LIVING AND WORKING IN PERSIAN EMPIRES

The inscriptions left by the Persian kings and the works of the Greek and Roman historians present a narrow slice of life in the Persian Empire. They describe the thoughts and actions of the rulers and their great battles with foreigners. But for typical subjects of the Great Kings of Persia, daily life was focused on caring for their families, raising livestock, growing crops, making and selling goods, and serving in the king’s army.

Religion was also an important daily concern. Persians believed that Ahura Mazda directly influenced events on Earth.

Life on the Farm

In The Histories, Herodotus said that Babylonia supplied enough food to the Great King and his armies to feed them for four months of the year, and the remainder of his Asian lands supplied them for the other eight months. That meant a large amount of energy went into farming.

Across the empire, some people worked for the kings and nobles, farming the fields of the rich. Others owned small plots of land. Some farmers rented plots from the richer landowners. On the steppe, nomadic herders raised livestock and traveled with their flocks as they searched for food.

Under the Achaemenids, one group of farm workers was the kurtash. They worked for the state, and were mostly foreign people from lands Persia conquered. The kurtash were not slaves, but they had to do what the government told them to. They were paid for their work, and some worked as artisans as well as farm hands.

Key crops raised across the empire included barley and other grains, flax (used to make linen), nuts, and a wide range of vegetables.

Common fruits included dates, figs, plums, apples, citrus fruits, and pomegranates. Grapes were grown for wine, and barley was used for beer and bread. Cattle, goat, and sheep were raised for meat, and cattle in particular were considered a sign of wealth. The common people rarely had much meat to eat, especially in the conquered lands.

On their farms, the Achaemenid Persians dug underground canals to help irrigate (bring water to) their crops. These qanats, as they are called in Arabic, carried water from underground wells to fields, sometimes over long distances.

Food grown for the king was not used only to feed his family and the army. The government also gave livestock, grains, and wine as payment to various state workers. The ‘Persepolis Fortification Tablets’, a group of government records, list the rations (portions of food and drink) given to these workers. One selection from 501 b.c.e. noted, “130 liters of barley from the possessions of Amavrta have been received by Barîk-’El as his rations. Given in the town of Ithema, in the twenty-first year [of Darius] in the month Shibar.”

Few details exist about farming during Parthian rule, though rice seems to have been grown for the first time in parts of the empire.

Through the Sassanian period, agriculture remained a way of life for most residents of the empire. Taxes from farming provided a good deal of the king’s money. The Persian historian Tabari (838–923), quoted by Josef Wiesehofer in The Persians, said the Sassanian king Khosrow I taxed “on the field-produce which feeds man and animal, namely wheat, barley, rice, grapes, alfalfa, date palms, and olive trees.” Some foods, such as sesame seeds and vegetables, were not taxed, since the farmers raised them for their own families.

The Achaemenid Economy

The kings of Persia relied on skilled artisans to make goods for them and their armies. Merchants also played a role in the economy, buying and selling goods overseas and within the empire. Overseeing the creation and movement of many goods were various bureaucrats. Persian records, once again, offer few details about these people. But there is some information about the activities of artisans and merchants.

Under the Achaemenids, government workers called kurtash worked both unskilled and skilled jobs. They helped construct government buildings in Persepolis and other Persian capitals. They also built the roads that helped soldiers and goods move around the empire. The

most skilled kurtash made goods and jewelry out of gold and silver.

The ‘Persepolis Fortification Tablets’ show that skilled workers received the highest rations of food. At times they also received silver coins. The kurtash included women and children. Women sometimes led groups of other women in carrying out their various duties.

Jobs in the empire included making weapons, armor, and a variety of tools for farming or construction. Artisans also made vases, mirrors, and other items that were traded across the Empire. Some Persians worked at the kings’ huge warehouses, where supplies and food were stored for soldiers.

The Empire also had small factories that produced dishes and other goods for the royal family. A large number of people worked for the king and attended to his rich lifestyle. Greek records show that while traveling to fight Alexander the Great, Darius III had almost 300 cooks, more than 300 musicians, and 70 people whose job was to filter wine. Heraclides (fourth century b.c.e.), a Greek writer (quoted by Pierre Briant in From Cyrus to Alexander), described how the Great King’s waiters prepared to serve him: “They . . . first bathe themselves and then serve in white clothes, and spend nearly half the day on preparations for the dinner.”

Some jobs in trade and manufacturing were not tied to the government.

Banking was carried out privately, and some craftsmen made goods that they traded for food or other items with their neighbors.

Herodotus claimed the Persians did not have open-air markets, as the Greeks did. In Babylonia, banking had deep roots even before it came under Persian rule. Records uncovered in the city of Nippur describe one successful family during the reign of the Achaemenids. The founder of the Murashu family was born about 500 b.c.e., and he, his sons, and grandsons made a fortune as bankers. They loaned silver coins to local residents so they could pay taxes to the Great Kings. The tax payers repaid the loans with interest—a fee paid for the right to borrow money. One of the family’s documents outlines a business deal one of the Murashu sons made. He agreed to lease farmland for 60 years, paying the owner in dates. The Murashu son would then be able to sell any other crops produced on the land.

Merchants moved a variety of goods within the empire. Many of these traders were Babylonian, since they were centrally located. Workers in Asia Minor mined iron, copper, tin, and silver. From Egypt came gold and ivory, while Phoenician winemakers provided the Persians with wine. Foreign trade went on with India and Greece. Gold from distant Siberia, in what is now Russia, seems to have reached Persia.

Buying and selling goods, especially overseas, became easier with the silver and gold coins Darius introduced. He also set up a standard system of weights and measures, so people always knew the exact amount of the goods they bought and sold.

Commerce in the Later Periods

The details of economic life under the Parthians are mostly a mystery,because so few records survive. A Chinese government report on Persia from the second century b.c.e. gives one of the few descriptions of the Parthian economy. The report noted that Persia was mostly agricultural, but that “merchants . . . travel by cart or boat to neighboring states” (quoted by Maria Brosius in The Persians).

A major source of wealth for Persia during Parthian rule was the trade carried out along the Silk Road. This trade route was actually a series of roads that crossed Central Asia and China. Some trade was also carried out by sea. Silk, a smooth cloth spun by silkworms, was made only in China until 551. 

Demand for this rare cloth in Rome and Persia led to trade between the Persians and the Chinese. 

The Chinese sent silk, salts, and other goods to Persia. Indian  merchants also sent goods along the Silk Road through Persia, particularly spices and gems. The Persians kept some of the goods that traveled along the route for themselves and traded the rest with Rome. They also sent Rome products from Persia, such as textiles (cloth and items made from cloth). Roman goods, such as wine, glass, and wool, went through Persia back to China. The Persians also sent the Chinese horses, food, and woolen goods.

The Silk Road remained an important part of the Persian economy during Sassanian rule. Most people, however, still farmed for a living.

Skilled craftsmen continued to make goods for the king. Some of them came from other countries, because the Sassanian kings sometimes took artisans from conquered or subject lands and moved them into Persia. Other such prisoners of war and their families worked in such trades as construction and blacksmithing.

Family Life

Persian women often worked side by side with men on the farms and in workshops. And in some cases, women served as the boss of male workers. But, as in many ancient societies, family life was usually controlled by men.

The most detailed accounts of the legal dominance of men come from Sassanian times. But the importance of the father within the family and the desire to have sons go back to the earliest days of the empire. Herodotus wrote in 'The Histories' that the Achaemenids believed “the goodness of a man is most signified in this: that he can show a multitude of sons. To him who can show the most, the King sends gifts every year.”

Many sons meant many soldiers, and also descendants to carry on the family’s name. The Sassanian records say that the husband was master of the home. By law, his wife and children had to show him proper respect. In return, the husband had specific duties. He had to support his wife for her entire life. In special circumstances, if a husband did not provide his wife with food and she was forced to steal food for survival, he was punished. If the husband died, a person chosen as guardian took care of the wife and children. The guardian was usually an adult son or another male relative, though someone outside the family could take this role.

The father was responsible for his daughters’ well-being until they married, and for his sons until they became adults. In most cases, a father also had to approve a daughter’s marriage partner. Daughters might marry as young as nine years old. Adult daughters had more freedom to marry whom they chose.

A household might have several generations of a family living together. Several related households, perhaps a dozen or more, formed clans. The clans shared some property and held ceremonies to honor their dead ancestors. The male leaders of the clan formed a council that watched over the weddings of clan members and heard legal disputes.

For the earlier periods of Persian history, few records exist about daily life outside the royal family. The ‘Persepolis Fortification Tablets’ show that children worked for the state and received food rations, just as adults did, although the children typically received less. Mothers collected extra rations after they had children, with an added bonus if the baby was a boy. Herodotus said that boys stayed with their mothers and female relatives until they were five years old. Then they went out with their fathers to learn work skills.

Education

For the children of farmers, shepherds, and other people of the lower classes, formal schooling was rare. Children learned skills from their families. Nobles and high-ranking government officials made sure their sons could read and write. A few girls received similar lessons, but education for girls was rare. Sons of the nobility also learned how to ride horses, to hunt, and to fight.

Scribes played an important role in ancient governments, and Babylonia and Egypt set up schools to train them. Ancient sources show that when the Achaemenids conquered those lands, they kept the schools in place. Young boys studying to be scribes learned how to read and write cuneiform and also studied Mathematics and Astronomy. In Babylonia, boys from lower-class jobs could enter the scribe schools.

The Egyptians, however, may have limited formal education to the sons of noble families.

The Parthians did not leave records on their education system, but the average person probably could not read and write. 

By Sassanian times, some merchants might have learned these skills, but formal education was still rare beyond the upper classes. The importance of Zoroastrianism under the Sassanians meant students recited religious texts, and priests had to undergo years of study. Under Sassanian law, a father was supposed to make sure his children and slaves learned about Zoroastrianism. By this time, some women were also being educated outside the home.

Food, Clothing, and Shelter

With the variety of foods grown across the Persian Empire, the people rarely went hungry, except during droughts. For the average person, grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables were important parts of the daily diet. Beer and wine were common drinks. Spices such as coriander, basil, mint, and turmeric added flavor to many stews and other dishes.

Dried fruits and nuts were eaten throughout the empire, since they could be shipped long distances without spoiling. Other fruits and vegetables were mostly found close to where they were grown. The Persians were also the first to grow spinach, a common vegetable now found throughout the world.

The nomads of the steppe made cheese and yogurt from sheep’s milk. Milk also came from goats, cattle, and horses. Meat typically came from these animals, as well as chickens and pigs.

With the popularity of hunting, the nobility also ate wild game, such as wild boars, rabbits, and deer. Along the Caspian Sea, fish provided a good source of protein.

Few people ate meat regularly, but the nobles and royals did. Herodotus noted that birthdays were celebrated with huge feasts, with the rich serving “an ox or a horse or a camel or an ass [donkey] roasted whole in great ovens.” The poor, he added, served “the smaller beasts.”

Clothing differed around the Empire, as various peoples wore the clothes that were common to their region. Fashions changed over time, as well. Under the Achaemenids, in Mesopotamia and North Africa, people tended to wear long gowns that reached to the ankles. In Asia Minor, shorter gowns called tunics were more common.

The Persians themselves wore a variety of garments. In works of art, Darius was shown on the battlefield in a vest, while Greek historians mentioned that the royal family wore long robes. Men also wore leather pants.

Xenophon, in his 'Anabasis', says some of the noble soldiers he traveled with wore “outer robes of purple” over “expensive tunics and colorful trousers.” Purple was most often worn by the wealthy, since the dye that turned cloth purple was expensive. Few descriptions of women’s dress survive, though they seem to have worn long robes and dresses.

For both men and women, footwear was leather shoes or boots. The Greeks were struck by the different types of headgear worn by the Persians and the various peoples they ruled. Hats not only kept a person’s head warm and dry, they could be a sign of social rank and add color and style to a person’s dress. Kings, satraps, and some nobility wore different kinds of crowns or decorated ribbons called diadems. More common were felt caps and hoods.

Under the Parthians, pants and coats with sleeves similar to modern clothing became common across the empire. Both men and women, however, still sometimes wore tunics. Tunics were also worn during the Sassanian era, with men wearing shorter tunics and trousers.

Royalty sometimes tied long ribbons around their pants at the ankles. In the later years of the Sassanian Empire, kings and other royalty also wore long robes.

All the Persians wore belts, either tied or buckled. During the Parthian and Sassanian dynasties, belts were more commonly worn by men.

Written records and art provide good information on Persian clothing, but there is less information on housing. In ancient times, before the Achaemenids, some Persians lived in caves. In the Sassanian era, people sometimes dug underground shelters, as recent archaeological discoveries have shown. Nomads lived in tents, which could be quickly set up and taken down. The kings of Persia built tremendous stone and brick palaces.

Smaller homes for common people were usually made out of mud bricks. When traveling, the kings set up huge tents to hold all their relatives, aides, and supplies.

The Role of Religion

Before the rise of the Achaemenids, the people of Media and Persis worshipped many gods. Even Darius, who praised Ahura Mazda as the greatest of the gods, acknowledged others. But over the centuries, Ahura Mazda, which means “Wise Lord,” became the primary god for many Persians.

Their religion, Zoroastrianism, centered on the worship of him. The roots of the religion are traced to a prophet (a person who claims to speak for a god) called Zarathustra by the Persians and Zoroaster by the Greeks. The prophet received visions from the god Ahura Mazda and convinced a legendary Persian king named Vishtap to worship this god. Zoroaster said that Ahura Mazda was supreme over all the other gods the Persians worshipped. He then set down the first teachings of the religion in writings called the Gathas. Historians are not sure when Zoroaster lived. Some argue it was around 1200 or 1000 b.c.e., while others say the seventh century b.c.e. is more likely. He lived in what is now eastern Iran or western Afghanistan. There are few details of his life, except for what is in the Gathas.

At first he had trouble winning over followers, but by the time of the Achaemenids his religion had spread across Persia.

The holy books of Zoroastrianism, the Avesta, contains the Gathas and later teachings of the religion. For  centuries, the Avesta was passed on orally, though some written pieces also existed. Historians think the first complete written version appeared under the Sassanians, around the fourth century c.e.

The core of Zoroastrian beliefs is that forces of good and evil constantly battle each other. Humans must choose which force they will support. Ahura Mazda represents the force of good—particularly truth, order, and moral action—while a god named Ahriman represents evil. Demons do his work on Earth. Zoroastrians believe that after they die, they will face a day of judgment and be sent to either heaven or hell, depending on whether they had sided with Ahura Mazda or supported the forces of evil during their life.

Sacred fires were lit at temples to honor Ahura Mazda, and priests carried out the rituals (religious ceremonies) of worship. These included offering sacrifices—animals killed or valuables offered—to show respect and ask for the god’s help.

Historians think Zoroastrian ideas may have influenced Jewish and Christian beliefs. And, like Judaism and Christianity, modern Zoroastrianism is considered a monotheistic religion—only one god is worshipped.

Fire altars used by Zoroastrianism was not always completely monotheistic, though. The Achaemenids considered Ahura Mazda to be the supreme god, but under them the Persians also worshipped Mithra, the sun god, and Anahita, who was the goddess of water and fertility (the ability to produce offspring). And while the sun, moon, and natural elements (water, sky, earth, fire) were not gods, they were considered holy. Herodotus said in The Histories that the Persians “revered rivers most of all things” and would not wash their hand in them or let others do so.

Records from Persepolis show the Persians used wine as a sacrifice to the rivers as well as to gods.

The Zoroastrians did not believe in burying bodies in the ground.

The earth was considered holy, and they did not want to pollute it with dead flesh, which was thought to be filled with evil spirits. 

Herodotus described how Zoroastrian magi let dogs or birds eat at the flesh. The remaining bones were then placed in a deep well or other spot underground.

This practice was most common in the western parts of the Persian Empire.

Under the Achaemenids, Zoroastrianism seems to have been practiced mostly by the royal family and the nobility. Some of the kings rode into battle with an empty chariot beside them, pulled by white horses.

The chariot was said to belong to Ahura Mazda, who would watch over the Great Kings as they fought.

The average Persians still worshipped old gods that dated from before Zoroaster. The non-Persian people of the empire were free to worship their local gods. The Persian kings knew they could win the support of conquered people by offering this freedom and by claiming they acted in the local gods’ name. Darius the Great, for example, left an inscription in Egypt that called the god Amun-Re his father.

Zoroastrian priests at the tomb complex of the Sassanian kings at Naqsh-e Rostam. But the Persians were less tolerant if one of their foreign peoples rebelled. Around the 480s b.c.e., Xerxes either destroyed or threatened to destroy a temple in a land where his rule had been challenged.

In 'The Histories', Herodotus offered one view of early Zoroastrian practices and beliefs. He said that Persians, unlike the Greeks, did not give their gods human form, and they did not worship in temples. When a person wanted to make a sacrifice, “He brings into an open space his sacrificial beast and calls upon the god. . . . He may pray not for good things for himself alone . . . but only that all shall be well with all the Persians and the king. . . .
”

Since the Persians did not depict Ahura Mazda as human, his presence is shown in art through the image of a winged disc.

Religion Under the Parhians and Sassanians

The Parthians kept up the old practice of allowing the worship of oss the empire. Although the rulers believed in Ahura Mazda, they also accepted other gods. Zoroastrianism seemed to decline for several centuries. King Vologeses, who ruled during the middle of the first century, tried to strengthen Zoroastrian beliefs and practices. Coins printed during his reign showed the sacred fires that always burned for Ahura Mazda. He is also said to have tried to collect together various hymns and religious writings.

A stronger revival of Zoroastrianism came under the Sassanians.

The kings and nobles embraced it, and more fire altars appeared. The number of magi grew, and some seemed to have great influence over certain kings. At times, these magi used this power to try to stamp out other religions. But although Zoroastrianism was the state religion it existed side by side with the other faiths of the empire. During the Sassanian era, these included Buddhism and Christianity. Buddhism had developed in India in the sixth century b.c.e., and then spread to other parts of Asia. Christianity developed in what is now Israel.

Another new religion during the Sassanian era had its roots in Persia.

During the third century, a Babylonian named Mani (ca. 216–ca.276) began blending Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, and Zoroastrian beliefs. Mani said that everything in the universe came from a mixture of light and darkness, in which light stood for peace and darkness stood for conflict. The world of light was the spiritual world, while lifeon Earth was the world of darkness. By living well, people could begin to separate the light and darkness within them. His religion was called Manichaeanism. There was no one supreme god, as in the monotheistic religions.

Mani traveled throughout the Persian Empire spreading his new religion. The king at the time, Shapur I, did not follow the new faith, but he let Mani teach it and some members of the royal family became followers.

Mani claimed his teachings came from an angel and would last longer than any other known religions.

Zoroastrian priests rejected Mani and his teachings, and they convinced a later Persian king to have Mani arrested. His religion, though, continued to grow, eventually spreading west into the Roman Empire and east into China.

Another new religion that developed during the Sassanian Era was Mazdakism. Its founder, Mazdak, stirred social and political conflict with his teachings. He seemed to borrow some ideas from both Manichaeanism and Zoroastrianism. Mazdak and his beliefs briefly had some government support. But then the Sassanians turned against them and tried to stamp out the new faith. Some followers, however, lived in Persia until the end of the empire.

Judaism in Persia

When the Medes and Persians were emerging as powers in Mesopotamia, the Jews had already built a great kingdom and then seen it fall under enemy attacks. Their religion, Judaism, was the first major monotheistic religion in the ancient world. The Jewish homeland, Israel, was located along the Mediterranean Sea and was centered in what is now the modern nation of Israel.

The original Israel split into two kingdoms during the 10th century b.c.e. During the eighth century b.c.e., the Assyrians asserted their power in the region. The Assyrians and after them the Babylonians sent many Jews to live in Mesopotamia.

Cyrus the Great was a hero to the Jews, because he freed them from Babylonian rule and helped them rebuild their temple in Jerusalem.

Under the various Persian rulers, Israel was sometimes under direct Persian control, and many Jews lived throughout the empire. The Jews were mostly allowed to live as they chose.  Under the Persians, some Jewish soldiers served the government in Egypt. A rebellion broke out near the Jewish post in the early 400s b.c.e. An ancient letter from the Jewish troops to the local satrap (cited by E. Bresciani in the Cambridge History of Iran) said that during the rebellion, “. . . we did not leave our posts and no disloyalty was found in us.”

Under the Parthians, the Jewish community also had good relations with the government.

In Babylon, they played a part in building the silk trade with China. When Jews under Roman control faced persecution, they sometimes moved to Parthian lands, where they knew they could live as they chose. The Jews of Roman Syria welcomed Parthian troops when they invaded that region in the 160s. The Sassanians continued the tolerant treatment of the Jews.

Christianity in Persia

During the first century, a new monotheistic religion developed in Judea, the Roman province that had once been the kingdom of Israel.

A Jewish man named Jesus taught about the importance of love and worshipping God to achieve life after death in heaven. Jesus won followers but also angered some Jewish leaders because some of his teachings went against Judaism.

Jesus was crucified—nailed to a cross—for his beliefs. This was a typical Roman punishment of the day. His followers, called disciples, said that he rose from his grave and thus proved he was the Son of God. These followers were the first members of the religion called Christianity. This new faith soon spread to Persian lands. The biggest development came under the Sassanian king Shapur I. He sent thousands of Christians from Syria and Asia Minor to live in the heart of Persia. He wanted them to work for the government as artisans and construction workers. This movement of people created large Christian communities.

For several decades, the Christians lived peacefully under the Sassanians.

After Rome’s emperors embraced Christianity in the fourth century, Sassanian leaders feared some local Christians might be spies for the Romans. Over time, the persecutions led to some Persian Christians being killed because of their faith. Relations between the government and Christians improved slightly in 410, when the Christians created their own local church, separate from the Christian church based in the eastern half of the Roman Empire. New persecutions, however, broke out during the sixth century.

CONNECTIONS

The Persepolis Fortification Tablets

More than 2,500 years ago, Persian officials wrote in cuneiform on clay tablets to record the details of government business. During  the 1930s, two sets of the tablets were found in the ruins of Persepolis. The largest group, about 30,000 tablets, is called the ‘Persepolis Fortification Tablets’.

Archaeologists have translated several thousands of the tablets, and the translations continue today. The tablets provide new details about life in Achaemenid Persia.

In recent years, they have also become tangled in a legal dispute. American survivors of a 1997 terrorist attack in Israel, along with relatives of some victims, sued the government of Iran. They claimed the Iranian government helped the terrorists.

The tablets are currently at the University of Chicago, and a U.S. court ruled that they should be sold to pay the legal settlement

The Iranian government protested this decision, as did archaeologists who wanted to keep studying the tablets. As of early 2009, the matter was still in the courts.

A Farmer’s Greatest Fear

Drought (a long period without rain) is the greatest danger farmers face, even today. Persian historian Tabari described a terrible drought that hit Sassanian Persia during the mid-to-late fifth century c.e.: ‘Streams, qanats, and springs dried up; trees and reed beds became desiccated [dry]; the major parts of all tillage . . . and vegetation were reduced to dust in the plains and the mountains . . . alike; bringing about the deaths there of birds and wild beasts; cattle and horses grew so hungry that they could hardly draw any loads, and the water in the Tigris became very sparse. Death, hunger, hardship . . . became general for the people of the land’.

Tillage means land used to grow crops. Tabari added that King Peroz tried to help his people get through the tough times by not collecting taxes. He also gave them permission to do whatever they needed to find food and survive the drought.

(Source: Brosius, Maria. The Persians. London: Routledge, 2006.)

Resource from the Earth

Even before the rise of the Achaemenids, people of the Near East knew oil was locked deep in the rocks under their lands. Some of the oil naturally oozed up to the surface, creating what are called seeps. Oil from the seeps was used in lamps, and fires at the seeps may have inspired the use of eternal fires in Zoroastrianism.

Oil was most likely traded across Asia. Today, Iran and other nations once under Persian rule provide much of the oil used to make gasoline for cars and other products.

Happy Navruz!

The ancient Persian celebration Navruz marks the New Year.

Navruz began on the first day of spring and lasted for  several days. the celebration was first held during the Achaemenid dynasty. it took on great religious importance under the Sassanians, when it stretched out over three weeks. Although it is rooted in Zoroastrianism, over time Navruz was celebrated by Persians of all faiths. The holiday is still observed in Iran and other lands once ruled by Persia, such as Afghanistan. it usually falls in March. In Iran, Navruz has special importance for families. Children pay respect to older relatives, and family members exchange gifts. People also visit relatives to wish them well for the New Year.

A Special Belt

For ancient Zoroastrians, a white cloth belt called a kusti was a symbol of their faith. It was made of 72 very thin threads of wool. During the Sassanian dynasty, when boys turned 15 they received the belt as part of a ceremony that marked their becoming adults. today’s Zoroastrians still award the belt to boys and girls when they turn 15, after they demonstrate that they know the teachings of their religion.

Underground Living

In 2004, archaeologists found an underground city near the town of Noush Abad in central Iran. Parts of the city are three stories tall. The structures feature a series of halls and rooms. Some pottery at the site dates from the Sassanian period, and scholars think the underground “city” was actually a giant shelter used to protect nearby villagers. Noush Abad sits along a major trade route, so the area was often visited by robbers and foreign invaders.

The Zoroastrian Creed

A creed is a statement of the basic ideas accepted by the followers of a particular religion. For Zoroastrians, their creed appears in the 12th part of the Yasna, which is one section of the Avesta. The creed is thought to have been written by Zoroaster and repeated by the people he converted to the new faith. Here is a small part of it.

‘I reject the authority of the Daevas [false gods], the wicked, no-good, lawless, evil-knowing . . . the foulest of beings, the most damaging of beings. I reject the Daevas and their comrades, I reject the demons (yatu) and their comrades; I reject any who harm beings. I reject them with my thoughts, words, and deeds. I reject them publicly. . . . I profess myself a Mazda-worshipper, a Zoroastrian, having vowed it and professed it. I pledge myself to the well-thought thought, I pledge myself to the well-spoken word, I pledge myself to the well-done action’.

(Source: “Yasna 12—The Zoroastrian Creed.” Translated by Joseph H. Peterson. Avesta– Zoroastrian Archives. Available online. http://www.avesta.org/yasna/y12j.htm.) 

A Magical Word

The word for a Zoroastrian priest is magus. it comes from a Persian word meaning “sorcerer” (a wizard or magician), although some sources say it means “great one.” The plural is magi. the Greek form of the word served as the root for the English word magic.

The first magi were members of a Medean tribe who served as priests for the Zoroastrian religion.

In Christianity, the three wise men who visited the baby Jesus were called the magi, though there is no hard evidence that they came from Persia or practiced Zoroastrianism.

Zoroaster in Art

Zoroaster’s name is well known today in its Persian form, Zarathustra, thanks to two works of art. In 1896, the German writer Friedrich Nietzsche wrote a book titled Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). Nietzsche used the Persian prophet as a character in a long poem that explained Nietzsche’s ideas about life. Those ideas had nothing to do with Zoroastrianism. A German composer, Richard Strauss, then wrote a piece of music using the same title. Nietzsche’s book is studied in schools around the world and Strauss’s music is still played by orchestras. It also became very famous as the theme music for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Zoroaster’s writings, however, are barely known except to scholars and followers of his faith.

Iranian Jews Today

The Jewish community in Iran is more than 2,500 years old. During the centuries after the end of the Sassanian Empire, many Jews left the country or were forced to convert to Islam. Still, today 25,000 remain. They are the largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside of Israel. During the early 2000s, Iran’s President made harsh remarks about Israel and the suffering of millions of Jews in Europe during World War II. Still, most of the remaining Jews in Iran do not feel threatened and are proud of their deep roots in the country. In 2007, one leading Jewish resident of Tehran told the ‘Christian Science Monitor’, a U.S. newspaper, “I speak in English, I pray in Hebrew, but my thinking is Persian.”

By Michael Burgan in the book' Great Empires of the Past: Empires of Ancient Persians' - Chelsea House Publishers- An Imprint of Infobase Publishing, New York, 2010, chapter V p.93-109. Digitized and adapted to be posted by Leopoldo Costa .