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29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 3. Zoroastrianism

[ancient Persian, with one god, and Zoroaster as prophet]

5 ideas
Zarathustra was the first to present a god who is an abstract concept [Zoroaster]
     Full Idea: Zarathustra's achievement was for the first time to present a god who is an abstract concept - he broke with the tradition of a pantheon of gods.
     From: Zoroaster (The Gathas (seventeen hymns) [c.900 BCE]), quoted by Peter Watson - Ideas Ch.05
     A reaction: The more abstract the gods become, the harder it is to challenge their existence.
Zoroastrianism saw the world as a battle between good evil gods [Zoroaster, by Harari]
     Full Idea: Zoroastrianism saw the world as a cosmic battle between the good god Ahura Mazda and the evil god Angra Mainyu.
     From: report of Zoroaster (The Gathas (seventeen hymns) [c.900 BCE]) by Yuval Noah Harari - Sapiens: brief history of humankind 12 'Battle'
     A reaction: Hm. This contradicts the impression I had gained that it was monotheist.
Zoroastrians believed in one eternal beneficent being, Creator through the holy spirit [Johnson,P]
     Full Idea: Cyrus the Great was a Zoroastrian, believing in one, eternal, beneficent being, 'Creator of all things through the holy spirit'.
     From: Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt II)
     A reaction: Is this the actual origin of monotheism, or did they absorb this idea from the Jews? The interesting bit is the fact that the supreme being (called Marduk) is 'beneficent', which one doesn't associate with these remote and supposed pagans.
The Gathas (hymns) of Zoroastrianism date from about 1000 BCE [Watson]
     Full Idea: The Gathas, the liturgical hymns that make up the 'Avesta', the Zoroastrian canon, are very similar in language to the oldest Sanskrit of Hinduism, so they are not much younger than 1200 BCE.
     From: Peter Watson (Ideas [2005], Ch.05)
     A reaction: This implies a big expansion of religion before the well-known expansion of the sixth century BCE.
Zoroaster conceived the afterlife, judgement, heaven and hell, and the devil [Watson]
     Full Idea: Life after death, resurrection, judgement, heaven and paradise, were all Zoroastrian firsts, as were hell and the devil.
     From: Peter Watson (Ideas [2005], Ch.05)
     A reaction: He appears to be the first 'prophet'.