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Zoroastrianism
World History/Napp
“By the time of Darius’s rule, about 2,500 years had passed since the first Sumerian citystates had been built. During those years, people of the Fertile Crescent had endured war,
conquest, and famine. These events gave rise to a basic question: Why should so much
suffering and chaos exist in the world? A Persian prophet named Zoroaster, who lived
around 600 B.C., offered an answer.
Zoroaster taught that the earth is a battleground where a great struggle is fought between
the spirit of good and the spirit of evil. Each person, Zoroaster preached, is expected to
take part in this struggle. The Zoroastrian religion teaches a belief in one god, Ahura
Mazda. At the end of time, Ahura Mazda will judge everyone according to how well he or
she fought the battle for good. Traces of Zoroastrianism – such as the concept of Satan and
a belief in angels – can be found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
After the Muslim conquest of Persia in the A.D. 600s, the Zoroastrian religion declined.
Some groups carried the faith eastward to India. Zoroastrianism also was an important
influence in the development of Manichaeism, a religious system that competed with early
Christianity for believers. The cult of Mithra, a Zoroastrian god, spread westward to
become a popular religion among the military legions in the Roman Empire. Today,
modern Zoroastrians continue to observe the religion’s traditions in several countries
including Iran and India, where its followers are called Parsis.” ~ World History
Identify and explain the following terms:
Zoroaster
Battleground between good and evil
Ahura Mazda
Manichaeism
Mitrha
Parsis
“Zoroastrians believe that as
soon as the breath has left it, the
body becomes impure. Death is
considered to be the work of
Angra Mainyu, the embodiment
of all that is evil, whereas the
earth and all that is beautiful is
considered to be the pure work of
God.
Instead of burying the corpse,
Zoroastrians traditionally laid it
out on s tower (dokhma or ‘Tower
of Silence’) to be exposed to the
sun and eaten by birds of prey
such as vultures.”
~ BBC
-
Explain Zoroastrian funeral rites.
Cosmic Battle
- Cosmic dualism
refers to the ongoing
battle between Good
(Ahura Mazda) and
Evil (Angra Mainyu)
within the universe
- It is important to
understand that
Angra Mainyu is not
God’s equal
opposite, rather that
Angra Mainyu is the
destructive energy
that opposes God's
creative energy
- God created a pure
world through his
creative energy,
which Angra
Mainyu continues to
attack, making it
impure
- Aging, sickness,
famine, natural
disasters, death and
so on are attributed
to this
- With cosmic
dualism there is life
and death, day and
night, good and evil.
- Life is a mixture of
these two opposing
forces
History
- When Zoroaster
was thirty years old
he had a divine
vision of God during
a ritual purification
rite
Prayers
- Zoroastrians
traditionally pray
several times a day
- Some wear a kusti,
which is a cord
knotted three times,
- This vision
to remind them of
radically
the maxim, “Good
transformed his view Words, Good
of the world, and he Thoughts, Good
tried to teach this
Deeds”
view to others
- They wrap the
- Zoroaster believed kusti around the
in one creator God,
outside of a sudreh,
teaching that only
a long, clean, white
one God was worthy cotton shirt
of worship
- They may engage
- After twelve years, in a purification
Zoroaster left his
ritual, such as the
home to find
washing of the
somewhere more
hands, then untie
open to new ideas
and then retie it
while reciting
- He found such a
prayers
place in the land of
Bactria
- Prayers are
primarily
- The King heard
invocational, calling
Zoroaster debating
upon and celebrating
with the religious
Ahura Mazda and
leaders of his land,
his good essence that
and decided to
runs through all
accept Zoroaster's
things
ideas and made them
the official religion
- Prayers are said
of their kingdom.
facing the sun, fire
or other source of
- By the time of the
light representing
Persian Empire,
Ahura Mazda’s
Zoroastrianism was
divine light and
a well-established
energy
religion
Worship
- Purification is
strongly emphasised
in Zoroastrian
rituals
- Zoroastrians focus
on keeping their
minds, bodies and
environments pure
in the quest to defeat
evil (Angra Mainyu)
- Fire is seen as the
supreme symbol of
purity, and sacred
fires are maintained
in Fire Temples
(Agiaries)
- These fires
represent the light of
God (Ahura Mazda)
as well as the
illuminated mind,
and are never
extinguished
- No Zoroastrian
ritual or ceremony is
performed without
the presence of a
sacred fire
Zoroastrianism provides a solution to the
so-called “problem of evil” by teaching that
A. Ahura Mazda, as ultimate reality, is a
force for evil as well as for good
B. evil is only illusory and has no real effect
on wise people
C. there are two equally powerful divine
beings locked in an eternal struggle of good
versus evil
D. ultimately order and goodness will win
out over chaos and evil
Zoroastrianism teaches that reality is
divisible into two realms:
A. Energy waves / atomic particles
B. Good intention / evil intention
C. Spirit and thought / matter and
physicality
D. Sky and heaven / earth and the
underworld
In which of the following did
Zoroastrianism originate?
A. Pakistan
B. Iran
C. North Africa
D. Afghanistan
The coming of Islam to Iran in the seventh
century resulted in
A. civil war between Iranian Muslims and
Zoroastrians
B. the rise of dynasties of Zoroastrian
rulers who were sympathetic to Islam
C. the marginalization of Zoroastrianism
D. a synthesis of Islam and Zoroastrianism
Today, the largest population of
Zoroastrians is in
A. Afghanistan
B. North Africa
C. Pakistan
D. India
Zoroastrianism shares teachings about
__________ with Christianity and Judaism.
A. dualism and a final judgment
B. Ahuras and the sacredness of fire
C. the daevas and the sacredness of fire
D. the importance of the patriarchs of
ancient Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
Zoroastrians in India are known as
A. Parsis
B. Indians
C. Zarathustri
D. Zoroastri
Zoroastrian reverence for fire means that
A. candle flames are not extinguished but
rather allowed to burn out
B. cremation is the traditional means of
disposing of the dead
C. sacred fires in temples are ritually
extinguished and relit at least once per year
D. all of the above
Unlike Hindus, Zoroastrians place corpses
on
A. towers of silence
B. on fires
C. in the ground
D. None of the above
Zoroastrians are
A. monotheists and dualists
B. polytheists and dualists
C. atheists and dualists
D. deists and dualists
Zoroastrianism has influenced
A. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism
B. Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism
C. Judaism, Christianity and Islam
D. Theosophy, Sikhism and Deism
- Identify the percentages of the following religious populations:
 Christianity: ___________
 Islam:
___________
 Buddhism: ___________
- Where do many Muslims live?
- What religion is dominant in the Americas?
- What religion is dominant in sub-Saharan Africa?
- How have religions spread?
- Identify two religions that spread beyond their places of origin?
- Why do religious populations increase and decrease over time?