In the mainstream, and to many US and European politicians, Iran is assumed to be the polar opposite of everything the free world stands for and champions. If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Culture, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter. And if you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc. The obscure religion that shaped the West. Share using Email. By Joobin Bekhrad 6th April It has influenced Star Wars and Game of Thrones — and characters as diverse as Voltaire, Nietzsche and Freddie Mercury have cited it as an inspiration.
So what is Zoroastrianism? Joobin Bekhrad finds out. Even the idea of Satan is a fundamentally Zoroastrian one. Could Dante have been influenced by Zoroastrianism? Freddie Mercury was intensely proud of his Persian Zoroastrian heritage. Experts speculate that the group sailed across the Arabian Sea and landed in Gujarat, a state in western India, sometime between and A.
The Parsi are an ethnic minority in India and Pakistan. Today there are about 60, Parsi in India and 1, in Pakistan. The Faravahar is an ancient symbol of the Zoroastrian faith. It depicts a bearded man with one hand reaching forward. He stands above a pair of wings that are outstretched from a circle representing eternity. Fire is another important symbol of Zoroastrianism, as it represents light, warmth and has purifying powers. Some Zoroastrians also recognize the evergreen cypress tree as a symbol of eternal life.
Zoroastrian places of worship are sometimes called fire temples. Each fire temple contains an altar with an eternal flame that burns continuously and is never extinguished. According to legend, three ancient Zoroastrian fire temples, known as the great fires, were said to have come directly from the Zoroastrian god, Ahura Mazda, at the beginning of time.
Archaeologists have searched for these places, though it's unclear whether the great fires ever existed or were purely mythical.
There corpses were exposed to the elements—and local vultures—until the bones were picked clean and bleached. Then they were collected and placed in lime pits called ossuaries. Dakhmas have been illegal in Iran since the s.
Many Zoroastrians today bury their dead beneath concrete slabs, though some Parsi in India still practice sky burials. A dakhma remains in operation near Mumbai, India, for example. Many Europeans became familiar with Zoroastrian founder Zarathustra through the nineteenth century novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
In it, Nietzsche follows the prophet Zarathustra on his travels. British musician Freddie Mercury , lead singer for the rock band Queen, was of Parsi descent. Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, practiced Zoroastrianism.
American novelist George R. Zoroaster; BBC. The Last of the Zoroastrians. Zoroastrianism: Zorostudies. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.
The rich Parsi families contributed enormously to establish institutions of all kinds in India. Even today some of the bigger finance houses in India belong to followers of this religion.
The Dakhma-nashini mode of disposal of the dead. Pecorino All Rights reserved. Web Surfer's Caveat: These are class notes, intended to comment on readings and amplify class discussion.
They should be read as such. They are not intended for publication or general distribution. Philosophy of Religion. Chapter 2. Introduction Zoroastrianism , religion founded in ancient Persia by the prophet Zoroaster. The doctrines preached by Zoroaster are preserved in his metrical Gathas psalms , which form part of the sacred scripture known as the Avesta. Tenets The basic tenets of the Gathas consist of a monotheistic worship of Ahura Mazda the "Lord Wisdom" and an ethical dualism opposing Truth Asha and Lie, which permeate the entire universe.
Ahriman , and by his assistants. Angra Mainyu is evil by choice, having allied himself with Lie, whereas Spenta Mainyu has chosen Truth. So too, human beings must choose. Upon death each person's soul will be judged at the Bridge of Discrimination; the follower of Truth will cross and be led to paradise, and the adherents of Lie will fall into hell.
All evil will eventually be eliminated on earth in an ordeal of fire and molten metal. The Gathas and the Seven Chapters The structural complexity of the Gathic scheme has best been explained by the assumption that Zoroaster amalgamated two religious systems. The first is outlined in the Gathas and is most probably Zoroaster's own; this is the monotheistic worship of Wisdom and his emanations including Asha.
The second, describing a cult worshiping a Lord Ahura who is custodian of Asha, is actually attested to in a portion of the Avesta, the Liturgy of the Seven Chapters, composed after Zoroaster's death in his own dialect.
Zoroaster's teaching is praised and revered in the later section; its religious outlook, however, in part amalgamating earlier beliefs in Persia, is quite different from that of the Gathas. In the Seven Chapters, the emanations occur in the company of other sacred abstractions; Ahura has the epithet "possessing Asha," but Lie and Angra Mainyu are not mentioned. Many natural objects and mythical creatures, as well as ancestor spirits, are worshiped, and the very figure of Ahura Mazda resembles not so much Zoroaster's deity as the god Varuna sometimes called the Asura, "Lord" of the most ancient Indian religious compositions, the Rig-Veda.
See Veda. The ancestors of the Persians that is, the Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European peoples and the invaders of northern India were of the same stock, and it may be assumed that they worshiped a number of similar deities.
The sun is the "eye" of both deities, and the name of Ahura is at times joined to that of the god Mithra. In the Veda, the names of Mithra and Varuna are similarly joined.
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