Zoroastrianism and Ancient Iranian Religion

Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest continuously practised religions, founded on the teachings attributed to the prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster) and centred on a cosmic struggle between good and evil.

Definition

The study of Zoroastrianism and related ancient Iranian religious traditions, their texts, theology, and history.

Scope

This topic covers the prophet Zarathustra and the Avesta, the dualistic theology of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, ritual fire worship and purity, the religion's role under the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian empires, and its later history among the Parsis. It also notes scholarly discussion of Zoroastrian influence on Jewish, Christian, and Islamic ideas, treated as a matter of historical inquiry rather than doctrine.

Core questions

• Who was Zarathustra and when did he live?
• How is the dualism of good and evil structured in Zoroastrian thought?
• What role did the religion play in the ancient Iranian empires?
• What is the evidence for and against its influence on the Abrahamic traditions?

Key theories

Ethical dualism

The Zoroastrian framework, described by Boyce, in which the world is the arena of a struggle between the wise lord Ahura Mazda and a hostile principle, with human beings called to align with truth and order against falsehood.

Continuity and reconstruction of Iranian religion

Scholarly debates, surveyed in the Wiley Blackwell companion, over how to reconstruct the earliest teaching from the Avesta and how Zoroastrian tradition developed across the Iranian empires.

History

Originating with Zarathustra in the Iranian world in the second or early first millennium BCE, Zoroastrianism became prominent under the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian empires, declined after the Islamic conquest of Iran, and survives today chiefly among the Parsis of South Asia and Zoroastrians in Iran and the diaspora.

Debates

Zoroastrian influence on Abrahamic eschatology

Scholars debate whether and how Zoroastrian ideas about dualism, judgement, resurrection, and a final renewal shaped Jewish, Christian, and Islamic thought, given uncertainties in dating the sources.

Key figures

• Mary Boyce
• Michael Stausberg
• Yuhan Vevaina

Seminal works

• boyce1979
• stausbergvevaina2015

Frequently asked questions

Do Zoroastrians worship fire?

Fire is venerated as a symbol of divine purity and order and is central to Zoroastrian ritual, but it is regarded as a sign of the divine rather than a god to be worshipped in itself.

Why is Zoroastrianism grouped with the Abrahamic traditions here?

It is not Abrahamic, but it is treated nearby because of its historical proximity in West Asia and the scholarly question of its possible influence on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.