Lecture 5 Zoroastrianism

What were two most consequential initiatives that took place during the Sassanian times?

• invention of the Avestan alphabet

• The fixation of the collection of the sacred texts

Why was it a big deal that the alphabet was created and the texts were collected?

• the avesta traditionally orally transmitted only

• The alphabet had 50 characters which allowed for the texts to be written accurately

What did the collected texts contain?

The avestan texts and their pahlavi versions

Why was the alphabet created and why was the collection of texts created?

likely due to influence of other religions that had a written canon, such as judaism

What were the 2 titles used for priests in Sassanian Iran?

Herbed and Mowbed (Mowbeds were higher priests than the herbeds)

Who was Kerdir?

• active in 3rd century CE

• played an important role in promoting Zoroastrianism as the state religion

• the author of a set of 4 inscriptions which dates near the end of the 3rd century

  • these are sources for Kerdirs actions

What did Kerdir talk about in his inscriptions?

• his own achievements during the rule of 4 emperors

  • some of these achievements are creating fire temples, striking other faiths, punishment of Magi and converting people to Zoroastrianism

• describes a vision of the afterlife

  • He asked the Deities to show him what the afterlife for him looked like

  • Kerdir sends some boys on an otherwordly journey in which they follow his soul

How did Kerdir describe the afterlife?

• First Kerdir’s soul encounters a beautiful woman who walks him to Heaven

• They cross a bridge and underneath, there is hell

• hoped that this inscription will help people be more pious

How did the Sassanian rulers embrace other religions?

• Saw the other religions and their followers as beneath them

  • treatment of followers of other religions varied; Christians and Jews contribute to the cause of good

  • Religions considered Idolatrous, or seen as a threat to Zoroastrianism in terms of being the state religion were not tolerated

• Zoroastrianism was meant to bring salvation

What was Christianity like during the Sassanian period?

• not persecuted

• Allowed Christians to be apart of Imperial administration

• violence was rarely used against Christians, and if it was not, it was not used because of the fact that they are Christian

• the occasional use of violence fulfilled its purpose of communicating to Christians the boundaries of their action

  • Despite Incidents of disrespect of these boundaries, a widespread respect of them helped Christians improve their status and conditions

• Churches were built in the Sassanian empire

Why did the Sassanians take the true cross?

It was thought that the Christian God supported the Sassanian empire and it held great significance for the Christians in the empire

The cross returned to Jerusalem before the fall of the empire

Where was the most substantial Jewish community located in the empire?

Babylonia

How did Jews coexist with the Zoroastrians?

They were fully integrated into Sasanian society and interacted with other communities of the empire, and drew from Sasanian culture

What is a Magical bowl?

These testify the exchanges between Jews and members of other ethnicities

These were written in Aramaic dialects

What are the general ideas seen in the Eschatology in Zoroastrianism?

• the den (the woman) meets the soul after the death

  • can either be a beautiful girl or an ugly hag

• the soul is guided to the bridge and crosses over it; the bridge is called cinwad

  • if the soul is righteous, it will reach heaven; if it is unrighteous, it will fall into hell

• pahlavi texts add details that are not found in the Avesta

  • a divine tribunal judges the soul of the dead by the bridge

  • the sins and good deeds of the soul are weighed on a scale

  • the weighing determines the soul’s fate

    • this view might have entered in the Achaemenid period, from Egypt when it was a part of the empire

  • some souls go to a place named Hamestagan (a name of uncertain meaning)

    • they go here when their sins and good deeds are of the same weight

      • this is like the middle bit, purgatory

• The souls of the dead, wait in heaven, Hamestagan or hell until the resurrection of the bodies