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This volume traces the history of Zoroastrianism at times and places where its existence has previously been largely ignored, or treated only episodically. Literary, archaeological and numismatic evidence has been drawn on (some of it only recently brought to light), and local developments are distinguished. In Iran itself some 200 years of Macedonian rule had little effect on the national religion. To the east, Zoroastrianism survived in the Greco-Bactrian kingdoms and under Mauryan suzereinty, where it came into contact with Buddhism. In Eastern Mediterranean lands it was maintained by Iranian expatriates well down into Roman imperial times. They adopted Greek for their written tongue, and Zoroastrian doctrines thus became known in the Greco-Roman world. Study is made accordingly of Zoroastrian contributions to Hellenistic thought, and to Judaism, Christianity and Mithraism; and an excursus provides a thorough reassessment of the Zoroastrian pseudepigrapha.
Preliminary material -- GENERAL -- THE GODS OF PAGAN IRAN -- DEMONS AND EVIL-DOING, FABULOUS CREATURES, FIRST MEN AND HEROES -- DEATH, THE HEREAFTER AND FUNERAL RITES -- THE NATURE OF THE WORLD AND ITS ORIGINS -- THE PAGAN CULT -- ZOROASTER -- AHURA MAZDĀ, ANGRA MAINYU AND THE BOUNTEOUS IMMORTALS -- THE TWO STATES AND THE THREE TIMES -- THE UNRECORDED CENTURIES -- THE LEGENDS OF ZOROASTER AND HIS SONS -- THE LAWS OF PURITY -- THE ZOROASTRIAN FUNERAL RITES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.
Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest religions, though it is not among the best understood. Originating with Iranian tribes living in Central Asia in the second millennium BCE, Zoroastrianism was the official religion of the Iranian empires until Islam superseded it in the seventh century AD. Centered on the worship of Ahura Mazda, the All-knowing Ruler, Zoroastrianism follows the practices and rituals set out by the prophet Zarathustra, according to the indigenous tradition. As one of the world's great religions, Zoroastrianism has a heritage rich in texts and cultic practices. The texts are often markedly difficult to translate, but in this volume, Prods Oktor Skjærvø, professor of ancient Iranian languages and culture at Harvard, provides modern and accurate translations of Zoroastrian texts that have been selected to provide an overview of Zoroastrian beliefs and practices. In a comprehensive introduction to these sacred texts, Skjærvø outlines the history and essence of Zoroastrianism and discusses the major themes of this the first fully representative selection of Zoroastrian texts to be made available in English for over a century.
This book offers a new approach to the vexing question of how to write the early history of Islam. The first part discusses the nature of the Muslim and non-Muslim source material for the seventh- and eighth-century Middle East and argues that by lessening the divide between these two traditions, which has largely been erected by modern scholarship, we can come to a better appreciation of this crucial period. The second part gives a detailed survey of sources and an analysis of some 120 non-Muslim texts, all of which provide information about the first century and a half of Islam (roughly A.D. 620-780). The third part furnishes examples, according to the approach suggested in the first part and with the material presented in the second part, how one might write the history of this time. The fourth part takes the form of excurses on various topics, such as the process of Islamization, the phenomenon of conversion to Islam, the development of techniques for determining the direction of prayer, and the conquest of Egypt. Because this work views Islamic history with the aid of non-Muslim texts and assesses the latter in the light of Muslim writings, it will be essential reading for historians of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or Zoroastrianism--indeed, for all those with an interest in cultures of the eastern Mediterranean in its traditional phase from Late Antiquity to medieval times.
"The sources and history of the world's religions, from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism, to regional studies in Africa, China and Japan; their teaching, practices and popular traditions; diaspora religions in the Western world, in the USA, Canada, Australia and Britain, including a new section on these religious migrations in a comparative international perspective; gender and spirituality and the Black African diaspora; developments that have taken place in the twentieth century; recent scholarship, including new material on China; and public festivals and private devotions." "With charts and diagrams to illustrate and clarify the text, The New Handbook of Living Religions is the definitive guide to understanding the belief systems of the world today."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Patricia Crone's book is about the Iranian response to the Muslim penetration of the Iranian countryside, the revolts subsequently triggered there and the religious communities that these revolts revealed. The book also describes a complex of religious ideas that, however varied in space and unstable over time, has demonstrated a remarkable persistence in Iran across a period of two millennia. The central thesis is that this complex of ideas has been endemic to the mountain population of Iran and occasionally become epidemic with major consequences for the country, most strikingly in the revolts examined here and in the rise of the Safavids who imposed Shi'ism on Iran. This learned and engaging book by one of the most influential scholars of early Islamic history casts entirely new light on the nature of religion in pre-Islamic Iran and on the persistence of Iranian religious beliefs both outside and inside Islam after the Arab conquest.
Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833) was a British soldier, colonial administrator, diplomat, linguist, and historian. He was born in Scotland, left school at age 12, and, through an uncle, secured a position in the East India Company. While stationed in various parts of India as an officer in the company's military forces, he became interested in foreign languages, which he studied diligently. He became fluent in Persian and, over the years, served as an interpreter and British envoy to Persia in various capacities. In 1815, he published his The History of Persia, From the Most Early Period to the Present Time, which earned him literary fame and an honorary doctorate from Oxford University. In two volumes, the book covers the period from the legendary Pishdadian Dynasty to the early 19th century. Malcolm drew on both written sources and his own extensive experiences in India and Persia. Volume 2 is particularly valuable as an account of Persia in the early 1700s, with descriptions of the country's rulers, religions, government, and society. Although Malcolm deeply admired Persian culture and civilization, he believed that the country badly needed political reform, a subject that he addressed in the concluding section of the book. Translated into French in 1821 and German in 1830, The History of Persia was the standard Western work on Persia until the appearance, in 1915, of Percy Molesworth Sykes's A History of Persia.