Zoroastrianism .The obscure Religion that shaped the
world and mother to all the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam
It has influenced Star Wars and Game of Thrones – and characters as diverse as Voltaire, Nietzsche and Freddy Mercury have cited it as an inspiration. So what is Zoroastrianism? Joobin Bekhrad finds out.
Talk
of ‘us’ and ‘them’ has long dominated Iran-related politics in the West. At the
same time, Christianity has frequently been used to define the identity and
values of the US and Europe, as well as to contrast those values with those of
a Middle Eastern ‘other’. Yet, a brief glance at an ancient religion – still
being practised today – suggests that what many take for granted as wholesome
Western ideals, beliefs and culture may in fact have Iranian roots.
Even the idea of Satan is a fundamentally
Zoroastrian one
It
is generally believed by scholars that the ancient Iranian prophet Zarathustra
(known in Persian as Zartosht and Greek as Zoroaster) lived sometime between
1500 and 1000 BC. Prior to Zarathustra, the ancient Persians worshipped the
deities of the old Irano-Aryan religion, a counterpart to the Indo-Aryan
religion that would come to be known as Hinduism. Zarathustra, however,
condemned this practice, and preached that God alone – Ahura Mazda, the Lord of
Wisdom – should be worshipped. In doing so, he not only contributed to the
great divide between the Iranian and Indian Aryans, but arguably introduced to
mankind its first monotheistic faith.
Zoroaster
likely lived between 1500 and 1000 BC, but some scholarship suggests he may
have been a contemporary of Persian emperors Cyrus the Great and Darius I
(Credit: Alamy)
The
idea of a single god was not the only essentially Zoroastrian tenet to find its
way into other major faiths, most notably the ‘big three’: Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. The concepts of Heaven and Hell, Judgment Day and the
final revelation of the world, and angels and demons all originated in the
teachings of Zarathustra, as well as the later canon of Zoroastrian literature
they inspired. Even the idea of Satan is a fundamentally Zoroastrian one; in
fact, the entire faith of Zoroastrianism is predicated on the struggle between
God and the forces of goodness and light (represented by the Holy Spirit,
Spenta Manyu) and Ahriman, who presides over the forces of darkness and evil.
While man has to choose to which side he belongs, the religion teaches that
ultimately, God will prevail, and even those condemned to hellfire will enjoy
the blessings of Paradise (an Old Persian word).
Zoroastrianism
may have been the first monotheistic religion, and its emphasis on dualities,
such as heaven and hell, appear in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Credit:
Alamy)
How
did Zoroastrian ideas find their way into the Abrahamic faiths and elsewhere?
According to scholars, many of these concepts were introduced to the Jews of
Babylon upon being liberated by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great. They
trickled into mainstream Jewish thought, and figures like Beelzebub emerged.
And after Persia’s conquests of Greek lands during the heyday of the Achaemenid
Empire, Greek philosophy took a different course. The Greeks had previously
believed humans had little agency, and that their fates were at the mercy of
their many gods, whom often acted according to whim and fancy. After their
acquaintance with Iranian religion and philosophy, however, they began to feel
more as if they were the masters of their destinies, and that their decisions
were in their own hands.
Could Dante have been influenced by
Zoroastrianism?
Though
it was once the state religion of Iran and widely practised in other regions
inhabited by Persian peoples (eg Afghanistan, Tajikistan and much of Central
Asia), Zoroastrianism is today a minority religion in Iran, and boasts few
adherents worldwide. The religion’s cultural legacy, however, is another
matter. Many Zoroastrian traditions continue to underpin and distinguish
Iranian culture, and outside the country, it has also had a noted impact,
particularly in Western Europe.
Zoroastrian
rhapsody
Centuries
before Dante’s Divine Comedy, the Book of Arda Virafdescribed in
vivid detail a journey to Heaven and Hell. Could Dante have possibly heard
about the cosmic Zoroastrian traveller’s report, which assumed its final form
around the 10th Century AD? The similarity of the two works is uncanny, but one
can only offer hypotheses.
Zoroastrians
worship in fire temples, such as this one in Yazd, Iran – they believe fire and
water are the twin agents of purity and necessary for ritual cleansing (Credit:
Alamy)
Elsewhere,
however, the Zoroastrian ‘connection’ is less murky. The Iranian prophet
appears holding a sparkling globe in Raphael’s 16th Century School of Athens. Likewise,
the Clavis Artis, a late 17th/early 18th-Century German work on
alchemy was dedicated to Zarathustra, and featured numerous Christian-themed
depictions of him. Zoroaster “came to be regarded [in Christian Europe] as a
master of magic, a philosopher and an astrologer, especially after the
Renaissance," says Ursula Sims-Williams of the School of Oriental and
African Studies at the University of London.
Towers
of Silence, such as this one in Chilpyk, Uzbekistan, are where Zoroastrians
would leave the bodies of the dead to be consumed by birds (Credit: Alamy)
Today,
mention of the name Zadig immediately brings to mind the French fashion label
Zadig & Voltaire. While the clothes may not be Zoroastrian, the story
behind the name certainly is. Written in the mid-18th Century by none other
than Voltaire, Zadigtells the tale of its eponymous Persian Zoroastrian hero,
who, after a series of trials and tribulations, ultimately weds a Babylonian
princess. Although flippant at times and not rooted in history, Voltaire’s
philosophical tale sprouted from a genuine interest in Iran also shared by
other leaders of the Enlightenment. So enamoured with Iranian culture was
Voltaire that he was known in his circles as ‘Sa’di’. In the same spirit,
Goethe’s West-East Divan, dedicatedto the Persian poet Hafez,
featured a Zoroastrian-themed chapter, while Thomas Moore lamented the fate of
Iran’s Zoroastrians in Lalla Rookh.
Freddie Mercury was intensely proud of his
Persian Zoroastrian heritage
It
wasn’t only in Western art and literature that Zoroastrianism made its mark;
indeed, the ancient faith also made a number of musical appearances on the
European stage.
In
addition to the priestly character Sarastro, the libretto of Mozart’s The Magic
Flute is laden with Zoroastrian themes, such as light versus darkness, trials
by fire and water, and the pursuit of wisdom and goodness above all else. And
the late Farrokh Bulsara – aka Freddie Mercury – was intensely proud of his
Persian Zoroastrian heritage. “I’ll always walk around like a Persian
popinjay,” he once remarked in an interview, “and no one’s gonna stop me,
honey!” Likewise, his sister Karishma Cooke in a 2014 interview reflected on
the role of Zoroastrianism in the family. “We as a family were very proud of
being Zoroastrian,” she said. “I think what [Freddie’s] Zoroastrian faith gave
him was to work hard, to persevere, and to follow
your dreams.”
Ice
and fire
When
it comes to music, though, perhaps no single example best reflects the
influence of Zoroastrianism’s legacy than Richard Strauss’ Thus Spoke
Zarathustra, which famously provided the booming backbone to much
of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The score owes its
inspiration to Nietzsche’s magnum opus of the same name, which follows a
prophet named Zarathustra, although many of the ideas Nietzsche proposes are,
in fact, anti-Zoroastrian. The German philosopher rejects the dichotomy of good
and evil so characteristic of Zoroastrianism – and, as an avowed atheist, he
had no use for monotheism at all.
Raphael’s
The School of Athens, finished in 1511, includes a figure, seen in this detail
from the larger work, many historians think is Zoroaster, holding a globe
(Credit: Alamy)
Freddie
Mercury and Zadig & Voltaire aside, there are other overt examples of
Zoroastrianism’s impact on contemporary popular culture in the West. Ahura
Mazda served as the namesake for the Mazda car company, as well as the
inspiration for the legend of Azor Ahai – a demigod who triumphs over darkness
– in George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones, as many of its fans
discovered last year. As well, one could well argue that the cosmic
battle between the Light and Dark sides of the Force in Star Warshas, quite
ostensibly,
Zoroastrianism written all over it.
Freddie
Mercury, the legendary lead singer of Queen, drew inspiration from the
Zoroastrian faith of his Persian family (Credit: Alamy)
For
all its contributions to Western thought, religion and culture, relatively
little is known about the world’s first monotheistic faith and its Iranian
founder. 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. Iran’s many other legacies and influences aside, the all but
forgotten religion of Zoroastrianism just might provide the key to
understanding how similar ‘we’ are to ‘them’.
