The Ancient Persian East Religion!

[Guest Scanderbeg]

Compare that to this

 

Iranian Mosque

[Onasander]

I thought they were in Pakistan, not India... I may be wrong, it's been a while. They still maintain the flame, has to be the oldest burning fire in history.

[Spurius]

Early Sassinid domed structures are characterized by the same barrel-vaulted iwan leading into a domed hall introduced by the Parthians The Sassanids solved the problem of constructing a circular dome on a square building by the squinch. This is an arch built across each corner of the square, thereby converting it into an octagon on which it is simple to place the dome.

 

Later Islamic design (esp. under the Seljuks) added a four iwan and central dome design as the basic layout of religious buildings (mosque, madrassa) and later secular buildings (palace, caravansari and hospitals).

 

Roman influences are easy to see in Sassinid buildings (and the later influence on Islamic architecture) by way of mural techniques, landscape subjects and positioning.

 

Buildings are a great introduction to seeing how human history did not exist in a vacuum with sterile beginning and end points.

[Ursus]

Scandie, I moved this topic from the Peregrini fourm to the Temple and pinned it above to give it more press. Hope you don't mind.

[Divi Filius]

Well, I may have to retract my once claim that Zoroastrianism. On a discussion in it with my history professor, he stated that while Zoroastrians indeed look to one deity, Ahura Mazda, it never denies the existance of other gods in the religion.

 

I thought they were in Pakistan, not India...

 

I recently met one at my college and he stated he was a parsi speaker and a follower of the zoroastrian faith who came from India. Last census states that 69,000 live in India currently while 5 thousand live in Pakistan.

 

One of the interesting things about Zoroastrianism is that they do not believe in either burring the dead nor cremating it. The religion can be quite taxing financially to a follower abroad as the religion has a special place where the body is disposed of. In India there is a giant "bird cage" called the Tower of Silence inwhich is filled with vultures which feat on the body. There is no venerating the dead bodies since followers believe it is nothing more then a shell that carries the soul. However due to cultural infusion and oppression from the bigger religions also financial restraint on the part of the follower, especially when they become diaspora, this practice is dying out and replaced with cremation or burial.

[Divi Filius]

Reading the History of the Persian Empire by Olmstead. I began reading the part about the religious reformation of the famed Persian prophet Zoroaster and I cannot believe simply how much like teaching of Abrahamic(Judaism, Christianity and Islam) dogma it is.

 

Within it Zoroaster combined the past two Aryan tribal gods Ahura and Mazda into the popular Ahura-Mazda, Mazda-Ahura and begins to use both interchangeably. He condemns the worshipping of local dieties shooting them down to the level of demons(daevas), who Zoroaster labels are part of the Lie(heresy), Olmstead writes "Other divinities from dim Indo-European times - the sun-god Mithra, for example -- might be cherished by kings and people, but to Zoroaster these daevas were no gods but demons worshiped followers of the Lie. Ahura-Mazda was in no need of minor divinities over whom to rule as divine kings"(96). According to Olmstead Zoroaster went about degrading many other individual gods to the level of personifications of Ahura-Mazda's attributes(Good thoughts, piety, wisdom, salvation etc.)He also condemns sacraficing, "Throughout his preaching there echoes the eternal struggle between the roving men of the steppe and the peaceful tiller of the soil. Agriculture is a holy occupation. The dumn animals on whom falls the burden of the labor are sacred" going on to say "He declares the Ox and the Sun are the worst to behold with eyes -- the prophet is denouncing the nocturnal sacrifice of the bull by the worshipers of Mithra."(98). he also condemns "the use of the intoxicating haoma(alcohol) drink"(99).

 

Of all this Olmstead at the end of the chapter writes

"It is no accident that the Gathas of Zoroaster sounds so much like the first New Testament."(106)

 

Looks like my professor was in the wrong here. Can't wait to tell em

 

With time however these teaching degraded. The actual teaching were never fully adopted by the locals, and the first true Zoroastrian King, Darius, had to admit other gods due to the diverse nature of his empire(on one of his inscriptions he acknowloedge polytheism by using the term "god and gods". he also moved toward the elevation of the King of Kings to the level of God. This would come more into place during the reign of his son Xerxes who first officialized the long standing worship, among the commoners, of Zoroaster as a god. In the later Persian monarchs(artaxerxes I believe), Mithra became fully adopted as a God.

Edited June 1, 2006 by Divi Filius

[Divi Filius]

Romanticism aside however, this is not the worlds oldest monotheistic religion. The reforms of Zoroaster do not come until the 5th century BC. Before then the religion was a fully polytheistic one even as the two gods ahura and mazda joined there were still numerous other dieties, most popular was Mithra, adopted by local princlings and tribal lords as their own gods.

[Pantagathus]

Romanticism aside however, this is not the worlds oldest monotheistic religion.

 

Perhaps the prehistoric cult of the Earth Mother should get that credit...

[Horatius]

Romanticism aside however, this is not the worlds oldest monotheistic religion. The reforms of Zoroaster do not come until the 5th century BC. Before then the religion was a fully polytheistic one even as the two gods ahura and mazda joined there were still numerous other dieties, most popular was Mithra, adopted by local princlings and tribal lords as their own gods.

Is this the same Mithra that was the center of Mithraism, the cult so widespread among the Legions until banned by Theodosius ? Interesting that with all the endless conflict between Rome and the Parthians etc. that the Legions would have adopted in some form their religious beliefs.

[Divi Filius]

Is this the same Mithra that was the center of Mithraism, the cult so widespread among the Legions until banned by Theodosius ? Interesting that with all the endless conflict between Rome and the Parthians etc. that the Legions would have adopted in some form their religious beliefs.

 

The cult of Mithra, or the Persian Sun God, has its origins in the local tribal dieties of early Aryans. He was especially sought after due to the fact that he was shown as a warrior. After the short lived reformation of Zoroaster however(during the reign of Darius the Great) he is denied the right of divinity. It is during the reign of Artaxerxes that he is again re-established as a god(ironically at that time Zoroaster is also worshiped as a diety, although he was extremely against such ideas). In one of Artaxerxes inscriptions in Persepolis, Mithra is mentioned among another Mother Goddess diety(forgot the name, however at around this time the cult of a Greek goddess(again, forgot name, whats up with me today, lol) begins in the eastern part of the Greek world.

 

By the time of the Romans, Mithra had gone through an extensive amount of Hellenization.

Edited June 19, 2006 by Divi Filius

[Ursus]

There are those scholars who deny any provable direct link between the Persian Mitra and the Roman Mithras.

[Divi Filius]

Really? Wow. Thats really interesting. Ursus can you refer to any of them? I would love to read about how they came about such a conclusion.