Birth of the Persian Empire

Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Sarah Stewart, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Sarah Stewart

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781845110628
• eBook ISBN: 9780857733078
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

Of the great ancient civilizations, that of Persia is the least known and the most enigmatic. This book explores the formation of the first Persian Empire under the Achaemenid Persians. It brings together a multi-disciplinary view of ancient Iran in the first millennium BC and concentrates on the art, archaeology, history and religion of a geographical area far beyond the present borders of modern Iran in the period beginning just before the formation of the Persian empire in the middle of the 6th century up to its collapse following conquest by Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC. Eminent scholars here give a critical approach to some of the traditional interpretations and discuss topics which help the reader towards a better understanding of the formation of the Persian empire. This is the first volume in the "Idea of Iran" series which will be a four-volume collection encompassing the history of that country.

3

The Achaemenids and the Avesta

P.O. Skjærvø (Harvard University)

Introduction

Were the Achaemenids Zoroastrians? This question has been debated by students of Iranian religion throughout the 20^th century, and the answer has often been sought in terms of similarities and differences between Zoroastrianism and the religion of the Achaemenid kings, as expressed in their inscriptions. The differences have usually been defined in terms of “omissions and discrepancies” between the two,¹ and it has been argued that the lack of mention of Zarathuštra and key terms such as the six Life-giving Immortals (the amǝša spǝņtas), which play a prominent role in the Avesta, shows that the Achaemenid religion was, at least, not orthodox Zoroastrianism. “Orthodox” would here mean in agreement with the religion expressed in the oldest texts, the Gāthās, but what is today considered to be Zoroastrian “orthodoxy” is largely a construct by Western scholars since the end of the 19^th century who have regarded the Gāthās as the teachings of Zarathuštra and expressions of what they believe was his “reformed religion”. As the view that Zarathuštra was a historical person, a prophet and a reformer can be shown to rest on shaky, even non-existent foundations,² this definition of Zoroastrian “orthodoxy” is equally problematic, and the relationship of the Avesta – our only source for the oldest Iranian religion – and the Achaemenid inscriptions to the teachings of Zarathuštra shall not occupy us here.

More importantly, the Avesta and the inscriptions are fundamentally different kinds of texts (ritual texts versus royal proclamations), as well as in different languages. There is therefore no particular reason to expect any mention in the inscriptions of Zarathuštra or the Life-giving Immortals, who are also absent from the Sasanian inscriptions.

Here I shall compare the Achaemenid inscriptions and the Avesta, especially the Old Avesta, from a literary point of view. For this purpose, I shall define “Achaemenid religion” loosely as the religion expressed in the various primary and secondary sources at our disposal and “Zoroastrianism” as the religion expressed in the Avesta. We shall see that there are so many similarities between Achaemenid religion and Zoroastrianism defined in this manner that it is hard to conclude that the latter was not the religion of the Achaemenid kings, at least from Darius onwards.

The original question then ha...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Cyrus the Great and the Kingdom of Anshan
• An Archaeologist’s Approach to Avestan Geography
• The Achaemenids and the Avesta
• The Contribution of the Magi
• The History of the Idea of Iran
• Iron Age Iran and the Transition to the Achaemenid Period
• List of Abbreviations
• Bibliography