The World of Zarathustra

Prior to Zarathustra (also called Zoroaster) no one seemed to be greatly concerned that the world as we know it might end.  The Iranians, as well as many other ancient peoples, felt that the world would go on indefinitely as it had for centuries.  Their world was a constant struggle between order and chaos.  It was the job of the gods to maintain or restore order, provided that the people offered sacrifices to them.  It was assumed that this state of affairs would continue.¹

But the world that the pastoralist Iranians had known for centuries was changing in the time of Zarathustra, which most scholars agree to be somewhere between 1500 and 1200 BCE.²  A relatively peaceful society began to be disturbed by tribal warfare.  Zarathustra was apparently struck by the difference between the old peaceful tribes and the new warlike tribes.  The peaceful tribes were nomadic cattle herders, whose only concern was to find good pastures and to make a living.  But these peaceful tribes were now being ravaged by tribes with chariots and new types of weapons, who would slaughter the peaceful herdsmen and steal whole herds of cattle.³
  
Zarathustra was a priest of the traditional Iranian religion, and his own hymns reveal that he was poor, with few cattle, and was concerned for their protection.⁴  According to tradition, Zarathustra took to the contemplative life at age twenty.  He wandered and visited various sages.⁵  When he was thirty years old, he went to a river for purification during a spring festival, and it was there, in his state of purity, that he received his first revelation.  Vohu Manah, who may be compared to an archangel, appeared to him as a shining being and took Zarathustra into the presence of Ahura Mazda, "the Wise Lord."⁶  He continued to have these visions and he came to believe that he had been called by God to foretell a future renovation of the world, in which those who sided with righteousness would be rewarded.  He seems to have felt that the time for the renovation was close at hand.⁷

Zarathustra gained an important early follower - a prince named Vishtaspa.  However, the new faith was not well received by the traditional priests, and together with neighboring princes, they attacked Vishtaspa and Zarathustra.  Zarathustra's followers were victorious against the attackers,⁸ and this must have strengthened the prophet's feeling that a battle between good and evil was ensuing.

Zarathustra drew on many of the beliefs of the traditional Iranian religion.  For example, the Iranians told of how, in the beginning, there was only one of everything - one plant, one animal and one human.  Zarathustra thereby reasoned that in the beginning, there must have been only one God.⁹  This one God, Ahura Mazda, created all that was good in the world, including the Amesha Spentas, the "Bountiful Immortals," who helped to maintain the good order of his creation.  Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas were upholders of asha.  Asha was the Iranian concept of good, truth, and order.  Its opposite was druj, meaning falsehood, or disorder.¹⁰  Zarathustra took these traditional concepts a bit further.  He insisted that perfect order must include final justice, wherein the upholders of asha would be rewarded, and the partners of druj would be punished.¹¹  Druj may prevail for a little while, but in the end, everything would be set right in a marvelous display of cosmic justice.

Zoroastrian Teachings about the World and the Future Renovation

To Zoroastrians this world is a battlefield between two opposing forces, good and evil.  The world is currently in a temporary stage of "mixture" wherein both evil and good co-exist.  But this is not how Ahura Mazda originally created the world, nor is it how it will always be.  To understand the Zoroastrian view of the end times, it is necessary to understand the Zoroastrian view of the beginning times, because it is believed that the end will mirror the beginning.¹²

From the beginning, two spirits have existed, totally unlike each other, completely opposed in every way.  Ahura Mazda is all-good and Angra Mainyu (known in Pahlavi as Ahriman) is all-bad.  No evil ever comes from Ahura Mazda, and no good ever comes from Angra Mainyu.¹³  It is a perfectly dualistic system.  The utter difference between the two beings is stressed in the most sacred Zoroastrian Scripture, the Avesta:


Ahura Mazda is omniscient and so he was aware from the beginning of the existence of the evil Angra Mainyu who dwelled in a pit of eternal darkness.  Angra Mainyu is not omniscient and therefore he cannot foresee his own demise.  He wishes to destroy the realm of light in which Ahura Mazda dwells.  It is in order to defeat the malevolent Angra Mainyu that Ahura Mazda creates the world.¹⁵

Ahura Mazda first created the world in a non-material, spiritual state called menog, but in order to create a setting where the battle between good and evil could take place and evil be defeated, he gave the world material existence, or getig.  Zoroastrians view the getig existence as superior to the menog state.  Having material form is seen as a positive quality of creation, preferable to the state that is only spiritual.¹⁶  This might explain why Zoroastrians have come to await a physical resurrection of the body and a renovation of the physical earth rather than just a disembodied existence in a spiritual heaven.

Ahura Mazda created the good things of the earth, including a single plant, a single animal (a bull), and a single human.  But Angra Mainyu quickly attacked, killing the plant, animal, and human.  But from the single plant, animal, and human, came all plants, animals, and humans, in order to fight against Angra Mainyu's assault.¹⁷  Where Ahura Mazda created good things, Angra Mainyu counter-created evil.  He created darkness to counter the light, falsehood to counter truth, sickness to counter health, death to counter life, and evil creatures to counter good creatures.  Ahura Mazda had created six Amesha Spentas, or Bountiful Immortals who were good divine beings whose job it was to maintain asha (order, righteousness) in various parts of the creation.  To counter these, Angra Mainyu created six archdemons.¹⁸  With Angra Mainyu's counter-creation began the time of mixture, in which we still find ourselves.

Human beings have a special place in the creation, in that they have free will.  Other creatures that Ahura Mazda made are inherently good, whereas the creatures that Angra Mainyu made are inherently bad.  Human beings are unique in that they have the ability to choose whether to be bad or good.¹⁹  And they must choose.  Every human is a participant in the ongoing battle between good and evil and fights on one side or the other, by means of his or her actions.  Each person will be faced with his good or evil deeds when history culminates in a final battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil.

The World Ages

There is no indication that Zarathustra ever concerned himself with date-setting.  He likely believed that the final battle and the renovation of the world were imminent.  There is a sense of urgency in his hymns.²⁰  Moreover, Zarathustra seems to have believed that humans could play a part in determining when the final events would occur, through their personal efforts and by making righteous choices.  But with the passing of time, Zarathustra's followers inevitably began to contemplate when the end-time events might occur.  A preoccupation with astronomy, the study of time, and notions about predestination and fatalism may have entered into Zoroastrian thinking through the influence of the Babylonian culture.²¹  Eventually a timeline was developed to map out when certain events would take place, adding a strong sense of determinism to the faith.

Universal history came to be seen as divided into four periods of 3,000 years each.  The first 3,000 years began when Angra Mainyu caught a glimpse of the realm of light in which Ahura Mazda dwelled, and he became determined to destroy it.  Ahura Mazda set out to battle against him, but Angra Mainyu fled back into the darkness.  It was then that Ahura Mazda set about creating the world in its menog, or non-material, state.  Towards the end of this first world age, Angra Mainyu created legions of demons to help him in his attempt to destroy the realm of light.  A treaty was made between Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu to share sovereignty for 9,000 years before a final, decisive battle.  Afterwards, Ahura Mazda recited a sacred chant which revealed that Angra Mainyu would be defeated in the end.  A stunned Angra Mainyu fell helpless back into the darkness where he remained for the next period of 3,000 years.²²

During this second world age, without the disturbance of Angra Mainyu, Ahura Mazda brought the world into its getig, or material, state.  It is at the end of this second world age that Angra Mainyu had some success in attacking the good creation of Ahura Mazda.  This is when he created an evil counterpart to all of the elements of the good creation, so that the world became a mixture of good and bad elements.

The third period of 3,000 years was largely a period of heroes and legends.  It was a time when great heroes defeated monsters and demons, a period of pre-history full of tales of a legendary nature.²³

The fourth and final world age is the present age, and it began with Zarathustra.  It is itself further divided into three periods of 1,000 years each.  Each of the 1,000-year periods begins somewhat optimistically and deteriorates over time, ending with the need for a savior.  Each of the three saviors will be a son of Zarathustra who will be conceived when a virgin bathes in a lake where Zarathustra's seed is supposed to be guarded.  Each of the sons will receive a revelation from Ahura Mazda, as Zarathustra did.  They will restore some measure of truth, peace, prosperity, and righteousness to the world.  Just as John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus, the Zoroastrian saviors are said to have their forerunners.  Certain important figures from early Zoroastrian history will reappear and begin the process of preparing the world for the saviors.²⁴

The third and most important savior-figure will be known as the Saoshyant, and he will come at the end of the present age in order to bring in the complete renovation of the world, which is known in Avestan as Frashokereti, and in Pahlavi as Frashegird.  When the Saoshyant appears, the sun will stand still for thirty days and nights.²⁵  He will form an army and go to battle against the demons and the wicked.  It is not by physical strength alone, but by the performance of ritual ceremonies that the Saoshyant will gain victory over the wicked forces.  Ahura Mazda himself, along with the Amesha Spentas, will come to the earth to take part in this final decisive battle.  Each will destroy their wicked counterparts.  For example, Vohu Mana (Good Mind) will defeat Aka Mana (Evil Mind).  Angra Mainyu will be pushed back into his realm of darkness to remain there forever, unable to create any more havoc in the newly perfected world.²⁶  Thus will end the time of "mixture."

All the dead will be resurrected to undergo judgment at this time.  The judgment takes the form of an ordeal wherein everyone must walk through a stream of molten metal.  The wicked will feel the pain from this, but to the righteous, it will feel as if they are walking through warm milk.²⁷  In later Zoroastrian literature, this ordeal came to be seen as a means of purifying the wicked, rather than totally annihilating them, as was most likely held earlier.²⁸

At the time of the Frashokereti, the mountains will be made low and the valleys will be raised.  Everyone will dwell in peace and security in a perfected world ruled by Ahura Mazda and the righteous divine beings.  No one will experience sickness, death, or suffering of any kind.  Adults will be as if they were the ideal age of 40 forever, and children will be made as if they were age 15.²⁹  Up until the bodily resurrection, the dead will have been dwelling in either heaven or hell, in a disembodied state.  While heaven is seen as a good place, it is not perfect, due to its non-material nature.³⁰  True perfection and bliss come only with the rejoining of the spiritual with the physical.

The Influence of Zoroastrian Ideas on Jews and Christians

The striking similarities between Zoroastrianism and the Judeo-Christian traditions would be hard to miss.  The question of influence is not an easy matter to resolve however, because Zoroastrian writings are extremely difficult to date.  Many of the writings relevant to the issue were not written down until well after the advent of Christianity.  But the ideas contained in the writings almost certainly are much older, being based on oral traditions.³¹  Therefore many scholars argue that Judaism and Christianity were indeed influenced by Zoroastrian ideas.

Norman Cohn presents the case that the prophet Zarathustra was a great innovator, the first to consider that time was progressing towards a final culmination when the world would be perfected.  The idea of hell also seems to have occurred first to Zarathustra.  Other ideas that are easy to identify already in the Gathas (which most likely go back to Zarathustra himself) are the sharp distinction between the benevolent Supreme Lord and his evil opponent, the expectation of a resurrection of the dead, a final judgment with rewards and punishments, and the idea of a savior.³²

Cohn points out that before contact with the Persians, these ideas were not present among the Israelites.³³  The Jewish people looked quite favorably on the Persians, who let them return from Babylonian exile and rebuild their temple in Jerusalem.  By this time, Israel's prophets had already foretold that Israel would regain its sovereignty and live in peace under a reestablished Davidic monarchy.  So it was not such a stretch for them to accept some of the Zoroastrian teachings about a future renovated world.³⁴  These ideas certainly became more and more appealing when the Jewish people faced the tyranny of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.  Many Zoroastrian ideas become visible in the book of Daniel which most likely dates to the time of the Antiochan persecution.  Herein, there is a resurrection of the dead, a judgment, and the reward of eternal life.³⁵  Some of the chapters in Daniel are actually written in the language of the Persian Empire and even contain several Persian loan-words.  In chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a statue with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron mixed with clay.  Daniel interprets the image for Nebuchadnezzar as representing four periods.  A similar vision is described in a Zoroastrian work which Cohn argues to be far older than the book of Daniel.  In the Zand-i Vohuman Yasht, Zarathustra sees a tree with branches of gold, silver, steel, and iron mixed with clay, and these too are explained as being representative of four periods.³⁶

Cohn makes a compelling case for Zoroastrian influence on other Jewish works, including 2 Maccabees, 2 Enoch, and certain Dead Sea Scrolls.  Florentino Garcia Martinez is another scholar who concludes that the Qumran community which produced the Dead Sea Scrolls was most likely highly influenced by Persian ideas.  Qumranic angelology and demonology show signs of such influence.  A fragment from Cave 4 mentions "the bridge over the abyss."  This bridge has no precedent in the Hebrew Bible, but it seems to be a clear reference to the Chinvat Bridge, which in Zoroastrianism, is a bridge which the soul of the deceased must cross on his or her way to heaven or hell.  It stretches over an abyss and the wicked fall down into it.³⁷  The sharp dualism of the Persians seems to have infiltrated into Jewish thinking in the Tractate of the Two Spirits and The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness.  Those works also contain other elements that seem to come from Zoroastrian apocalypticism.³⁸

The sect of Judaism that would become Christianity was also highly influenced by Zoroastrianism.  In the book of Matthew, the baby Jesus is visited by magi, which are Zoroastrian priests.  In early Christian artwork, the magi were clearly depicted as wearing Persian outfits.  In Matthew 7:6, Jesus says, "do not throw your pearls to pigs."  Cohn shows that this was a Persian saying.  Other concepts in the book of Matthew make much sense when seen in a Zoroastrian light.  It tells of the resurrection of the dead and the wicked being thrown into a furnace of fire, thus cleansing the world for the righteous to live in the kingdom of God.  Jesus himself in Matthew has a very similar role to the Saoshyant.³⁹

In the book of Revelation, chapter 16, frogs are depicted as demonic spirits.  This seems peculiar coming from a Jewish perspective.  But it makes perfect sense from a Zoroastrian perspective.  For Zoroastrians, frogs were not created by God, but by the wicked Angra Mainyu, and they are evil.  Other parallels between Revelation and Zoroastrian ideology are equally striking.⁴⁰

Apocalyptic Elements in Zoroastrian Literature

The Zoroastrian tradition is not given to producing single Apocalyptic works like you have in the Jewish and Christian traditions.  There is only one Zoroastrian work that can be considered a full-blown Apocalypse, and that is the Zand-i Vohuman Yasht.  However this does not mean that visions of the end of time are not found elsewhere.  In fact, apocalyptic elements abound in almost all Zoroastrian literature.⁴¹

The oldest Zoroastrian Scripture, the Avesta, contains many features that are commonly present in Apocalyptic works, such as dualism, visions, revelations of secret knowledge, and expectation of a final judgment.  Yasna 30, for example, speaks of the Great Consummation, when those who have chosen righteously will be rewarded, and the wicked will be destroyed.  It stresses righteous action and duty to Ahura Mazda as the means of gaining reward in the end.  Determinism, another common feature of Apocalyptic literature, can be seen in Yasna 44, where Zarathustra asks Ahura Mazda about the end-time battle, the outcome of which has already been decreed.⁴²

The Book of Arda Viraf is a Pahlavi text which describes in vivid detail an other-worldly journey which is reminiscent of similar journeys in the Jewish apocalypses, such as 1 Enoch.  Viraf was chosen for the journey with the task of seeing if the prayers of the people were reaching heaven.  There he is guided by divine beings, who explain to Viraf all that he is seeing.  He sees heaven, hell, and hamestagan, which is the abode of the people whose bad actions perfectly balanced their good actions.  The descriptions of hell take up most of the book, and are far more detailed than the descriptions of heaven.  Viraf sees people being very cruelly punished in a myriad of ways, and the divine beings with him explain what sin they had committed that led to this treatment.⁴³

The Zand-i Vohuman Yasht is most likely a compilation of other apocalyptic works.⁴⁴  It contains Zarathustra's vision of the tree made of various metals representing four ages, the final one being the age of the evil sovereignty of demons with disheveled hair.  One who opposes the good religion will come and cause disturbance and prevent the people from worshiping God.  The demons will slay the living and rule in tyranny.  The sun in those days will not be as bright and the earth will be barren.  It will rain evil creatures.  Zarathustra asks when these demons will be destroyed, and he is told of signs that will be revealed in the stars and planets.  Finally a savior will come and restore tranquility and all the people of the world will abide by Zoroastrianism.⁴⁵

The Effect of Apocalypticism on Zoroastrian Practice

Apocalypticism in Zoroastrianism is not just some abstract doctrine.  It is lived every day in the lives of its adherents, and it instills in them a deep sense of meaning.  One gets the sense when reading the Avesta that the sacrifices are done not only for selfish interests, such as to cure an illness or protect one's cattle, but they are done in the interest of improving the world for everyone and advancing the cause of good in general.  Any furthering of good over evil is part of life's purpose and every single Zoroastrian can participate in this noble venture.  Ahura Mazda's own desire is that there be all good and no bad.  So praying for good for oneself, one need not feel selfish, so long as the person is actively doing his part to further the purpose of good, by observing the purity laws, and having good thoughts, words, and deeds.

Angra Mainyu's assault on the good creation effected the world not only spiritually, but physically.  So in the natural world, there are pure elements (those created by Ahura Mazda) and impure (those created by Angra Mainyu).  A Zoroastrian's duty is to maintain purity as much as possible.  So for example, a corpse would never be cremated, because that would be mixing the pure (fire) with the impure (the corpse).  So as not to pollute the earth, the corpse also cannot be buried.  So it is placed on stone, washed, and has lines drawn around it so that the impurity is contained.⁴⁶  It became a Zoroastrian custom to set the corpse on a "Tower of Silence" where it was left to be dried in the sun and devoured by scavenging birds.  Then the bones are placed in a well with lime and phosphorous.⁴⁷

In Zoroastrianism, there are elaborate purity laws which must be followed in various circumstances, including the birth of a child, menstruation, and even clipping of the fingernails.  Anything impure is carefully guarded from polluting the seven creations of Ahura Mazda which includes vegetation, animals, earth, water, metal, fire, and humans.  Therefore one avoids, as much as is possible, sneezing, spitting, sighing, yawning, and blowing the nose in public.⁴⁸

These purity laws instill in Zoroastrians a strong dualistic view of the world.  All the elements in the world are either on the side of Ahura Mazda, or on the side of Angra Mainyu.  Maintaining purity therefore furthers the cause of good.⁴⁹  The purity laws also reinforce that idea that true perfection is not only spiritual, but physical.  And therefore a Zoroastrian is involved daily with preparing for that wonderful time when the earth will be transformed into a blissful paradise under the dominion of Ahura Mazda.

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Footnotes
    ¹Norman Cohn, "How Time Acquired a Consummation."  In Apocalypse Theory and the Ends of the World, ed. Malcolm Bull (Cambridge:  Blackwell, 1995), 21.

    ²Norman Cohn, Cosmos, Chaos & the World to Come:  The Ancient Roots of Apocalyptic Faith (New Haven:  Yale University Press, 2001), 77.

    ³Norman Cohn, "How Time Acquired a Consummation," 26.

    ⁴Avesta.  Available on-line 3 December 2006 at http://www.avesta.org/yasna/yasna.htm, Yasna 44.

    ⁵Norman Cohn, Cosmos, Chaos & the World to Come, 78.

    ⁶Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians:  Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (New York:  Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986), 19.

    ⁷Norman Cohn, "How Time Acquired a Consummation," 30.

    ⁸Norman Cohn, Cosmos, Chaos & the World to Come, 78.

    ⁹Ibid., 81.

    ¹⁰S. A. Nigosian, The Zoroastrian Faith:  Tradition & Modern Research (Ithaca:  McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993), 20.

    ¹¹James R. Russell, "Asa in Armenia," in Armenian and Iranian Studies:  Harvard Armenian Texts and Studies, 9 (Cambridge:  Harvard University Press, 2004), 176.

    ¹²Philip G. Kreyenbroek, "Millennialism and Eschatology in the Zoroastrian Tradition," in Imagining the End:  Visions of Apocalypse from the Ancient Middle East to Modern America, ed. Abbas Amanat and Magnus Bernhardsson (New York:  I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2002), 47.

    ¹³S. A. Nigosian, The Zoroastrian Faith, 84.

    ¹⁴Avesta.  Available on-line 3 December 2006 at http://www.avesta.org/yasna/yasna.htm, Yasna 45:2.

    ¹⁵Norman Cohn, Cosmos, Chaos & the World to Come, 85.

    ¹⁶Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians, 25.

    ¹⁷Philip G. Kreyenbroek, "Millennialism and Eschatology in the Zoroastrian Tradition," 35.

    ¹⁸S. A. Nigosian, The Zoroastrian Faith, 86.

    ¹⁹Philip G. Kreyenbroek, "Millennialism and Eschatology," 35.

    ²⁰Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians, 42.

    ²¹Philip G. Kreyenbroek, "Millennialism and Eschatology," 49.

    ²²Anders Hultgard, "Persian Apocalypticism," in The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism (New York:  Continuum, 1998), 45-46.

    ²³Philip G. Kreyenbroek, "Millennialism and Eschatology," 37.

    ²⁴Anders Hultgard, "Persian Apocalypticism," 51.

    ²⁵Philip G. Kreyenbroek, "Millennialism and Eschatology," 39.

    ²⁶Anders Hultgard, "Persian Apocalypticism," 54-55.

    ²⁷Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians, 28.

    ²⁸Norman Cohn, Cosmos, Chaos & the World to Come, 98.

    ²⁹Ibid., 98.
   
    ³⁰Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians, 27.

    ³¹Norman Cohn, "How Time Acquired a Consummation," 23.

    ³²Norman Cohn, Cosmos, Chaos & the World to Come, 96.

    ³³Ibid., 139-140.

    ³⁴Ibid., 220.

    ³⁵Ibid., 222.

    ³⁶Ibid., 224.

    ³⁷Florentino Garcia Martinez, "Iranian Influences in Qumran?" in Apocalyptic and Eschatological Heritage:  The Middle East and Celtic Realms, ed. Martin McNamara (Portland:  Four Courts Press, 2003), 39-41.

    ³⁸Ibid., 43-49.

    ³⁹Norman Cohn, Cosmos, Chaos & the World to Come, 229.

    ⁴⁰Ibid., 229-231.

    ⁴¹Anders Hultgard, "Persian Apocalypticism," 41.

    ⁴²Avesta.  Available on-line 3 December 2006 at http://www.avesta.org/yasna/yasna.htm

    ⁴³The Book of Arda Viraf.  Available on-line December 2006 at http://www.avesta.org/mp/viraf.html

    ⁴⁴Anders Hultgard, "Persian Apocalypticism," 43.

    ⁴⁵Zand-i Vohuman Yasht.  Available on-line 3 December 2006 at http://www.avesta.org/mp/vohuman.html

    ⁴⁶S. A. Nigosian, The Zoroastrian Faith, 102.

    ⁴⁷Ibid., 103.

    ⁴⁸Ibid., 108.

    ⁴⁹Ibid., 104.

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