# The Golden Age of Zoroastrianism

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 6 Oct 2026, 1 h 08 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75560589/the_golden_age_of_zoroastrianism_human_voiced_no_ads.mp3

Journey into the ancient Iranian world and discover the centuries when Zoroastrianism stood at the heart of some of history's greatest Persian empires. This episode explores the development, influence, institutions, beliefs, and cultural achievements of Zoroastrianism during periods when the religion played a central role in Iranian political and social life. Begin with the great Persian empires and examine the complex relationship between Zoroastrian religious traditions and royal authority. Explore the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian periods, while considering what historical evidence can actually tell us about the beliefs and practices of the people who lived under these powerful Iranian dynasties. Discover the role of fire temples, priests, rituals, sacred texts, festivals, and religious communities in Zoroastrian society. Explore how ideas surrounding Ahura Mazda, truth, righteousness, purity, moral responsibility, and the struggle between good and evil developed and were expressed through religious practice. The episode also examines the Sasanian Empire, when Zoroastrianism became particularly closely connected with the institutions of the state. Discover the organization of the Zoroastrian priesthood, the compilation and preservation of religious traditions, the importance of sacred fires, and the ways religious and political authority interacted across the empire. Explore the intellectual and cultural world that developed alongside Zoroastrian religious institutions. Examine Persian traditions of astronomy, medicine, philosophy, law, literature, education, and administration, while considering the influence of neighboring cultures and the religious diversity that existed throughout the Iranian world. The story also

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: In Persepolis, the capital of ancient Persia, a scene unfolds
[0:06] Speaker 1: in a temple. The air is filled with the fragrance
[0:09] Speaker 1: of burning frankincense. In the center stands a sacred fire
[0:14] Speaker 1: on an altar, flames dancing, casting flickering light on the
[0:18] Speaker 1: polished stone reliefs, while a circle of robed priests chant
[0:23] Speaker 1: hymns in an ancient tongue. At the front, the king
[0:27] Speaker 1: of kings himself, raises his hand towards the fire, calling
[0:33] Speaker 1: upon Ahura Mazda, the wise lord, to bless his empire.
[0:38] Speaker 1: In that moment, fire and faith unite the gathering. The
[0:44] Speaker 1: flame symbolizes truth and divine light, embodying the gods' presence
[0:50] Speaker 1: among them. This was, perhaps, a scene that could have
[0:55] Speaker 1: taken place during the height of the Achaemenid or Sasanian empire,
[1:00] Speaker 1: there was often hailed as the golden ages of Zoroastrianism.
[1:06] Speaker 1: And so with the scene set, I welcome you to
[1:09] Speaker 1: a journey through time, back to the 6th century BCE,
[1:14] Speaker 1: and all the way forward to the 7th century CE,
[1:17] Speaker 1: when Zoroastrianism was not a religion practiced by a small
[1:21] Speaker 1: minority as it is today, but simply the beating heart
[1:26] Speaker 1: of two of history's greatest empires, prepare to hear stories
[1:31] Speaker 1: of emperors and priests, battles and rituals, tolerance and zeal.
[1:37] Speaker 1: We'll explore how an ancient faith guided kings and shaped laws,
[1:42] Speaker 1: how its principles of truth and righteousness became a moral
[1:45] Speaker 1: compass for mighty emperors, and how its sacred fires burned
[1:49] Speaker 1: in the temples of Mesopotamia to Central Asia. We will
[1:55] Speaker 1: begin with a brief refresher on the origins of the faith,
[1:59] Speaker 1: for those who have not watched the first video, Who
[2:02] Speaker 1: is Zarathustra, which I will link for those interested, and
[2:06] Speaker 1: his revolutionary message. And then we will delve into the
[2:10] Speaker 1: Achaemenid Empire and the Sasanian Empire, the two grand dynasties
[2:14] Speaker 1: under which Zoroastrianism thrived and reached unparalleled influences. We'll also
[2:20] Speaker 1: hear words from outsiders too, Greek historians, baffled and impressed
[2:26] Speaker 1: by Persian customs. a people who refused to defile water
[2:32] Speaker 1: or fire, and thought telling a lie was the worst
[2:36] Speaker 1: sin of all. We'll walk through the corridors of time,
[2:41] Speaker 1: to the Sasanian era, and see those powerful high priests
[2:45] Speaker 1: who could make and break kings. And when libraries of
[2:49] Speaker 1: Zoroastrianism's scriptures were compiled for the ages, some, or most,
[2:57] Speaker 1: lost the time. Through archaeological evidence, primary texts, and even
[3:03] Speaker 1: legends passed down, I'll try to illuminate this golden age
[3:09] Speaker 1: of Zoroastrianism. So, close your eyes, think of that eternal flame,
[3:15] Speaker 1: and let's step back into the ancient world. But first,
[3:20] Speaker 1: let me welcome you. If you want to learn everything
[3:23] Speaker 1: there is to know about Zoroastrianism, or anything else about history,
[3:29] Speaker 1: You're in the right place. You're on the right channel
[3:32] Speaker 1: at the right time. So, for those who have not
[3:35] Speaker 1: done so yet, hit the subscribe button and tell me
[3:38] Speaker 1: where you're listening from down below in the comments. And
[3:42] Speaker 1: with that in mind, let's get nice and relaxed and begin.
[3:49] Speaker 1: As mentioned, we will begin with a brief refresher on
[3:52] Speaker 1: Zarathustra or Zoroaster and we will... then go on to
[3:58] Speaker 1: a more chronological historical approach. If you have already watched
[4:02] Speaker 1: the first video on this and want to skip this section,
[4:06] Speaker 1: refer to the timestamps. So our story begins long before
[4:11] Speaker 1: the rise of Imperial Persia. It begins with Zarathustra Spitama,
[4:16] Speaker 1: known to the Greeks as Zoroaster, a priest-prophet, who likely
[4:21] Speaker 1: lived sometime between 1500 and 1000 BC on the steppes
[4:23] Speaker 1: of Central Asia. or northeast Iran. The exact date and
[4:30] Speaker 1: place are shrouded in mystery and legend, of course. Later
[4:34] Speaker 1: tradition even fancifully claimed he lived 6,000 years before Plato,
[4:39] Speaker 1: which is frankly ridiculous, but what does matter is the
[4:43] Speaker 1: message that he proclaimed. According to Zoroastrian tradition, he received
[4:48] Speaker 1: a divine vision around the age of 30. In that vision,
[4:51] Speaker 1: he beheld Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom. who revealed
[4:56] Speaker 1: to him a profound truth, that Uhura Mazda is the
[5:00] Speaker 1: singular supreme god, creator of all things that are good.
[5:07] Speaker 1: Of course, this was a bold departure from the polytheistic
[5:09] Speaker 1: traditions of Iranian religion at the time, worshipping many gods,
[5:14] Speaker 1: the Devas and the Yazatas, and involved rituals not unlike
[5:18] Speaker 1: those of Vedic Indians. Zarathustra preached that life is a
[5:24] Speaker 1: moral battlefield between Asha, truth and order, and Druj, lies
[5:30] Speaker 1: and chaos. On one stand, one side rather, stands Ahura Mazda,
[5:36] Speaker 1: the source of all goodness and truth, opposed by the
[5:40] Speaker 1: evil spirit Angra Menyo, also called Ariman, who embodies darkness
[5:46] Speaker 1: and falsehoods. The good guy and the bad guy. Every
[5:52] Speaker 1: human being thus had their role in this cosmic struggle,
[5:56] Speaker 1: by exercising their free will to choose good thoughts, good words,
[6:00] Speaker 1: and good deans, the triple moral precept of Zoroastrian ethics.
[6:06] Speaker 1: In fact, good thoughts, good words, good deans, Humata, Huqta,
[6:11] Speaker 1: and Hvarshta, became the creed by which Zoroastrians sought to live.
[6:17] Speaker 1: It's a pretty easy one to remember, too. Not too complicated.
[6:23] Speaker 1: The key teachings of the Prophet will be quickly summarized
[6:25] Speaker 1: as follows. First we have monotheism and dualism. Let a
[6:30] Speaker 1: single benevolent God, a Hura Master who is worthy of worship,
[6:34] Speaker 1: in perpetual conflict with the evil force of Angra Mainyu,
[6:38] Speaker 1: humans must side with good against evil. Then we have
[6:43] Speaker 1: Asha versus Druj, the truth versus the lie. The world
[6:47] Speaker 1: operating on Asha, divine truth and order. To lie or
[6:51] Speaker 1: commit injustice is to support Druj, which means that you
[6:55] Speaker 1: are effectively aiding the evil spirit. Telling a lie was
[6:59] Speaker 1: the most disgraceful act in Persian culture. Number three, we
[7:04] Speaker 1: have moral responsibility. This is the idea that humans are
[7:08] Speaker 1: not passive. Each person's ethical choices contribute to the triumph
[7:13] Speaker 1: of good or the triumph of evil. Thus, virtue is
[7:18] Speaker 1: a duty. from honesty and charity, to respect for the
[7:23] Speaker 1: natural elements. And then we have sacred elements too. Fire,
[7:29] Speaker 1: as a pure creation of Ahura Mazda, and water and
[7:32] Speaker 1: earth must be kept free of pollution. Fire in particular
[7:37] Speaker 1: became a symbol of divine light and truth, and it
[7:40] Speaker 1: was kept burning continuously in temples as a sign of
[7:43] Speaker 1: the eternal presence of Ahura Mazda's wisdom. Well, of course,
[7:50] Speaker 1: initially Zarathustra's message was met with resistance and criticism. Imagine
[7:57] Speaker 1: walking from village to village, challenging the priests who worshipped
[8:00] Speaker 1: the old gods and performed blood sacrifices. But the breakthrough
[8:06] Speaker 1: became when he found a powerful patron. According to later
[8:09] Speaker 1: Zoroastrian tradition, Zarathustra won the support of a local king, Vishtaspa,
[8:15] Speaker 1: by debating opponents and even performing miracles. The story tells
[8:19] Speaker 1: that he cured the king's favorite horse. Of course, that
[8:23] Speaker 1: was the deal. He would only cure him if the
[8:26] Speaker 1: king would become one of his new followers. And then
[8:30] Speaker 1: the king's wife and sons and all of the old
[8:32] Speaker 1: priests and sorcerers would be thrown out. In fact, he
[8:36] Speaker 1: wanted them executed. Whether or not that happened, well, I'm
[8:40] Speaker 1: not sure if that's feeding Angra Main you or not.
[8:45] Speaker 1: But either way, By the cusp of the 6th century BCE, Zoroastrianism,
[8:51] Speaker 1: or Mazdayasna, the worship of Mazda, had taken root among
[8:55] Speaker 1: the Iranian tribes. Now, hold on, it wasn't the only religion.
[9:01] Speaker 1: Many variations of local cults surely persisted. It was extremely
[9:06] Speaker 1: hard to keep track of them, but its ethos was
[9:09] Speaker 1: becoming influential. And it set the stage for what happened next.
[9:14] Speaker 1: A Persian tribe from the region called Pars, led by
[9:18] Speaker 1: a dynasty claiming descent from an ancestor named Achaemenes, rises
[9:23] Speaker 1: to conquer the known world. They carry with them their
[9:26] Speaker 1: cultural values and beliefs. And as we move into the
[9:31] Speaker 1: era of the Achaemenid Empire, keep in mind those core
[9:35] Speaker 1: Zoroastrian ideals of truth, moral choice, and the sacredness of elements.
[9:42] Speaker 1: they might shine through in how these emperors justified their
[9:45] Speaker 1: rule and administered their diverse empires. The Achaemenid Empire Zoroastrian
[9:55] Speaker 1: ideals in the First Persian Empire 6. to the 4th
[10:00] Speaker 1: century BCE The Achaemenid Empire from 550 to 330 was
[10:08] Speaker 1: the first of the great Persian empires and under rulers
[10:12] Speaker 1: like Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes it became the largest empire
[10:16] Speaker 1: that the world had yet seen. During this period Zoroastrianism
[10:21] Speaker 1: may not have been a formal state religion, at least
[10:25] Speaker 1: in the way that we think of it in later times,
[10:28] Speaker 1: but Zoroastrian beliefs deeply informed the royal ideology and practices.
[10:34] Speaker 1: The Achaemenid kings saw themselves as chosen by Ahura Mazda,
[10:39] Speaker 1: and strove, at least in ideal, to rule by the
[10:43] Speaker 1: principles of justice, Asha, and to suppress the falsehood of Druj.
[10:48] Speaker 1: So let's explore how all this played out. historically and politically.
[10:54] Speaker 1: And what better place to start with Cyrus the Great
[10:58] Speaker 1: in the seeds of a golden age? So Cyrus II,
[11:04] Speaker 1: reigning from 559 to 530 BC, is famed for founding
[11:08] Speaker 1: the Achaemenid Empire by uniting the Persians and Medes in
[11:13] Speaker 1: conquering lands from Asia Minor to Babylon. Cyrus's reign is
[11:18] Speaker 1: often associated with tolerance, an enlightened rule, hence the name Great.
[11:25] Speaker 1: While direct evidence of Cyrus' personal religious beliefs is pretty scant,
[11:30] Speaker 1: later tradition and indirect clues suggest that he honoured the
[11:33] Speaker 1: Zoroastrian god. Cyrus' legacy of tolerance, allowing captive peoples like
[11:40] Speaker 1: the Jews to return home and rebuild their temples, fits
[11:44] Speaker 1: in pretty well with Zoroastrian ethics of respecting truth and
[11:47] Speaker 1: justice for all peoples. the Cyrus Cylinder, a clay charter
[11:51] Speaker 1: buried under Babylon's walls, has Cyrus declaring that he restored
[11:56] Speaker 1: some temples and repatriated displaced peoples, though it credits the
[12:00] Speaker 1: Babylonian god Marduk for Cyrus' victory, which is pretty understandable,
[12:05] Speaker 1: since it was addressed to a Babylonian audience. Cyrus' actions
[12:10] Speaker 1: of mercy could be seen as influenced by a Persian
[12:14] Speaker 1: worldview that despised oppression and lies. Indeed, The Greek historian
[12:20] Speaker 1: Xenophon later depicted Cyrus as an ideal, just monarch in
[12:25] Speaker 1: his work Chiropaedia, reflecting how even outsiders imagined Persian kingship
[12:31] Speaker 1: in moral terms. An anecdote often told is that when
[12:36] Speaker 1: Cyrus entered Babylon in 539 BC, he did so peacefully
[12:40] Speaker 1: and was thus welcomed as a liberator. We might envision
[12:45] Speaker 1: a magus Zoroastrian priest standing beside Cyrus as he pays
[12:50] Speaker 1: respect to the city's chief deity, showing a bit of
[12:54] Speaker 1: benevolence that ought to make him look good in front
[12:57] Speaker 1: of the crowds. In fact, Cyrus understood that to rule
[13:03] Speaker 1: an empire of many nations, tolerance was strength. This attitude
[13:09] Speaker 1: resonates with the Zoroastrian concept of Asha, which included the
[13:14] Speaker 1: idea of Arta, justice in royal conduct, By not forcing
[13:19] Speaker 1: the Persian religion on others, Cyrus was perhaps following the
[13:22] Speaker 1: tenet that religion should convince by righteousness, not by compulsion.
[13:32] Speaker 1: If Cyrus planted the seeds, it was Darius I or
[13:35] Speaker 1: Darius the Great, 522-486, who explicitly linked kingship with the
[13:41] Speaker 1: Zoroastrian faith. Early in his reign, Darius faced a kind
[13:49] Speaker 1: of a crisis, a series of rebellions across his empire
[13:53] Speaker 1: and a challenge to his throne by a usurper. According
[13:57] Speaker 1: to Darius' own inscriptions, a mage priest named Gaumata had
[14:02] Speaker 1: falsely taken his throne by impersonating Bardia, also called Samertes,
[14:08] Speaker 1: one of Cyrus' sons. Darius asserts that Gaumata, the Magian, lied, saying,
[14:16] Speaker 1: I am Smerdis, son of Cyrus, and seized power until
[14:20] Speaker 1: Darius and the loyal Persians killed the imposter. This event,
[14:26] Speaker 1: often called the false Smerdis episode, has a striking religious undertone.
[14:32] Speaker 1: The pretender is labelled a liar, a deceiver, essentially an
[14:38] Speaker 1: agent of Druge, an agent of Angremenu. or to cement
[14:45] Speaker 1: his legitimacy and recount his early struggles, Darius commissioned a
[14:49] Speaker 1: monumental trilingual inscription, carved high on a cliff face at
[14:54] Speaker 1: Beistun in western Iran. In this Beistun inscription, Darius proclaims
[15:02] Speaker 1: his lineage and right to rule, and crucially, he attributes
[15:06] Speaker 1: his success to Ahura Mazda. Listen to him in his
[15:10] Speaker 1: own words. This is from a carved stone still in
[15:14] Speaker 1: 520 BC. By the grace of Ahura Mazda am I king.
[15:20] Speaker 1: Ahura Mazda has granted me the kingdom. Well, you can't
[15:26] Speaker 1: argue with that, can't you? He continues to emphasize that
[15:30] Speaker 1: it was Mazda's aid that helped him defeat his enemies
[15:35] Speaker 1: and brought the rebels to justice. Toward the conclusion of
[15:39] Speaker 1: the inscription... Darius makes a moral statement that sounds kind
[15:43] Speaker 1: of like a Zoroastrian sermon. It goes like this. As
[15:48] Speaker 1: to these provinces which revolted, lies made them revolt. But
[15:54] Speaker 1: then Ahura Master delivered them into my hand, and I
[15:57] Speaker 1: did unto them according to my will. He urges future
[16:01] Speaker 1: kings to punish the liars and uphold truth, so that
[16:04] Speaker 1: the country will be secure. Through Darius's testimony, Was he
[16:10] Speaker 1: an emperor consciously casting himself as a champion of Asha?
[16:14] Speaker 1: He literally credits truth and a Huda master for his
[16:20] Speaker 1: victories and blames the rebellions on lies. This alignment of
[16:26] Speaker 1: royal duty with the cosmic battle of truth versus falsehood
[16:30] Speaker 1: is a pretty stunning hallmark of Zoroastrian influence. In essence,
[16:35] Speaker 1: Darius used religion to legitimize his rule. He was a
[16:41] Speaker 1: king because the Supreme God chose him to be the king,
[16:44] Speaker 1: and because he stood on the side of justice and
[16:47] Speaker 1: truth quelling the chaos. But Darius did not stop at proclamations.
[16:53] Speaker 1: He organised an empire with strong emphasis on law and justice.
[16:57] Speaker 1: Records show he standardised laws and coinage, and facilitated communication, i.e.
[17:03] Speaker 1: the royal road and the postal system, all of which
[17:07] Speaker 1: can be seen as attempts to impose cosmic order on
[17:09] Speaker 1: the earthly realm. mirroring the role of a hudra master's truth,
[17:14] Speaker 1: bringing order to the world. While these administrative feats have
[17:18] Speaker 1: practical reasons, it's fascinating to consider that Darius may have
[17:23] Speaker 1: seen good governance as simply part of his religious duty.
[17:31] Speaker 1: But how did outsiders view this? Especially the Greeks? While
[17:36] Speaker 1: the Persian kings left important clues, Some of our understanding
[17:41] Speaker 1: of Zoroastrian practice has to come from outsiders, especially in
[17:46] Speaker 1: Achaemenid times. Herodotus, the Greek historian writing in the 5th
[17:50] Speaker 1: century BC, gives a famous account of Persian customs, and
[17:56] Speaker 1: indirectly perhaps their religious practices. Though not a Persian himself,
[18:01] Speaker 1: Herodotus interviewed people who had travelled or lived in the empire,
[18:06] Speaker 1: and his generally respectful description of seems to corroborate many
[18:10] Speaker 1: Zoroastrian features. So according to Herodotus, the Persians, I quote,
[18:17] Speaker 1: have no images of the gods, nor temples, nor altars,
[18:21] Speaker 1: and consider the use of them a sign of folly.
[18:27] Speaker 1: Their want is to ascend the summits of the loftiest mountains,
[18:30] Speaker 1: and there to offer sacrifices to Zeus, which is the
[18:34] Speaker 1: name they give to the whole circle of the firmament. Now,
[18:39] Speaker 1: You heard the word Zeus, right? Well, by Zeus Herodotus
[18:43] Speaker 1: means the Persian's highest god, clearly Ahura Mazda, whom he
[18:48] Speaker 1: interprets as a sky god. This description matches the anaconic,
[18:54] Speaker 1: that is, no idol, worship in Zoroastrianism. Rather than statues,
[19:00] Speaker 1: the Persians worshipped in nature, under the open sky, fire
[19:06] Speaker 1: altars on hilltops or mountain shrines, were their equivalent of temples.
[19:12] Speaker 1: Herodotus even notes, that later on, the Persians adopted the
[19:15] Speaker 1: worship of an additional deity, Urania, whom he equates with
[19:20] Speaker 1: a goddess, the Persians called Mithra. Here, is likely referencing Mithra,
[19:28] Speaker 1: the Zoroastrian Yazata, of covenant and light, showing that by
[19:32] Speaker 1: his time, Persians honoured Mithra, and a goddess of fertility, Anahita,
[19:37] Speaker 1: alongside Mazda, and only syncretism within the Zoroastrian framework. But Herodotus, See,
[19:47] Speaker 1: I'm merging Zoroaster and Herodotus together there, aren't I? Herodotus, rather,
[19:54] Speaker 1: also describes Persian sacrifice. He describes it like this. There
[20:00] Speaker 1: is no altar, like no fire, poor no libations. There
[20:05] Speaker 1: is no sound of the flute. But the man who
[20:08] Speaker 1: wishes to sacrifice brings the victim to a pure spot
[20:12] Speaker 1: of ground and calls upon the name of God. This
[20:17] Speaker 1: absence of altars and fire in sacrifices might seem a
[20:20] Speaker 1: little bit odd, given that Zoroastrians do use fire in ritual.
[20:25] Speaker 1: But likely Herodotus means that they did not use altars
[20:29] Speaker 1: separate from a natural setting, nor did they make bloody
[20:33] Speaker 1: sacrifices on flaming pyres like the Greeks did. Instead, a
[20:38] Speaker 1: magus is required to be present and chant hymns during
[20:41] Speaker 1: the sacrifice. Reuters says again, it is not lawful to
[20:48] Speaker 1: offer sacrifice unless there is a magus present. It shows
[20:53] Speaker 1: the importance of the magi, the hereditary priestly class, who
[20:57] Speaker 1: were by then the guardians of the religious rites. They
[21:01] Speaker 1: chanted prayers, probably verses of the Avesta or similar during ceremonies.
[21:07] Speaker 1: Herodotus makes other fascinating observations, aligning with Zoroastrian norms. He
[21:13] Speaker 1: says that the Persians celebrate their birthdays lavishly, and that
[21:18] Speaker 1: they value truth above all. He says the most disgraceful
[21:23] Speaker 1: thing in the world, they think, is to tell a lie,
[21:28] Speaker 1: and that even knowing debt is bad because the debtor
[21:31] Speaker 1: is obliged to tell lies. This reverence for truth-telling is
[21:36] Speaker 1: exactly what we expect from followers of a religion exalting
[21:40] Speaker 1: the truth. He also notes that they do not urinate
[21:44] Speaker 1: or wash in rivers to avoid polluting water which they
[21:48] Speaker 1: sacredly regarded. And actually, quite intriguingly, he mentions the funerary practice. Persians,
[21:56] Speaker 1: or at least the Magi, expose dead bodies to be
[21:59] Speaker 1: torn by birds or dogs before burial. And this is
[22:03] Speaker 1: a clear reference to the Zoroastrian practice of sky burial.
[22:08] Speaker 1: They believed a dead body is nasu, or unclean, and
[22:12] Speaker 1: must not taint earth or fire. So naturally, it's left
[22:17] Speaker 1: out to the scavengers. A bit of a horrific sight,
[22:22] Speaker 1: I suppose, for modern sensibilities. But that's just the way
[22:26] Speaker 1: they did it. I suppose those who were out there
[22:32] Speaker 1: having their sky burials, probably didn't have much to say
[22:34] Speaker 1: about it. To add to Herodotus, another geographer, Strabo in
[22:39] Speaker 1: the 1st century BC, noted that in Cappadocia, that is Anatolia,
[22:44] Speaker 1: where many Persians had settled, there were fire temples called Pyretheia,
[22:50] Speaker 1: that is firehouses with altars of eternal flame, and magi
[22:56] Speaker 1: attending them. who wore tall hats covering their mouths so
[23:00] Speaker 1: as not to pollute the fire with breath. Strabo says
[23:03] Speaker 1: that these magi would sing incantations before the fire every day,
[23:07] Speaker 1: holding a bundle of sacred twigs. He also observes that
[23:12] Speaker 1: Persians made sacrifices by striking the animal instead of cutting,
[23:18] Speaker 1: to avoid spilling blood on fire or earth directly, and
[23:22] Speaker 1: that whenever Persians wanted to sacrifice to any god, they
[23:26] Speaker 1: first prayed to fire. All these accounts paint a pretty
[23:31] Speaker 1: consistent picture of Zoroastrianism worship in the Achaemenid period. It
[23:36] Speaker 1: is aniconic. It is fire-centered, purity-conscious, truth-oriented. The Greeks, accustomed
[23:44] Speaker 1: to their statues and temples, found the Persian approach noteworthy
[23:50] Speaker 1: and perhaps in some ways admirably austere. From Darius onward,
[24:00] Speaker 1: Achaemenid kings regularly emphasize their relationships with the god Ahura Master.
[24:06] Speaker 1: Many royal inscriptions often begin with phrases such as Xerxes
[24:11] Speaker 1: the king says by the favor of Ahura Master I
[24:14] Speaker 1: built this, or something along the lines of may Ahura
[24:17] Speaker 1: Master protect me in my kingdom. For instance, at Persepolis,
[24:22] Speaker 1: Xerxes I, that is Darius' son by the way, left
[24:26] Speaker 1: inscriptions on his building projects, such as Xerxes the Great
[24:31] Speaker 1: King says, What has been built by me here, all
[24:35] Speaker 1: that by the favour of Ahura Mazda I built. Me
[24:39] Speaker 1: may Ahura Mazda together with the gods protect, and my kingdom. Notice,
[24:46] Speaker 1: together with the gods. The Achaemenids acknowledge the other good
[24:51] Speaker 1: deities too, like Mithra and Anahita as helpers of Ahura Mazda.
[24:57] Speaker 1: reflecting an inclusive henotheism rather than a strict monotheism. A
[25:03] Speaker 1: significant religious declaration by Xerxes appears in what scholars call
[25:06] Speaker 1: the Daiva inscription. Xerxes recounts that when he became king,
[25:12] Speaker 1: there were certain regions in his realm where people formerly
[25:16] Speaker 1: worshipped the demons, Daivas. Xerxes claims, Afterwards, by the favour
[25:23] Speaker 1: of Ahura Mazda, I destroyed that place of the Daivas.
[25:27] Speaker 1: and had proclaimed the Daivas shall not be worshipped any longer. Now,
[25:33] Speaker 1: this is pretty remarkable, don't you think? It sounds like
[25:36] Speaker 1: an official act of religious reform, or even suppressions of
[25:41] Speaker 1: cults deemed to be demonic. The term Daiva, in Zoroastrian context,
[25:47] Speaker 1: refers to the false gods or demons, the very entities
[25:51] Speaker 1: that Zoroaster denounced. So, Xerxes is basically saying that he
[25:56] Speaker 1: uprooted demon worship somewhere in his empire. We're not entirely
[26:02] Speaker 1: sure what the event this corresponds to historically. Some people
[26:06] Speaker 1: think it may refer to Xerxes suppressing a rebellion in Babylon,
[26:10] Speaker 1: or perhaps quelling unrest in Egypt. But Xerxes framed it
[26:14] Speaker 1: in any case on spiritual terms. He portrays himself not
[26:19] Speaker 1: just as a king, but as a defender of the
[26:22] Speaker 1: true faith. stamping out the worship of false deities in
[26:26] Speaker 1: favour of Ahura Mazda. So from this we gather that
[26:30] Speaker 1: by the 5th century BCE, Persian kings were confident enough
[26:34] Speaker 1: to enforce a sort of centralisation of religious policy, at
[26:39] Speaker 1: least in some cases. It was likely pragmatic. Rebellions often
[26:44] Speaker 1: coalesced around local temples and priesthoods. But the language used, well,
[26:50] Speaker 1: it shows the Zoroastrian mindset. Good things destroy the cult
[26:54] Speaker 1: of demons. Yet, we should note that the Achaemenids generally
[26:59] Speaker 1: remained tolerant of a myriad of religions within their vast domain.
[27:04] Speaker 1: They are known to have patronized or allowed the gods
[27:07] Speaker 1: of the Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and others. Darius and Xerxes
[27:12] Speaker 1: themselves funded the restoration of temples in Egypt for Egyptian gods,
[27:16] Speaker 1: for example. How to reconcile that with Zoroastrian beliefs? Well,
[27:22] Speaker 1: the likely answer is that Achaemenid policy distinguished between loyalty
[27:27] Speaker 1: to the empire and personal beliefs. You see, as long
[27:33] Speaker 1: as subject peoples paid tribute and didn't cause any trouble,
[27:38] Speaker 1: the kings were content to let them honour their own gods.
[27:42] Speaker 1: The empire was simply just too huge and diverse to
[27:45] Speaker 1: impose one religion everywhere. It was just not going to work.
[27:50] Speaker 1: The kings and their Persian core, however, maintained their devotion
[27:55] Speaker 1: to Mazda and the Zoroastrian ethos. It's kind of like
[28:00] Speaker 1: the royal family considered Ahura Mazda the universal god, hence
[28:04] Speaker 1: their mission to uphold truth everywhere, while recognizing other gods
[28:09] Speaker 1: as either local manifestations or perhaps minor beings. One late
[28:15] Speaker 1: Achaemenid king took an interesting religious turn, Artaxerxes II, reigning
[28:21] Speaker 1: 404 to 359 BCE, explicitly invoked not only Ahura Mazda,
[28:27] Speaker 1: but also Mithra and Anahita in his inscriptions. In fact,
[28:33] Speaker 1: Artaxerxes II encouraged the cult of Anahita, the goddess of
[28:38] Speaker 1: water's fertility and wisdom, and reportedly had statues of her
[28:42] Speaker 1: erected in various cities. And this is curious because earlier Persians,
[28:47] Speaker 1: as Herodotus said, shunned idols. Artaxerxes' introduction of statuary for
[28:53] Speaker 1: a deity might represent a kind of syncretic shift, possibly
[28:58] Speaker 1: under influence from conquered peoples or a loosening of strict iconoclasm.
[29:04] Speaker 1: It could also hint at Zurvanism or other sub-sects developing
[29:10] Speaker 1: by that time. In any case, the mainstream remained very
[29:15] Speaker 1: loyal to Ahura Mazda, Mithra, and Anahita as a divine triad,
[29:21] Speaker 1: and Artaxerxes II's reign shows how Zoroastrianism was flexible enough
[29:25] Speaker 1: to adapt and incorporate new elements, while still maintaining the core. So,
[29:35] Speaker 1: during this golden age, as we are going to call it,
[29:40] Speaker 1: under the Achaemenids how might an ordinary Persian experience Zoroastrianism
[29:46] Speaker 1: you see we talked about kings and inscriptions and all
[29:49] Speaker 1: that it's only natural that's the sources that we have
[29:55] Speaker 1: but what about daily life and culture what was that
[29:59] Speaker 1: like while we'll do our best, as usual. Every Persian
[30:05] Speaker 1: family was expected to tend a household hearth fire, keeping
[30:10] Speaker 1: it clean, keeping it alive, a microcosm of the eternal fires.
[30:16] Speaker 1: They likely prayed at dawn, noon, and dusk to the
[30:20] Speaker 1: rising sun, midday sun, and evening glow, respectively, as later
[30:25] Speaker 1: Zoroastrians do, since sunlight was venerated as the pure light
[30:29] Speaker 1: of Ahura Mazda, Major festivals punctuated that year. One key
[30:34] Speaker 1: festival was Norus, the new year at the spring equinox,
[30:38] Speaker 1: and that's still celebrated in Iran today. Norus in Achaemenid
[30:44] Speaker 1: times was probably a grand affair. It coincided with spring
[30:48] Speaker 1: and symbolized renewal. The king at Persepolis received visitors and
[30:53] Speaker 1: tribute from across the empire around this time, as depicted
[30:56] Speaker 1: in the famous Apadana reliefs of tribuned bearers. While the
[31:02] Speaker 1: Achaemenid inscriptions don't mention Nowruz by name, later tradition ascribes
[31:07] Speaker 1: its celebration to them. We can imagine on Nowruz that
[31:12] Speaker 1: Persians might clean their homes, light lamps, feast, and perhaps
[31:17] Speaker 1: the Magi would recite prayers for the year's prosperity, invoking
[31:21] Speaker 1: Asha to prevail in the coming year. Another likely observance
[31:27] Speaker 1: was Mithra's festival in autumn. and winter solstice celebrations, what
[31:33] Speaker 1: is now Yalda night in Persian custom, by the way.
[31:37] Speaker 1: The reverence of natural cycles, seasonal changes, harvest time in
[31:41] Speaker 1: the sun's course, well, they all fit the Zoroastrian view
[31:45] Speaker 1: of an orderly cosmos. Children will be taught at a
[31:49] Speaker 1: young age the importance of truthfulness. There's a famous quote
[31:53] Speaker 1: attributed to a Achaemenid era education. Persian boys were, quote,
[32:00] Speaker 1: taught to ride, shoot the bow, and speak the truth.
[32:05] Speaker 1: Herodotus also mentions this, that the Persians educate their sons
[32:09] Speaker 1: from age 5 to 20 in horsemanship, archery, and truth-telling.
[32:13] Speaker 1: It reflects the martial society alongside the ethical emphasis. But
[32:18] Speaker 1: of course, when Persians died, their relatives would also observe
[32:22] Speaker 1: the proper rites to avoid polluting the elements. Likely, as
[32:26] Speaker 1: Herodotus noted, the corpse would be exposed perhaps in a
[32:32] Speaker 1: secret place or on a mountaintop, until the flesh was gone,
[32:37] Speaker 1: and then the bones were collected and entombed. This practice
[32:41] Speaker 1: continued into later times, and it's a distinctly Zoroastrian one.
[32:51] Speaker 1: But the Achaemenid Golden Age of Zoroastrianism met a violent
[32:55] Speaker 1: destruction in the late 4th century BCE. when Alexander of
[33:00] Speaker 1: Macedon overthrew the Persian Empire. Zoroastrian tradition remembers Alexander not
[33:09] Speaker 1: as great, but as Alexander the Accursed. Why were they
[33:15] Speaker 1: so angry? That's a pretty poor review, isn't it? Because
[33:18] Speaker 1: Alexander's conquest had devastating consequences for the Zoroastrian religion. Macedonian
[33:24] Speaker 1: troops looted and burned royal palaces. And most tragically, Persepolis
[33:31] Speaker 1: was set aflame, according to some Greek sources, because all
[33:35] Speaker 1: the Macedonians had just gotten drunk and lost control of themselves.
[33:42] Speaker 1: Later Zoroastrian writings accuse Alexander of burning their sacred texts
[33:47] Speaker 1: and destroying the fire temples. It is said that the
[33:50] Speaker 1: original Avesta manuscripts, which were by legend, Darius had written
[33:56] Speaker 1: on cow hides in gold ink and kept in royal archives,
[34:00] Speaker 1: lost in those fires. It is no wonder that they
[34:05] Speaker 1: do not call him Alexander the Great. While some of
[34:10] Speaker 1: these accounts are likely exaggerated or symbolic, i.e. blaming the
[34:15] Speaker 1: foreign conqueror for absolutely every loss, while there is a
[34:20] Speaker 1: bit of truth that the religious infrastructure suffered Many magi
[34:25] Speaker 1: were killed, many temples desecrated, and with the patronage of
[34:30] Speaker 1: the Persian kings gone, Zoroastrianism lost its state sponsorship. And
[34:38] Speaker 1: the Seleucid Greeks, who followed, and then the Parthian Empire,
[34:43] Speaker 1: another Persian dynasty that later reigned in power from 247 BCE,
[34:48] Speaker 1: but it was less centralized. The faith survived, but in
[34:51] Speaker 1: a less organized form. Local priesthoods kept the flame alive
[34:56] Speaker 1: in villages, and families or old traditions preserved the hymns
[35:01] Speaker 1: and prayers, but there was no single imperial authority enforcing
[35:06] Speaker 1: orthodoxy or supporting large temple complexes along the region. Thus,
[35:13] Speaker 1: the fall of the Achaemenid Empire marks the end of
[35:17] Speaker 1: the First Golden Age. Yet, the religion itself persisted among
[35:24] Speaker 1: the people of Iran. For some five centuries after Alexander,
[35:29] Speaker 1: Zoroastrianism was practiced, all without an empire, a testament on
[35:34] Speaker 1: how deeply rooted it was in Iranian culture. But then,
[35:40] Speaker 1: in the 3rd century CE, a new Persian empire arose,
[35:45] Speaker 1: that not only rivaled the Achaemenids in power, but also
[35:49] Speaker 1: actively revived Zoroastrianism. and took it to new heights. Enter
[35:56] Speaker 1: the Sasanian Empire. Alright, so let's talk about the Sasanian Empire.
[36:05] Speaker 1: If you're still watching at this point, how about you
[36:07] Speaker 1: click that subscribe button and the like button, it helps
[36:10] Speaker 1: me in the algorithm. Now with the begging out of
[36:12] Speaker 1: the way. After centuries of Hellenistic and Parthian rule, Iran
[36:18] Speaker 1: was reunited by a dynasty that deliberately sought to restore
[36:22] Speaker 1: the glory of ancient Persia. The Sasanian Empire was founded
[36:31] Speaker 1: by the ardent Zoroastrians that made their faith a core
[36:35] Speaker 1: pillar of statecraft. If one were to name a true
[36:40] Speaker 1: golden age of Zoroastrianism, well, the Sasanian era is probably it.
[36:48] Speaker 1: You see, It's a little different from before. Here we
[36:51] Speaker 1: see a formalization of the religion, the compilation of sacred texts,
[36:56] Speaker 1: a powerful clergy influencing the government, and the faith's expansion
[37:00] Speaker 1: and defense amid a changing world of the new religions.
[37:05] Speaker 1: Think of Manichaeism, Christianity. All these challenged its supremacy in Persia.
[37:13] Speaker 1: So let's dive into this epic with stories of visionary
[37:16] Speaker 1: kings and formidable priests of reforms and also religious zeal
[37:21] Speaker 1: that sometimes turned persecution of dissent. This was an age
[37:27] Speaker 1: where the sacred fire burned brighter than ever in the
[37:30] Speaker 1: royal courts, when the priests wore badges of office and
[37:35] Speaker 1: wielded sceptres of sacred wood, and when the Zoroastrian worldview
[37:40] Speaker 1: influenced everything from the justice system even to the calendar.
[37:47] Speaker 1: The story begins with Ardashir I, the founder of the
[37:52] Speaker 1: Sasanian dynasty, running from 224 to 241. Ardashir was, notably,
[37:58] Speaker 1: the son, or perhaps the grandson, of a Zoroastrian high
[38:02] Speaker 1: priest named Sasan. In fact, the name Sasanian comes from Sasan.
[38:09] Speaker 1: Legend has it that Sasan was the custodian of a
[38:12] Speaker 1: fire temple in the province of Persis, Fars, and Ardashir
[38:18] Speaker 1: inherited both royal ambition and devout faith from his lineage.
[38:23] Speaker 1: Under the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, Ardashir was a
[38:28] Speaker 1: feudal lord who rose in rebellion. He systematically conquered neighbouring
[38:34] Speaker 1: regions of Iran, rallying not just his warriors but also
[38:38] Speaker 1: magi and zealots who were eager to throw off what
[38:41] Speaker 1: they saw as the impious rule of the Parthians. Now, remember,
[38:46] Speaker 1: the Parthians, though they were Iranian, were, let's say, they
[38:51] Speaker 1: were relatively lax in religious manners, and they were more
[38:56] Speaker 1: on the Greek side of things. In 224, Ardashir defeated
[39:03] Speaker 1: Artabanus in the battle of Hormuzdgan, and declared himself the Shahanshah,
[39:09] Speaker 1: the King of Kings. And then the Persian Empire was
[39:15] Speaker 1: effectively restored in a true Persian sense. But what is
[39:20] Speaker 1: fascinating is how Ardashir immediately set about reviving the old
[39:24] Speaker 1: ways as the ideological backbone of his new empire. He
[39:30] Speaker 1: is said to have received the Divine Far, that royal
[39:35] Speaker 1: glory in Zoroastrian concept, and justified his rebellion by claiming
[39:41] Speaker 1: the support of a Hura master. Think about how in
[39:44] Speaker 1: Chinese tradition you have the Mandate of Heaven. Kind of
[39:48] Speaker 1: like that. A Middle Persian document known as the Letter
[39:52] Speaker 1: of Tansar, Tansar being a chief priest who supported Ardashir,
[39:55] Speaker 1: provides a little insight into this. In this letter, addressed
[40:00] Speaker 1: to a local ruler, the priest Tansar explains and justifies
[40:04] Speaker 1: Ardashir's reforms, unifying the faith, codifying laws, and purifying the
[40:10] Speaker 1: Zoroastrian practice. Although compiled later, it likely echoes the real
[40:16] Speaker 1: policies Ardashir undertook, He centralised the Zoroastrian church, elevated a
[40:22] Speaker 1: single mobedan mobed, that is the chief priest, and worked
[40:28] Speaker 1: to gather the scattered holy texts. Adashir's efforts are confirmed
[40:33] Speaker 1: by later histories too. He made Zoroastrianism the state religion,
[40:39] Speaker 1: and he and his priest, Tansar, accredited with collecting the
[40:43] Speaker 1: holy texts, and finally establishing a unified doctrine, So imagine
[40:49] Speaker 1: the scene at Ardashir's court in Tessiphon, the new capital
[40:53] Speaker 1: on the Tigris River. Ardashir invites herbads and dasturs as
[40:58] Speaker 1: scholarly priests from all provinces. With great ceremony perhaps in
[41:03] Speaker 1: a grand fire temple. They recite from memory the ancient
[41:07] Speaker 1: prayers and hymns. Scribes using a newly developed Avistan alphabet,
[41:13] Speaker 1: derived from the Aramaic characters. Write down these verses for
[41:17] Speaker 1: the first time. Now that would have been an enormous undertaking,
[41:23] Speaker 1: turning an entirely oral tradition into written scripture. According to tradition,
[41:29] Speaker 1: it wasn't fully completed until a later king's reign, but
[41:33] Speaker 1: Ardashir began the process. By fixing the canon of the Avesta,
[41:38] Speaker 1: the Sasanians ensured the preservation of Zoroaster's teachings. beyond the
[41:43] Speaker 1: variability of oral transmission. Indeed, many of these texts are
[41:49] Speaker 1: written in what we have today as the Zend Avesta.
[41:54] Speaker 1: Ardashir's reign set the tone, that's for sure. Zoroastrian clergy
[41:59] Speaker 1: gained prestige and state support, unprecedented since Darius's time. One
[42:06] Speaker 1: anecdote indicates that Ardashir's close relationship with the faith At
[42:10] Speaker 1: his investiture, he is depicted in a rock relief, receiving
[42:14] Speaker 1: the royal diadem from Ohura Mazda himself, who mirrors the
[42:18] Speaker 1: king's stance. In this relief, Arashia's predecessor lies trampled under
[42:25] Speaker 1: the king's horse, and the evil spirit Ariman lies trampled
[42:30] Speaker 1: under Ohura Mazda's horse. That sounds pretty cool, huh? It
[42:35] Speaker 1: is a powerful visual metaphor. that Ardashir's victory over the
[42:39] Speaker 1: Parthians was like a victory over Angremenu, casting the former
[42:46] Speaker 1: regime as aligned with darkness, and the new aligned with
[42:50] Speaker 1: Ahura Mazda. And so, to consolidate his empire, Ardashir was
[42:56] Speaker 1: not gentle to dissenters. Some sources say he was less
[42:59] Speaker 1: tolerant than the Achaemenids had been. At first, non-Zoroastrians, like
[43:05] Speaker 1: certain Manichean sects or Hindu minorities faced restrictions. Yet perhaps
[43:11] Speaker 1: recalling the old imperial wisdom, Ardashir's son, Shapur I, would
[43:17] Speaker 1: relax this, adopting a more stance of inclusion. In any case,
[43:25] Speaker 1: by Ardashir's death in 241, Zoroastrianism had become deeply embedded
[43:30] Speaker 1: in the imperial structure. From coinage, where kings now commonly
[43:35] Speaker 1: had a fire altar depicted, and titles like Mazda Worshipper,
[43:41] Speaker 1: all the way to administration. The religion was not just
[43:45] Speaker 1: a personal matter, it was a matter of state. Shapur I,
[43:54] Speaker 1: reigning 241 to 272, inherited a strong empire and took
[44:00] Speaker 1: it to new heights, not just militarily. but culturally. He
[44:05] Speaker 1: is famous for his conflicts with the Roman Empire, defeating
[44:08] Speaker 1: three Roman emperors, and he even managed to capture one alive,
[44:12] Speaker 1: that being Valerian, which was an unprecedented humiliation for Rome.
[44:18] Speaker 1: On his triumphal inscription at Nazca-e-Rustam, Shapur calls himself Mazda-worshipping,
[44:25] Speaker 1: divine Shapur, king of kings of Iran and non-Iran of
[44:29] Speaker 1: divine lineage. proudly affirming Ahura Mazda's faith. He also refers
[44:35] Speaker 1: to his father as the Mazda-worshipping divinity Ar-Dashir, indicating that
[44:42] Speaker 1: Ar-Dashir was deified upon death. Under Shapur I, the Zoroastrian
[44:48] Speaker 1: clergy's influence grew further, and no one man exemplifies this
[44:53] Speaker 1: more than Kartir, a Magus who rose to become the
[44:56] Speaker 1: Empire's chief priest. In fact, Katir's own inscriptions survive, and
[45:02] Speaker 1: they're pretty damn good. He served not only Shapur I,
[45:07] Speaker 1: but also Shapur's successors for several decades, accumulating titles and powers.
[45:14] Speaker 1: Katir recounts how Shapur established many fire altars, called Atash
[45:19] Speaker 1: Bahram Fires, by the way, across the empire and made
[45:22] Speaker 1: the Magi prosperous. As Katir's authority increased, especially under King
[45:28] Speaker 1: Baran II, he took on the role of a virtual
[45:32] Speaker 1: Grand Inquisitor of the Faith. In his inscription on the
[45:38] Speaker 1: Kabaye Zartosht, a cube-shaped stone structure at Naqsh-es-Ritam, Kattir declares,
[45:47] Speaker 1: A made prominent and revered Mazdayasnian religion, excuse me, And
[45:56] Speaker 1: the heretical and ill-prepared persons who did not follow a
[45:59] Speaker 1: proper ordinance of the religion, I punished them with corporal
[46:02] Speaker 1: punishment and rebuked them. Many who had become unfaithful, I
[46:07] Speaker 1: made faithful again. There were many who followed the doctrines
[46:11] Speaker 1: of the demons. By my effort they abandoned those doctrines
[46:15] Speaker 1: and accepted the teachings of the gods. These words give
[46:20] Speaker 1: us a pretty vivid picture. Katyr is basically boasting about
[46:24] Speaker 1: quashing the heretics and deviant cults, forcing people back to orthodoxy,
[46:30] Speaker 1: now that there was an orthodoxy to be forced back to.
[46:34] Speaker 1: And the term heretical men possibly refers to the Manichaeans
[46:39] Speaker 1: or other sects, labelled doctrines of the Davers, or any
[46:44] Speaker 1: religion not aligned with master worship. Katyr even claims to
[46:48] Speaker 1: have established many new fire temples, and instituted proper religious
[46:52] Speaker 1: services and festivals throughout the empire. One specific target of
[46:56] Speaker 1: Zoroastrian ire was the prophet Mani, who during Shapur I's
[47:02] Speaker 1: reign founded a new syncretic religion, of course Manichaeism drawing
[47:07] Speaker 1: from Christianity, Buddhism and Zoroastrian ideas. Shapur, being relatively tolerant
[47:13] Speaker 1: and interested in new ideas, had permitted Mani to preach
[47:16] Speaker 1: for a while. They even invited him to the court
[47:19] Speaker 1: for a debate. However, after Shapur's death, Mani had lost
[47:25] Speaker 1: his protector, and Baram I, with Katia's urging, Mani was
[47:31] Speaker 1: arrested and brutally executed. In fact, some say that he
[47:37] Speaker 1: was flayed alive and his skin stuffed with straw. Manichaeans
[47:43] Speaker 1: were labelled heretics, and persecution of them continued. Katia doesn't
[47:48] Speaker 1: mention Mani by name in his inscription. possibly because Mani's
[47:52] Speaker 1: execution was widely known. But he does take credit for
[47:56] Speaker 1: purifying the land of false teachings. Kartir's extraordinary influence indicates
[48:01] Speaker 1: a church-state fusion. He was given governmental powers, judge of
[48:06] Speaker 1: the empire, master of ceremonies, things like this. And he
[48:11] Speaker 1: even had honorific titles, like Kartir, soul-saver of King Bahram.
[48:18] Speaker 1: Never before had a priest in Iran wielded such temporal authority.
[48:24] Speaker 1: This was indeed a golden age for the Magi caste.
[48:29] Speaker 1: The status was only second to the king. Zoroastrian doctrine
[48:34] Speaker 1: was enforced as law in many respects. One example being
[48:39] Speaker 1: Cartier mentioning that he promoted many kin-marriages, as referring to
[48:45] Speaker 1: the Zoroastrian practice of next-of-kin-marriages. He's effectively saying that he
[48:51] Speaker 1: encouraged the faithful to follow even controversial practices strictly, demonstrating
[48:57] Speaker 1: zeal for every aspect of the tradition. However, not all
[49:01] Speaker 1: Sasanian rulers were as intolerant as Cartier. Shapur himself had
[49:08] Speaker 1: a pretty open mind. He even allowed a Greek philosophy
[49:12] Speaker 1: school to flourish on Gomes de Chapour, and didn't force
[49:16] Speaker 1: any conversions at all. After Cartier's heyday, there was a
[49:20] Speaker 1: bit of pullback from theocracy. In the late 3rd century,
[49:25] Speaker 1: there was even a movement or sect within Zoroastrianism known
[49:28] Speaker 1: as Zurvanism, which viewed time, Zurvan, as the primordial god,
[49:35] Speaker 1: who gave birth to Ahura Mazda and Ariman. While the
[49:40] Speaker 1: Orthodox Magi, of course, frowned on the Zurvanite doctrine, it
[49:45] Speaker 1: showed that there was theological diversity and debate during this
[49:49] Speaker 1: golden age. So the everyday practice of Zoroastrianism under the
[49:57] Speaker 1: Sasanians began to become more standardized. Fire temples, known as Atashkade,
[50:06] Speaker 1: were established in urban centers and holy sites. Three great
[50:10] Speaker 1: fires acquired legendary status as the highest great fires in
[50:13] Speaker 1: the empire, each associated with one of three classes of society.
[50:18] Speaker 1: The first is Anu-Adur-Farmbagh, the fire of the priests, reportedly
[50:24] Speaker 1: located in Paris that is Persia proper. We have Adur-Gushnasp,
[50:30] Speaker 1: the fire of the warriors located in Kazaka, in Media,
[50:34] Speaker 1: modern-day Azerbaijan. The fire was highly esteemed by Sasanian monarchs.
[50:40] Speaker 1: who were of the warrior class, by the way, who'd
[50:42] Speaker 1: visit there for its blessings and who were said to
[50:44] Speaker 1: symbolize the empire's military glory. In fact, legends say that
[50:49] Speaker 1: Adul Gushnasb had burned since the dawn of time and
[50:53] Speaker 1: that miraculous healings were associated with it. And then there
[50:58] Speaker 1: is Adul Burzen Mir, the fire at the farmers or
[51:02] Speaker 1: the common folk in Parthia, northeast Iran. Pilgrimage to these
[51:07] Speaker 1: great fires was part of a royal ritual, For example,
[51:10] Speaker 1: it's recounted that kings would go to Adul-Gushnasb after coronations
[51:15] Speaker 1: or victories to give thanks. There is one story, perhaps
[51:19] Speaker 1: apocryphal but worth telling, of the final Sasanian emperor, Yazdegerd
[51:25] Speaker 1: III's father, visiting Adul-Gushnasb and going on foot out of
[51:30] Speaker 1: reverence as he approached the sanctuary. Even if legendary, it
[51:36] Speaker 1: shows a bit of reverence accorded to these holy sites.
[51:39] Speaker 1: Zoroastrian priests in this era were organized in a hierarchy.
[51:44] Speaker 1: At the top was the mobedan mobed, chief of chiefs
[51:48] Speaker 1: of the magi, kind of like an archbishop. Below him
[51:54] Speaker 1: were the mobeds, district priests, herbads, learned priests and teachers,
[52:00] Speaker 1: and magi serving at local temples. They maintained the fire
[52:05] Speaker 1: rituals meticulously, tending the flame day and night. feeding it
[52:09] Speaker 1: with dry wood and frankincense, straining the air as they
[52:14] Speaker 1: breathed through a cloth to keep impurities out, and reciting
[52:18] Speaker 1: the avistan prayers for hours a day. The liturgy for
[52:23] Speaker 1: each day, month and year was defined, yasna, sacrificial liturgy
[52:29] Speaker 1: in temples, and seasonal gahambar festivals to mark the creation's
[52:34] Speaker 1: six stages throughout the year, The reason why for this
[52:37] Speaker 1: is Zoroastrians believed the world was created in six steps,
[52:41] Speaker 1: each celebrated a seasonal festival. Kings participated in these festivals
[52:47] Speaker 1: as pious Zoroastrians. Sasanian law was heavily influenced by religious doctrine.
[52:54] Speaker 1: The courts often deferred to the dastur, religious jurist, on
[52:59] Speaker 1: matters of family law, purity laws and even criminal punishment.
[53:05] Speaker 1: Sin and crime were somewhat blurred. A serious sin, like
[53:10] Speaker 1: consorting with demons by practising sorcery, while that was also
[53:14] Speaker 1: a state crime, it was somewhat frowned upon. The Zoroastrian
[53:21] Speaker 1: emphasis on cleansing of sin found legal form in fines
[53:25] Speaker 1: and penances. Texts like the Vendidad, a section of the Avesta,
[53:31] Speaker 1: enumerate purification rituals and penalties for various offences. These were
[53:36] Speaker 1: consulted in Sasanian jurisprudence. If somebody killed an otter, considered
[53:41] Speaker 1: a sacred animal in Zoroastrianism, by the way, as it
[53:45] Speaker 1: was thought to fight evil creatures in the water, the
[53:48] Speaker 1: Vendidad says it's a grievous sin. And if a person's
[53:54] Speaker 1: dog died due to their neglect, heavy penance were due.
[53:59] Speaker 1: Dogs were sacred animals too. The Sasanian court, guided by priests,
[54:05] Speaker 1: would enforce such codes, which to an outsider might seem unusual,
[54:10] Speaker 1: especially at the time. But to a Zoroastrian, they were
[54:13] Speaker 1: essential to maintaining the cosmic and social order. Culturally, the
[54:18] Speaker 1: Zoroastrian worldview permeated literature and education. Literature and education, rather.
[54:24] Speaker 1: Why did I say it like that? The Sasanian period
[54:28] Speaker 1: saw the gathering of ancient legends and epic tales of
[54:31] Speaker 1: kings and heroes. many of which carried Zoroastrian moral themes
[54:36] Speaker 1: into what was later compiled the Book of Lords, and
[54:41] Speaker 1: ultimately distilled in the great epic Shahnameh many centuries later.
[54:48] Speaker 1: These stories, like those of Rostam or of the early
[54:52] Speaker 1: mythical kings, often illustrate the triumphs of Asha over the Druj,
[54:57] Speaker 1: feature wise sages, often depicted as magi, guiding kings on
[55:02] Speaker 1: all sorts of matters. One charming anecdote from the Sasanian
[55:07] Speaker 1: period involves King Shapur II in his youth. Now, the
[55:11] Speaker 1: story goes that Shapur was actually crowned in utero, as
[55:17] Speaker 1: in his father died while his mother was pregnant, so
[55:20] Speaker 1: they symbolically crowned the unborn child to thwart court intrigues.
[55:26] Speaker 1: But later as a boy, Shapur was educated by Magi.
[55:30] Speaker 1: He became devout and earned the nickname Dul-Aktaf. he who
[55:36] Speaker 1: pierces shoulders. Because of his zeal, he unpunished unruly Arab
[55:41] Speaker 1: nomads by pinning their shoulders, a harsh measure attributed to
[55:46] Speaker 1: his strictness in defending Iran and its faith. While this
[55:52] Speaker 1: anecdote might be coloured by later legend, it's suggested by
[55:55] Speaker 1: the 4th century Persian kings were expected to be guardians
[56:00] Speaker 1: of not just the realm, but the religion, even from childhood. However,
[56:06] Speaker 1: the Sasanian Golden Age was not without its challenges. New
[56:10] Speaker 1: rivals in faith emerged, Christianity spread in the western provinces,
[56:15] Speaker 1: and many Persians became Christians, which put them in a
[56:18] Speaker 1: delicate position whenever Persia fought with the Christian, Roman, or
[56:23] Speaker 1: Byzantine Empire. Some Sasanian kings, like Yazdegerd I, initially showed
[56:29] Speaker 1: tolerance or even friendliness towards Christians, ending in the scorn
[56:34] Speaker 1: of magi, who dubbed him Yazdegerd the Sinful for favouring non-Zoroastrians. Later,
[56:41] Speaker 1: when the Roman Emperor Constantine declared himself a protector of
[56:45] Speaker 1: Christians in Persia, Shapur II reacted by increasing pressure on
[56:50] Speaker 1: Persian Christians, fearing they'd be a fifth column for Rome.
[56:54] Speaker 1: This led to episodes of persecution of Christians. Many Persian
[57:00] Speaker 1: Christian martyrs date to Shapur II's time, Have a read
[57:04] Speaker 1: through Fox's Book of Martyrs. He talks a bit about that.
[57:08] Speaker 1: Interesting piece of work. So while Zoroastrianism was supreme, it
[57:14] Speaker 1: had to jostle with these growing minorities. Unlike under the Achaemenids,
[57:19] Speaker 1: now Zoroastrianism had a formalized clergy and scripture, making it
[57:23] Speaker 1: perhaps less pluralistic in attitude. The Magi often demanded conformity,
[57:31] Speaker 1: but the kings had to balance that with the practical
[57:34] Speaker 1: reality of how diverse their subjects were. Too much conformity.
[57:41] Speaker 1: You might have a rebellion on your hands. One such
[57:44] Speaker 1: balancing act actually occurred under Khosrow I in 531-579. That
[57:47] Speaker 1: is Khosrow I Anushirvan, often regarded as the epitome of
[57:50] Speaker 1: a philosopher king in Iran. Kosovo's reign is sometimes called
[58:00] Speaker 1: the second golden age of Sasanian culture. He reformed the bureaucracy,
[58:06] Speaker 1: promoted scholarship, even welcoming Greek philosophers fleeing Justinian's Christianisation of
[58:12] Speaker 1: the Eastern Roman Empire, and patronised translations of texts from Greek,
[58:17] Speaker 1: Sanskrit and Syriac into Middle Persian. He is said to
[58:21] Speaker 1: have completed the writing down of the Avesta and its
[58:24] Speaker 1: extensive Zand commentaries, ensuring that the cannon was securely preserved.
[58:32] Speaker 1: Khosrow was an orthodox Zoroastrian, but he also enjoyed learned debates.
[58:38] Speaker 1: Under him the academy of Gundishapur flourished, blending Greek, Persian
[58:43] Speaker 1: and Indian knowledge. Ah, I ought to be in a
[58:46] Speaker 1: place like that. One can only imagine it. One famous
[58:51] Speaker 1: anecdote about Khosrow combines his devotion and ruthlessness. The story
[58:56] Speaker 1: of Mazdak, So who was Mazdak? He was a reformer,
[59:02] Speaker 1: a preacher, in the late 5th century, and a Khosrow's father, Kavad,
[59:08] Speaker 1: who taught a radical social creed of communal wealth and
[59:11] Speaker 1: even communal marriages, almost like a proto-communist vision grounded in
[59:16] Speaker 1: a mix of Zoroastrianism and perhaps even Manichean ideas. Mazdak
[59:22] Speaker 1: argued that eliminating greed and inequality by sharing property and
[59:26] Speaker 1: even spouses would eliminate violence, thus helping the cause of
[59:31] Speaker 1: good in the cosmic struggle. Now, initially, that won King
[59:36] Speaker 1: Kavad's support as a way to curb the aristocracy. But,
[59:42] Speaker 1: of course, the aristocracy itself and the Magi were, frankly,
[59:46] Speaker 1: horrified by this idea. When Khosrow I took power, he
[59:50] Speaker 1: sided with the Orthodox establishment against the Mazdakites. According to legend,
[59:56] Speaker 1: Khosrow invited Mazdak and his followers to a garden where
[1:00:00] Speaker 1: he had pits dug, and the men were buried alive
[1:00:03] Speaker 1: upside down with only their legs sticking out, before executing
[1:00:08] Speaker 1: Mazdak as well. That's a pretty grisly tale, while perhaps embellished.
[1:00:14] Speaker 1: It symbols how the Sasanians quashed deviations that threatened the
[1:00:18] Speaker 1: social order. Khosrow thereafter reasserted traditional Zoroastrian values and social norms,
[1:00:26] Speaker 1: earning him the epithet Anushirvan, the just. Under Khosrow I,
[1:00:35] Speaker 1: and briefly his grandson Khosrow II in the early 7th century,
[1:00:39] Speaker 1: the Sasanian Empire reached a zenith in territory, prosperity, and
[1:00:44] Speaker 1: cultural output. Zoroastrian symbolism was everywhere. The royal crown bore
[1:00:51] Speaker 1: a winged crescent, possibly representing the Fra Vahar, or divine glory.
[1:00:58] Speaker 1: Coins showed the ever-burning fire flanked by attendants, and rock
[1:01:03] Speaker 1: relief showed kings receiving investiture from Ahura Mazda or attending
[1:01:07] Speaker 1: fire altars. The sense that king and priest were twin
[1:01:12] Speaker 1: pillars of society was never before stronger than this. One
[1:01:18] Speaker 1: might even say their relationship was the king protects the
[1:01:22] Speaker 1: faith and the priest preserves the king's soul. But of course,
[1:01:30] Speaker 1: when you climb to the top of the mountain, the
[1:01:33] Speaker 1: only way to go is down. By the seventh century,
[1:01:38] Speaker 1: storm clouds had gathered. The long wars with the Eastern
[1:01:42] Speaker 1: Roman Empire weakened both great powers. Meanwhile, in Arabia, a
[1:01:49] Speaker 1: new faith was born. Islam. And the Arab tribes, unified
[1:01:55] Speaker 1: by fervor, swept out in conquest. The fall of the
[1:02:00] Speaker 1: Sasanian Empire to the Arab Muslim armies in the 630s
[1:02:04] Speaker 1: to 50s was swift and dramatic. The last emperor, Yazdegerd III,
[1:02:11] Speaker 1: was unable to rally a fractured nobility. He became a
[1:02:15] Speaker 1: fugitive and was killed in 651, marking the end of
[1:02:22] Speaker 1: 400 years of Sasanian rule. How did it all happen?
[1:02:29] Speaker 1: It couldn't have been that easy, right? Well, in the
[1:02:34] Speaker 1: next part of the video, we're going to discuss the
[1:02:37] Speaker 1: fall of Zoroastrianism and the fall of those empires in
[1:02:43] Speaker 1: which it flourished. Well, for Zoroastrianism, this whole event was
[1:02:50] Speaker 1: even greater than the upheaval of Alexander's conquest. For Islamic
[1:02:54] Speaker 1: rulers over the next century gradually supplanted Zoroastrian institutions Fire
[1:03:00] Speaker 1: temples were extinguished or converted into mosques. The Magi lost
[1:03:05] Speaker 1: their state support. Many had to flee or go into hiding,
[1:03:08] Speaker 1: or worse. Over time, the majority of Persians adopted Islam,
[1:03:15] Speaker 1: and Zoroastrianism dwindled into a minority faith. Some communities persisted
[1:03:21] Speaker 1: in Iran, especially in the Yazd and Kerman region, and
[1:03:26] Speaker 1: many emigrated to India. forming the Parsi community. The once
[1:03:31] Speaker 1: grand libraries of Avistan literature were largely lost, and only
[1:03:37] Speaker 1: a fraction of texts survived in the priestly memory to
[1:03:41] Speaker 1: be written down later. Thus, the end of the Sasanian
[1:03:45] Speaker 1: Golden Age marks the sunset of Zoroastrian dominance in its homeland.
[1:03:52] Speaker 1: But that is something that we'll talk about next time,
[1:03:56] Speaker 1: because there is certainly a lot to talk about with it.
[1:04:00] Speaker 1: For today, as we extinguish our imaginative duo, we'll conclude
[1:04:06] Speaker 1: by emphasizing a few thoughts. The lessons we've learned, the
[1:04:11] Speaker 1: melding of spiritual values with governance, can certainly elevate a civilization,
[1:04:17] Speaker 1: but it requires wisdom and balance. And if that balance
[1:04:21] Speaker 1: goes out of, well, you know what happened. The story
[1:04:26] Speaker 1: of Zoroastrianism's golden ages is thus both an inspiration, seeing
[1:04:31] Speaker 1: how a powerful moral vision can shape history, and a
[1:04:34] Speaker 1: poignant reminder of the ebb and flow of human fortunes.
[1:04:38] Speaker 1: The flame that once lit those halls of Persepolis, Persepolis rather,
[1:04:42] Speaker 1: and Cessiphon, now burns quietly in small temples. But its
[1:04:47] Speaker 1: light has not lost a history. It shines in the
[1:04:51] Speaker 1: ideals of truth and righteousness that remain very much a
[1:04:54] Speaker 1: part of our shared human heritage. and I certainly hope
[1:04:59] Speaker 1: they will remain to do so. Now, I will thank
[1:05:06] Speaker 1: my top dear patrons and supporters, and I will see
[1:05:09] Speaker 1: you in part three, of course. Doug, Kimberly, Christine, Sally Ember, Susan, Cameron, Legitmus, Gary, Charlene, Lynn, Therese, Katiana, Nicholas, Ulf, Edna, Alexander, Charles, Christine, Dr. Neuronerd,
[1:05:26] Speaker 1: Thank you very much. And once again, thank you all
[1:05:28] Speaker 1: for joining me. And I will see you in part three.
[1:05:56] Speaker 1: or whatever other video you want to watch. Good night, everyone.
[1:06:00] Speaker 1: Lots of love to you all.

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