Achaemenid Religion
Corresponding Author
Prods Oktor Skjærvø
Harvard University
Correspondence: Harvard University, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC), Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Prods Oktor Skjærvø
Harvard University
Correspondence: Harvard University, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC), Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
“Achaemenid religion” was the religion of the rulers of Iran in the second half of the first millennium BCE and the local form of Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of the Iranians. The earliest form of Zoroastrianism is known from the Avesta, their sacred texts, which probably originated in the last half of the second and first half of the first millennium BCE, but were transmitted only orally until priests began writing them down in the seventh century. The “Achaemenid religion” is known from cuneiform inscriptions in the local Iranian language, Old Persian, and from tablets in Elamite found at Persepolis, as well as from other sources. It was a dualist religion, postulating the existence of good and evil from the beginning, as well as a polytheistic religion, but with one god, Ahura-Mazdā, outranking the others. Scholarly discussion has centered on the question whether the Achaemenids were real Zoroastrians, in the sense of following the reformed teachings of the historical Zarathustra. As the assumed historicity of Zarathustra and his reform are increasingly being questioned, scholars are now focusing on the interpretation of the inscriptions, notably from the point of view of the orality of Iranian traditions and their relationship with the Avesta, but also increasingly on the editing of the Elamite tablets and mining them for information.
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Further Readings
- http://www.iranicaonline.org/, http://www.achemenet.com/, http://www.iranchamber.com/history/achaemenids/achaemenids.php,
- http://www.livius.org/aa-ac/achaemenians/achaemenians.html, http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/persia.html.
On Zoroastrianism, see the comprehensive descriptions by Boyce (1975, 1982a) and Stausberg (2002–2004); shorter overviews in Gnoli (1980, pp. 199–225), Boyce (1984), Stausberg (2008), Rose (2011), Skjærvø (2013b), and, with translations of texts, Malandra (1983), Lecoq (1997), Skjærvø (2011a). Older works: Lommel (1930), Nyberg (1937, 1938), Duchesne-Guillemin (1962), Widengren (1965).
On Zoroastrian literature, see Hintze (2009); on the Avesta, see Kellens (1987), Skjærvø (2011a, 2012a).
On things Achaemenid: The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 2 (1985), Potts (ed.).
On Achaemenid religion, see Duchesne-Guillemin (1962, pp. 165–68), Widengren (1965, pp. 117–55), Boyce (1982a, 1983, 1984, pp. 48–77, 1992, pp. 125–32), Schwartz (1985), Ahn (1992, pp. 95–130), Wiesehöfer (1996, pp. 94–101), Stausberg (2002, pp. 157–86). See also the brief overview in Skjærvø 2013c, pp. 547–54.
Comparison of Zoroastrianism and Achaemenid religion in Knäpper 2011.
Comparisons between Zoroastrian and Achaemenid texts in Skjærvø (1999, 2005, 2012b, pp. 12–15).
On the Medes, see Diakonoff (1985), Dandamayev and Medvedskaya (2006)
On Achaemenid history, see The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 2 (1985), Dandamaev (1989) Briant (1996; Eng. tr. 2002), Wiesehöfer (1996), Huyse (2005).
On Achaemenid imperial discourse, see Lincoln, B. (1996). Old Persian fraša and vašna: Two terms at the intersection of religious and imperial discourse, Indogermanische Forschungen, 101, pp. 147–67; Lincoln, B. (2012). ‘Happiness for mankind’: Achaemenian religion and the imperial project. Leuven: Peeters.
Photographs from Persepolis and surroundings in Schmidt (1970) and online at Google images and elsewhere.
Websites:
See also Encyclopædia Iranica, E. Yarshater (gen. ed.), Various publishers, 1982-. Also online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/.