In his article "How Zoroastrian was Persia?” (Parsiana, July 7-20, 2023) Berjis Desai delves into Persia’s past, in fact our own past, to bring us in touch with reality. As he indicates, our past has not always been as idealistic or great as we assume, which is true for all the three Persian empires — Achemenian, Parthian and Sasanian.
Although I had read a paper on the Achemenians being Zoroastrians at a conference in Europe some time ago, Cyrus the Great being a Zoroastrian is often debated as he was Median, not Persian. I have already noted on avesta.org that King Darius, being Persian, may have felt the need to replace Median culture and beliefs with the Persian belief system as Persia was closer to eastern Iran, the land of the prophet. Later descendants of Darius provide ample evidence of being Zoroastrian. The same applies to the Parthians. Parthia was so very Hellenized by the Greek conquerors that it was difficult to wipe out Greek influences in various spheres. Parthian kings even attended and patronized Greek dramas. But there is clear evidence that the Greek influences were eventually replaced by Persian culture and Zoroastrian conventions and beliefs.
Although, on the whole, Sasanian rulers stand out as Zoroastrian they were not always so, as Desai points out. Even the long held notion that Sasanian rulers and the clergy merged into one has now been discarded by historians. The king and the clergy often clashed when the former had to keep peace with various sectors vying with each other as well as with different religious affiliations; the clergy was interested in promoting its own ends. It has been common so far to allege that Christians were persecuted by the Sasanians (and the clergy) but recent research quoted by me on avesta.org rules this out.
As Desai well points out, however, there was hardly any uniformity in religious beliefs even during the Sasanian period. Shaul Shaked, scholar of comparative religions, has shown that there were different beliefs regarding even monotheism and dualism.
Such evidence does not and should not necessarily negate all our assumptions about our past but suggest accommodation and flexibility in our core beliefs, especially in our fast changing times and mores, as it will be the key to our survival.
Ervad (Dr) KERSEY H. ANTIA
Chicago, Illinois, USA