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Guest Scanderbeg

The Ancient Persian East Religion!

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Guest Scanderbeg

Zoroastrianism was once the major religion of most Persian states and Empires(Achmaenid Empire, Sassanids etc.) until about 7th century A.D. when it was replaced by Islam. Today there are still 140,000 followers mainly in the east and are concentrated in India. Zoroastrianism was one of the earliest monotheistic religions. It dates back to 600B.C., Zoroastrian signs date back 400 more years.

 

The religion, like I said before, is a monotheistic one. The supreme god of the religion is Ahura Mazda. The

similarities between Christianity and this religion are amazing. Ahura does not speak with the humans. Rather he has these winged enitities called Amesha Spentas or Bounteous Immortals. These guys share great similarities with angels, and have basically the same jobs.

Here is a picture of an ancient carving of one:

faravahar-p-site.jpg

 

Much like Christianity, Zoroastrianism has it's own "book". However unlike in Judaism and Christianity, the teaching are kept in a series of 5 hymns called Gathas. The religion also speaks of another "god". This guy shares the similarities of the devil his name is Angra Mainyu. The religion emphasizes the duel between these two gods. One representing good and another representing evil. Here is a depiction of this:

BAA09863.jpg

In the religion states that after death, a person is allowed to meditate on his past life. After three days of this his soul will be judged by a "troika". There are three Troika. Mithra, Sraosha and Rashnu. If the good outweight the bad, the one goes to heaven. If the bad outweights the good, the one goes...... you know.

 

The religion thrived in the Achmaenid Empire(Persian Empire) and later Sassinid Empire. We don't have a clear idea of where the religion stood during the reign of the Parthians or Seleucids. However its is stated that the Three Wise men from Parthia were said to have been Zoroastrian Magi. The religion was highly promoted during the Sassanid Period. Ancient Persian, Christian, historians stated that the Christians in those areas were heavily persecuted because of ties with Rome. The religion also flourished in Armenia before Christianity. By the seventh century, The Persians were conquered by the Arabs and Zoroastrianism began it's decline. By the 8th century, Many of the believers fled to India to escape persecution.

 

Hope you liked it ;)

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I did like it,very interesting ;)

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Very nice Scanderberg. Zoroastianism is an often neglected subject. Its amazing that an ancient fully fledged monoatheistic religion worshipped by millions which is, as you say, still alive today can often by completely ignored when people discuss monoatheism and its roots. I do believe that it is now considered likely that it may in fact be much older than previously thought - rivalling Judaism as the worlds oldest monoatheistic faith.

 

( can you delete that last post please Mods, I forgot to log in ;) )

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Guest Scanderbeg

I got interested in the study of the religion after I saw a special the biblical era on the History Channel.

It is undoubtable to me that this religion had a great influence on other monotheistic religions. The Perisan Empire stood for quite a while in the whole east. Not to mention the Sassinids.

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I find it a quite intresting religion but now a days it is suppresed by the Islamic Theocracy of Iran. :(

 

Zeke

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that is interexting how it is so similar to christianity...but if you think about it, all the major religions are very similar. what i find more interesting is as fatboy said, that it is still practised today. would that make it one of the longest living religions in existance?

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Very nice Scanderberg. Zoroastianism is an often neglected subject. Its amazing that an ancient fully fledged monoatheistic religion worshipped by millions which is, as you say, still alive today can often by completely ignored when people discuss monoatheism and its roots. I do believe that it is now considered likely that it may in fact be much older than previously thought - rivalling Judaism as the worlds oldest monoatheistic faith.

 

( can you delete that last post please Mods, I forgot to log in :) )

 

Was there something I was missing here? It's monotheistic, not monoatheistic... :(

 

Not only that, but Akhenaton's religion predated monotheistic Judaism.

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True, Akhenaton may have had the first monotheistic cult, but it was dismantled upon his death. It was a fleeting blip on the Egyptian radar, whereas the other monotheistic cults started taking roots in their respective cultures.

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It's monotheistic, not monoatheistic...

 

 

Quite right, I've always put " monoatheistic " for some reason, a weird habit of mine..... ;)

 

I guess if you were monoatheistic you'd say that there is only one God...which you don't believe in, heh.

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And there is also apatheistic - they may be a god or gods, but you simply don't care one way or another. ;) I was an apatheist for a long time.

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werent the three wise men Magi?

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Guest Scanderbeg

For some strange reason I cant see this in the forum penegrini but have to access it through my reputation points.

 

 

Ancient Sassanid Pre-muslim Palace

blue39small.jpg

 

This is very very similar to many mosques.

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