and ruined many cities. The early Mongol invaders were members of many faiths, so their persecution was not targeted against Zoroastrians. However, within half a century of the conquest, the leader of the Ilkhanate, Ghazan Khan, who had been raised a member of the Church of the East, [17] converted to Islam. The subsequent conversions of members of the Ilkhanate to Islam had a detrimental effect on Zoroastrianism. By the time the Mongols were expelled, Fars province had escaped major damage and Zoroastrians had moved to the north of Pars, primarily to the regions of Yazd and Kerman, [18] where even today the main Zoroastrian communities are found.
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008) |
The Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam destroyed what was once a vibrant community of Zoroastrians. As per official policy, Safavids wanted everyone to convert to orthoprax Twelver Shi'ism and killed hundreds of thousands of Zoroastrians alongside others who refused. [19]
The majority of Zoroastrians also left for India; about 20% remained, most of whom had to migrate in the late 19th century as the Qajar dynasty imposed greater restrictions on them.
During the Qajar dynasty, religious persecution of Zoroastrians was rampant. Due to the increasing contacts with influential Parsi philanthropists such as Maneckji Limji Hataria, many Zoroastrians left Iran for India. There, they formed the second major Indian Zoroastrian community known as the Iranis. [20]
Starting from the early twentieth century, Tehran, the nation's capital, experienced rapid migrations from all Iranian minorities. The Zoroastrian population increased from about 50 merchants in 1881 to 500 by 1912. [21]
As a minority, the Zoroastrians regularly faced discrimination over the years. In 1906, the state declared a new Constitution, which granted the Zoroastrians certain fundamental individual rights. In practice, however, they still were not equal to Muslim citizens. [22]
When the Pahlavi reign in Iran started in the 1920s, the Zoroastrians started to experience more equal treatment. It was also during this time that nationalism in Iran started to come up and Iran as a nation state was born. For this new nation state, the Pahlavis chose a narrative where the pre-Islamic era was glorified and they actively promoted this narrative. The new nation-state and the people now started to view the ancient history with pride. [23] Since Zoroastrianism is an ancient pre-Islamic religion, it was now glorified as the historic and original Iranian religion. This changed the status of Zoroastrians from being one of the most persecuted minorities in Iran to a symbol of Iranian nationalism. [24] This notion would carry on all the way through until the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, a new Constitution of Iran was written. This new Constitution acknowledges the rights of recognized religious minorities, like the Iranian Armenians, Iranian Assyrians and Persian Jews, Zoroastrianism is recognized as a religion in Iran and its followers have certain rights. The Constitution states believers are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies. [25]
Zoroastrians are also politically involved. Since the Persian Constitution of 1906, they are allocated one seat in the Islamic Consultative Assembly. This one is currently held by Esfandiar Ekhtiyari. Locally, they are also active. In 2013 for example, Sepanta Niknam was elected to the city council of Yazd and became the first Zoroastrian councillor in Iran. [26]
Out-marriage and low birth rates affect the growth of Iran's Zoroastrian population [27] which, according to Iran's 2012 census results stood at 25,271, though this represented an increase of 27.5% on the 2006 population. [28]
A June 2020 online survey found a much smaller percentage of Iranians stating they believe in Islam, with half of those surveyed indicating they had lost their religious faith. [29] The poll, conducted by the Netherlands-based GAMAAN (Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran), using online polling to provide greater anonymity for respondents, surveyed 50,000 Iranians and found 7.7% identified as Zoroastrians. [29] [30] However, some researchers have argued that most respondents identifying as Zoroastrian were expressing religious nationalism, with The Conversation interpreting it as "Persian nationalism and a desire for an alternative to Islam, rather than strict adherence to the Zoroastrian faith" [31] The decline of Islam and the rise of Zoroastrianism among Iranians is further confirmed in GAMAAN's subsequent surveys in 2022. [32]
Zoroastrianism, also known as Mazdayasna and Behdin, is an Iranian religion. Among the world's oldest organized faiths, it is based on the teachings of Iranian prophet Zarathustra—commonly known by his Greek name Zoroaster—as set forth in the primary religious text called the Avesta. Zoroastrians exalt an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom, commonly referred to as Ahura Mazda, as the universe's supreme being; opposed to Ahura Mazda is Angra Mainyu, who is personified as a destructive spirit and the adversary of all things good. Zoroastrianism combines a dualistic cosmology of good and evil with an eschatology that predicts the ultimate triumph of Ahura Mazda over evil. Opinions vary among scholars as to whether the religion is monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, or a combination of all three. Zoroastrianism shaped Iranian culture and history, while scholars differ on whether it significantly influenced ancient Western philosophy and the Abrahamic religions, or gradually reconciled with other religions and traditions, such as Christianity and Islam.
Zarathushtra Spitama more commonly known as Zoroaster or Zarathustra, was an Iranian religious reformer who challenged the tenets of the contemporary Ancient Iranian religion, becoming the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. Variously described as a sage or a wonderworker; in the oldest Zoroastrian scriptures, the Gathas, which he is believed to have authored, he is described as a preacher and a poet-prophet. He also had an impact on Heraclitus, Plato, Pythagoras, and the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Ahura Mazda, also known as Horomazes, is the creator deity and god of the sky in the ancient Iranian religion Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the Yasna. The literal meaning of the word Ahura is "lord", and that of Mazda is "wisdom".
Angra Mainyu or Ahriman is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the Spenta Mainyu, the "holy/creative spirits/mentality", or directly of Ahura Mazda, the highest deity of Zoroastrianism. The Middle Persian equivalent is Ahriman 𐭠𐭧𐭫𐭬𐭭𐭩. The name can appear in English-language works as Ahrimanes.
Atropatene, also known as Media Atropatene, was an ancient Iranian kingdom established in c. 323 BC by the Persian satrap Atropates. The kingdom, centered in present-day northern Iran, was ruled by Atropates' descendants until the early 1st-century AD, when the Parthian Arsacid dynasty supplanted them. It was conquered by the Sasanians in 226, and turned into a province governed by a marzban ("margrave"). Atropatene was the only Iranian region to remain under Zoroastrian authority from the Achaemenids to the Arab conquest without interruption, aside from being briefly ruled by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great.
Iranian mythology, or Persian mythology in western term, is the body of the myths originally told by ancient Persians and other Iranian peoples and a genre of ancient Persian folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of deities, heroes, and mythological creatures, and the origins and significance of the ancient Persians' own cult and ritual practices. Modern scholars study the myths to shed light on the religious and political institutions of not only Iran but of the Persosphere, which includes regions of West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and Transcaucasia where the culture of Iran has had significant influence. Historically, these were regions long ruled by dynasties of various Iranian empires, that incorporated considerable aspects of Persian culture through extensive contact with them, or where sufficient Iranian peoples settled to still maintain communities who patronize their respective cultures. It roughly corresponds to the Iranian Plateau and its bordering plains.
The Iranian religions, also known as the Persian religions, are, in the context of comparative religion, a grouping of religious movements that originated in the Iranian plateau, which accounts for the bulk of what is called "Greater Iran".
The Muslim conquest of Persia, also called the Muslim conquest of Iran, the Arab conquest of Persia, or the Arab conquest of Iran, was a major military campaign undertaken by the Rashidun Caliphate between 632 and 654. As part of the early Muslim conquests, which had begun under Muhammad in 622, it led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire and the eventual decline of Zoroastrianism, which had been predominant throughout Persia as the nation's official religion. The persecution of Zoroastrians by the early Muslims during and after this conflict prompted many of them to flee eastward to India, where they were granted refuge by various kings.
Zurvanism is a fatalistic religious movement of Zoroastrianism in which the divinity Zurvan is a first principle who engendered equal-but-opposite twins, Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. Zurvanism is also known as "Zurvanite Zoroastrianism", and may be contrasted with Mazdaism.
Middle Persian literature is the corpus of written works composed in Middle Persian, that is, the Middle Iranian dialect of Persia proper, the region in the south-western corner of the Iranian plateau. Middle Persian was the prestige dialect during the era of Sasanian dynasty. It is the largest source of Zoroastrian literature.
The Farvahar (Persian: فَرْوَهَر, avestan: 𐬟𐬀𐬭𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬵𐬀𐬭𐬀, also known as the Foruhar or the Farre Kiyâni, is one of the best-known symbols of Zoroastrianism, an Iranian religion. There are various interpretations of what the Faravahar symbolizes, and there is no concrete universal consensus on its meaning. However, it is commonly believed that the Faravahar serves as a Zoroastrian depiction of the fravashi, or personal spirit.
Iranian philosophy or Persian philosophy can be traced back as far as to Old Iranian philosophical traditions and thoughts which originated in ancient Indo-Iranian roots and were considerably influenced by Zarathustra's teachings. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, the chronology of the subject and science of philosophy starts with the Indo-Iranians, dating this event to 1500 BC. The Oxford dictionary also states, "Zarathustra's philosophy entered to influence Western tradition through Judaism, and therefore on Middle Platonism."
Zandik is a Zoroastrian term conventionally interpreted as heretic in a narrow sense, or, in a wider sense, for a person with any belief or practice that ran contrary to Sassanid-mediated Zoroastrian orthodoxy.
Zoroastrianism in Azerbaijan goes back to the first millennium BC or earlier and was the predominant religion of Greater Iran before the conversion to Islam.
The Sasanian Empire or Sassanid Empire, also the Second Persian Empire, and officially known as Ērānšahr, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th to 8th centuries. Named after the House of Sasan, it endured for over four centuries, from 224 to 651, making it the second longest-lived Persian imperial dynasty after the Arsacids of the Parthian Empire.
The persecution of Zoroastrians has been recorded throughout the history of Zoroastrianism, an Iranian religion. The notably large-scale persecution of Zoroastrians began after the rise of Islam in the 7th century CE; both during and after the conquest of Persia by Arab Muslims, discrimination and harassment against Zoroastrians took place in the form of forced conversions and sparse violence. Muslims who arrived in the region after its annexation by the Rashidun Caliphate are recorded to have destroyed Zoroastrian temples, and Zoroastrians living in areas that had fallen under Muslim control were required to pay a tax known as jizya.
The modern Persian name of Iran (ایران) derives from the 3rd-century Sasanian Middle Persian ērān, where it initially meant "of the Aryans," and acquired a geographical connotation in the sense of "(lands inhabited by) Aryans." In both geographic and demonymic senses, ērān is distinguished from its antonymic anērān, meaning "non-Iran(ian)".
Zoroastrianism, an Iranian religion, has been present in India for thousands of years. Though it split into a separate branch, it shares a common origin with Hinduism and other Indian religions, having been derived from the Indo-Iranian religion. Though it was once the majority and official religion of the Iranian nation, Zoroastrianism eventually shifted to the Indian subcontinent during the reign of the Chalukyas of Vatapi Badami in light of the Muslim conquest of Iran, which saw the Rashidun Caliphate annex the Sasanian Empire by 651 CE. Owing to the persecution of Zoroastrians in the post-Sasanian period, a large wave of Iranian migrants fled to India, where they became known as the Parsi people, who now represent India's oldest Zoroastrian community. Later waves of Zoroastrian immigration to India took place over the following centuries, with a spike in the number of these refugees occurring during the Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam and again during the reign of the Qajar dynasty, whose persecution of Zoroastrians prompted many to flee to British India, where they became known as the Irani people. Though Zoroastrian, the Parsis and the Iranis are culturally, linguistically, and socially distinct from each other due to their inception in separate periods of migration.
Criticism of Zoroastrianism has taken place over many centuries not only from the adherents of other religions but also among Zoroastrians themselves seeking to reform the faith.
Middle Eastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of the Middle East regions, including the Fertile Crescent and Iran. Traditions include Ancient Egyptian philosophy, Babylonian philosophy, Christian philosophy, Jewish philosophy, Iranian/Persian philosophy, and Islamic philosophy.
{{cite book}}
: |journal=
ignored (help); Missing or empty |title=
(help)