Ancient Persia: Religion & Mythology (inc. Concepts, Notable Gods / Goddesses, Stories, Figures, Groups, etc.)

Zoroaster / Zarathustra (All Facts)

• Prophet of Ancient Persia whose teachings gained increasing influence around 600 BCE

  • Was from the northern-eastern provinces

  • Was a priest and theologian who was well-versed in Ancient Persian religious tradition

• He argued that the struggle between the benevolent creator and the evil principle is the core of history

  • He said that the universe was in a constant cosmic struggle between good and evil

• He prophesized that good would eventually triumph and evil would eventually be destroyed

• Founded his namesake religion around 600 BCE, which is based on these ideas

  • This essentially reformed Ancient Persian religion

  • Based his doctrine on free will, as opposed to the prevailing gods

  • Made the god Ahura-Mazda into a single supreme deity, the creator of everything, who obliterated all other divinities

  • Conceived of Ahura-Mazda as a transcendent being, creator of everything, and father of Entities personifying abstract ideas such as justice

  • Conceived of good and evil as twin spirits, with Ahura-Mazda as their father, who divided up the entire universe between them

  • Argued that any god other than Ahura Mazda was false

  • Those who allied with Ahura Mazda against evil spoke the truth, enabled progress in the world, and would be rewarded after death with entrance into heaven while those who allied with evil or “the lie” would be punished and condemned to hell

    • At the end of time, however, there will be a time of judgement when all souls will be called to account for their actions in the world and after a purification process, even those who committed grave sins would be allowed to enter into heaven

  • Thus, he advocated for resistance to the law when it denied essential justice to the people

Zoroastrianism / Zoroastrians (All Facts)

• Monotheistic, it replaced the polytheism of previous Persian-Mede religious tradition

• Dominated by ritual, animal sacrifice, and drugs

• Its adherents did not believe gods had human qualities and thus thought it was foolish to erect statues, temples, and altars to their gods

  • They did not use idols or images to worship their god

  • Instead, they used fire in their rituals that is symbolic of Ahura Mazda

• Believes that those who ally with Ahura Mazda against evil spoke the truth, enabled progress in the world, and would be rewarded after death with entrance into heaven while those who ally with evil or “the lie” would be punished and condemned to hell

  • At the end of time, however, there will be a time of judgement when all souls will be called to account for their actions in the world

  • After a purification process, even those who committed grave sins would be allowed to enter into heaven

• It is from this religion that the concepts of heaven, hell, a day of judgement, the devil, angels, and monotheism itself may have derived

Ahura-Mazda (All Facts)

• Central, monotheistic God of Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrians

• Is the single supreme deity, the creator of everything, who obliterated all other divinities

• Was a transcendent being, creator of everything, and father of Entities personifying abstract ideas such as justice

• Was the father of the twin spirits of good and evil, he divided up the entire universe between them

• His name means “Lord of Light and Wisdom”

Magian / Magi (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the Persian priests

Persian Ethics (All Facts)

• They considered lying to be the greatest sin

• They considered incurring debt to be the second greatest sin, because they argued that a man who falls into debt inevitably tells lies