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Zoroastrianism is considered to be the oldest religion still practiced inIran. It is anIranian religion that emerged around the 2nd millennium BCE, spread through theIranian plateau, and eventually gained official status under theAchaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE. It remained the Iranianstate religion until the 7th century CE, when theArab conquest of Persia resulted in the fall of theSasanian Empire to the nascentRashidun Caliphate. Over time, Zoroastrians became a religious minority amidst theIslamization of Iran, as due topersecution many fled east totake refuge in India.[1] Some of Zoroastrianism's holiest sites are located in Iran, such asYazd.[citation needed]
Today, Iran has the second largest Zoroastrian population in the world, behind onlyIndia and possibly theKurdistan Region. The official Iranian census of 2011 recorded a total of 25,271 Zoroastrians in the country, but several unofficial accounts suggest higher figures.[2][3]
The Zoroastrian religion is supposed to have been founded around the middle of the second millennium BCE by the prophetZoroaster, also known as Zarathushtra, for whom the religion is named.[1] Followers of contemporary Zoroastrianism worship one God,Ahura Mazda, who is the good divine. He is accompanied by sacred beings, which are represented as individual deities as well as natural phenomena. In opposition is an embodiment of evil that seeks disorder and destruction, represented asAngra Mainyu inAvestan and as Ahriman inMiddle Persian.[4]
Belief in both a good divine and a bad divine is characteristic of adualistic religion. Zoroastrianism can therefore be seen as a dualistic orpolytheistic religion, but some modern scholars see it as the onlymonotheistic religion of Indo-European origin.[5] These classifications are modern terms of scholarship, and there is no indication that the ancient Zoroastrians themselves would have understood their religion in these terms, at least not until the early Islamic period.[6]
Zarathushtra and his first followers wereIranians who lived during theBronze Age andIron Age (1200–600 BCE).[7]: 1 No written records about the religion survive from Zarathushtra's own time or from ancient Iran. The earliest surviving written references to Zarathushtra seem to be those of Greek writers.[citation needed] The time of theIranian peoples' migration to Iran can be mainly estimated through Assyrian records.[7]: 48 Herodotus (I, 101) called one of theMede tribesMagoi, LatinMagi, a tribe known to have included many priests who served both Medes andPersians.[citation needed] By the time of theMedian empire (est. 612 BCE), Zoroastrianism was well established in both thePars region (later capital of Persia) as well as in the Eastern regions.[7]: 49
European academics first came into contact with Zoroastrianism in Iran during the seventeenth century, at a time whenIslam was the dominant religion. European interest in Iranian culture grew as part of the academic study of theOrient.[8] Zoroastrianism was of particular interest to academics as a surviving pre-Islamic Iranian religion, and scholars viewing it from aChristian perspective were interested in the shared characteristics ofmonotheistic theology anddualistic cosmology present in both religions.[9] This intellectual exchange likely also changed Zoroastrians' ideas about their own religion, as intellectual exchange rarely occurs in isolation.[9] These first studies set the tone for ideas about Zoroastrianism in Iran, but discussions about the origin and nature of the religion still continue in both Western and Iranian studies.[citation needed]
Persians led byCyrus the Great established the second Persian dynasty and the first empire, theAchaemenid Empire, by defeating theMedes in 549 BCE.[7]: 49 As Persians expanded their empire, Zoroastrianism was introduced to Greek historians such asHermodorus,Hermippus,Xanthos,Eudoxus, andAristotle, each giving a different time period for the life ofZoroaster. However, they all naturally believed him to be a Persian prophet and called him "Master of the magi".[7]
There are no inscriptions left from the time of Cyrus about his religion, though the fire-altars found atPasargadae, and his daughterAtossa being named for the queen of Vishtaspa (Zoroaster's royal patron), suggest that he indeed may have been a Zoroastrian.[7]
It is suggested that by the time ofDarius the Great (549 BCE – 485/486 BCE), the empire was Zoroastrian. This is due to one of Darius' inscriptions, which goes as follows:
"A great God isAhuramazda, who created this earth, who created yonder sky, who created man, who created happiness for man, who made Darius king, one king over many, one lord over many."[7]
This inscription supports the belief that the Zoroastrian religion is the oldest religion, and therefore the original religion, of Iran. However, besides Darius's words, there is a lack of evidence for these theories.[10]
Persepolis (or Parsa) was one of the four capitals of the Achaemenid Empire, built by Darius the Great and his sonXerxes I. It was a glorious city known to the world as the "richest city under the sun". It was also the trading capital of the Near East.[citation needed] A main function of Persepolis was to host the ancient Zoroastrian festival ofNorouz. Every year representatives from each country under Persian rule brought gifts to Persepolis to show their loyalty to the king and the empire.[citation needed]
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TheSasanian Empire (224–651) declared Zoroastrianism as thestate religion and promoted a religious revival.[citation needed]
During their centuries-longsuzerainty over theCaucasus, the Sasanians promoted Zoroastrianism there with considerable successes. The religion was prominent in the pre-Christian Caucasus, especially in what is nowAzerbaijan.[citation needed]
Due to its ties to theRoman Empire, Persia's archrival since the time of theParthian Empire, the Sasanians were suspicious ofChristianity as the Roman state religion, occasionally persecuting it after the reign ofConstantine the Great.[11] The Sasanian authorities clashed with their subjects inSasanian Armenia in theBattle of Avarayr in 451, making them officially break with the Roman Church.[citation needed]
Nonetheless the Sasanians tolerated, or even sometimes favored, Christianity in the form of the Sasanian-centeredChurch of the East. The acceptance of Christianity inCaucasian Iberia saw Zoroastrianism slowly but surely decline there;[12] as late as the 5th century it was still widely practiced, almost having the status of a second established religion.[13][14]
Theprophet Mani was aParthian of noble roots who establishedManichaeism, a religion that contained many elements of Zoroastrianism as well asgnosticism; however, it saw the human experience of life on earth as miserable, whereas Zoroastrianism celebrated life through happiness.[citation needed]
Mani was received kindly byEmperor Shapur I and spent many years at his court, where he was protected during all of Shapur's reign. However, Mani wrote inSyriac, aSemitic language, and all his work had to be translated intoMiddle Persian by his followers, who rendered the name of Mani's supreme god asZurwān and called him the father of Ohrmazd, which was the Middle Persian version of Ahura Mazda.[15]
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Although the origins of Zurvanite Zoroastrianism are unclear, it gained widespread acceptance during the Sassanid period and many of the Sassanid emperors were, at least to some extent, Zurvanites. Zurvanism enjoyed royal sanction during the Sassanid era but no traces of it remain beyond the 10th century.[16]
Unlike Mazdean Zoroastrianism, Zurvanism consideredAhura Mazda not the transcendental Creator, but one of two equal-but-opposite divinities under the supremacy of Zurvan. The central Zurvanite belief made Ahura Mazda andAngra Mainyu (Ahriman) twin brothers who had co-existed for all time.[17]
Non-Zoroastrian accounts of typically Zurvanite beliefs were the first traces of Zoroastrianism to reach the West, which misled European scholars to conclude that Zoroastrianism was adualist faith.[citation needed]
The Zoroastrian cult of Zurvan should not be confused withManichaeism's use of the name "Zurvan" in Middle Persian texts to represent the Manichean deity of light.Mani had himself introduced this practice (for perhaps political reasons) in hisShapurgan, which he dedicated to his patronShapur I. For much of the rest of the Sassanid era, the Manichaens were a persecuted minority, and Mani was sentenced to death byBahram I.[citation needed]
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The three great sacred fires of Persia at the time of the Sassanids were theAdur Farnbag,Adur Gushnasp, andAdur Burzen-Mihr, which burned in Pars, Media, and Parthia, respectively. Of these three, the Adur Burzen-Mihr was the most sacred fire as it was linked to the prophetZarathustra himself and kingVishtaspa.[18]
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The Muslim conquest of Persia (also known as theArab conquest of Iran) led to the end of theSasanian Empire in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Iran. Arabs first attacked the Sassanid territory in 633, when generalKhalid ibn Walid invaded Mesopotamia (what is now Iraq), which was the political and economic center of the Sassanid state. Following the transfer of Khalid to the Roman front in theLevant, the Muslims eventually lost their holdings to Iranian counterattacks. The second invasion began in 636 underSaad ibn Abi Waqqas, when a key victory at theBattle of Qadisiyyah led to the permanent end of Sasanian control west of Iran. TheZagros mountains then became a natural barrier and border between theRashidun Caliphate and the Sassanid Empire. Owing to continuous raids by Persians into the area, Caliph Umar ordered a full invasion of the Sasanian Iranian empire in 642, which was completed with the complete conquest of the Sasanians around 651. The quick conquest of Iran in a series of well-coordinated multi-pronged attacks directed by Caliph Umar from Medina, several thousand kilometres from the battlefields in Iran, became his greatest triumph, contributing to his reputation as a great military and political strategist.
Iranian historians have sought to defend their forebears by using Arab sources to illustrate that "contrary to the claims of some historians, Iranians, in fact, fought long and hard against the invading Arabs." By 651, most of the urban centers in Iranian lands, with the notable exception of the Caspian provinces and Transoxiana, had come under the domination of the Arab armies. Many localities in Iran staged a defense against the invaders, but in the end none was able to repulse the invasion. Even after the Arabs had subdued the country, many cities rose in rebellion, killing the Arab governor or attacking their garrisons, but reinforcements from the caliphs succeeded in putting down all these rebellions and imposing the rule of Islam. The violent subjugation of Bukhara after many uprisings is a case in point. Conversion to Islam was, however, only gradual. In the process, many acts of violence took place, Zoroastrian scriptures were burnt and manymobads executed. Once conquered politically, the Persians began to reassert themselves by maintaining Persian language and culture. Regardless, Islam was adopted by many – for political, socio-cultural, or spiritual reasons, or simply by persuasion – and became the dominant religion.
TheMongol invasion of Persia and Mesopotamia resulted in millions of deaths and ruined many cities. The early Mongol invaders weremembers of many faiths, so their persecution was not targeted against Zoroastrians. However, within half a century of the conquest, the leader of theIlkhanate,Ghazan Khan, who had been raised a member of the Church of the East,[19] converted to Islam. The subsequent conversions of members of the Ilkhanate to Islam had a detrimental effect on Zoroastrianism. By the time the Mongols were expelled, Fars province had escaped major damage and Zoroastrians had moved to the north of Pars, primarily to the regions ofYazd andKerman,[20] where even today the main Zoroastrian communities are found.
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TheSafavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam destroyed what was once a vibrant community of Zoroastrians. As per official policy, Safavids wanted everyone to convert to orthopraxTwelver Shi'ism and killed those who refused, including hundreds of thousands of Zoroastrians.[21]
The majority of Zoroastrians alsoleft for India; about 20% remained, most of whom had to migrate in the late 19th century as theQajar dynasty imposed greater restrictions on them.[citation needed]
One of the Zoroastrianism sects that emerged in theSafavid state wasAzarkeivanian,[22] founded byAzar Kayvan, who was a student ofShihab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi.[23]
During theQajar dynasty, religiouspersecution of Zoroastrians was rampant. Due to the increasing contacts with influentialParsi philanthropists such asManeckji Limji Hataria, many Zoroastrians left Iran for India. There, they formed the second major Indian Zoroastrian community known as theIranis.[24]
Starting from the early twentieth century, the nation's capital ofTehran experienced rapid migrations from all Iranian minorities. The Zoroastrian population increased from about 50 merchants in 1881 to 500 by 1912.[25]
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As a minority, Zoroastrians regularly faced discrimination over the years. In 1906, the state declared a newConstitution, which granted Zoroastrians certain fundamental individual rights. In practice, however, they still were not equal to Muslim citizens.[26]
When thePahlavi reign in Iran started in the 1920s, Zoroastrians started to experience more equal treatment. During this time,Iranian nationalism started to rise and Iran as anation state was born. For this new nation state, the Pahlavis actively promoted a narrative that glorified the pre-Islamic era. The new nation-state and the people now started to view the ancient history with pride.[27] Since Zoroastrianism is an ancient pre-Islamic religion, it was now glorified as the historic and original Iranian religion. This changed the status of Zoroastrians from one of the most persecuted minorities in Iran to a symbol of Iranian nationalism.[28] This notion continued until the 1979Islamic Revolution.
After theIranian Revolution in 1979, a newConstitution of Iran was written. This new Constitution acknowledges the rights of recognized religious minorities, like theIranian Armenians,Iranian Assyrians, andPersian Jews; Zoroastrianism is recognized as a religion in Iran and its followers have certain rights. The Constitution states believers are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies.[29]
Zoroastrians are also politically involved. Since thePersian Constitution of 1906, they are allocated one seat in theIslamic Consultative Assembly, currently being held by Behshid Barkhodar, the first female to represent religious minorities in Iran's legislative assembly. Locally, Zoroastrian politicians are also active. In 2013 for example,Sepanta Niknam was elected to the city council of Yazd and became the first Zoroastrian councillor in Iran.[30]
Inter-faith marriages and low birth rates affect the growth of Iran's Zoroastrian population,[31] which according to Iran's 2012 census results stood at 25,271, though this represented an increase of 27.5% on the 2006 population.[32]
A June 2020 online survey found that the percentage of Iranians stating they believe in Islam had significantly decreased, with half of those surveyed indicating they had lost their religious faith.[33] The poll, conducted by theNetherlands-based organization GAMAAN (Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran), using online social media polls surveyed 50,000 Iranians, and found 7.7% identified as Zoroastrians.[34][35] However, some researchers have argued that most respondents identifying as Zoroastrian were expressing religious nationalism, withThe Conversation interpreting it as Iranian nationalism, growing anti-Muslim sentiment, and an alternative to Islam, rather than strict adherence or religious adherence to Zoroastrianism.[36][37][34]
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