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Ancient Iranian religion or Iranian paganism was a set of ancient beliefs and practices of the Iranian peoples before the rise of Zoroastrianism. The religion closest to it was the historical Vedic religion that was practiced in India. The major deities worshipped were Ahura Mazda and Mithra from Iran to Rome, but Atar was also worshipped, as names of kings and common public showing devotion to these three exist in most cases.[1] But some sects, the precursors of the Magi, also worshipped Ahura Mazda, the chief of the Ahuras.[2] With the rise of Zoroaster and his new, reformatory religion, Ahura Mazda became the principle deity while the Daevas were relegated to the background. Many of the attributes and commandments of Varuna, called Fahrana in Median times, were later attributed to Ahura Mazda by Zoroaster.[3][4]
The Iranian peoples emerged as a separate branch of the Indo-Iranians in the 2nd millennium BC, during which they came to dominate the Eurasian Steppe and the Iranian Plateau. Their religion is derived from Proto-Indo-Iranian religion, and therefore shares many similarities with the Vedic religion of India. Although the Iranian peoples left little written or material evidence of their religious practices, their religion is possible to reconstruct from scant Iranian, Babylonian and Greek accounts, similarities with Vedic and other Indo-European religions, and material evidence.
Prior to the Achaemenid period, the daivas were also commonly worshipped. The Achaemenid kings made it a state policy to destroy their shrines and vilify them. Old Persian daiva occurs twice in Xerxes I's daiva inscription (XPh, early 5th century BCE). This trilingual text also includes one reference to a daivadana ("house of the daivas"), generally interpreted to be a reference to a shrine or sanctuary. In his inscription, Xerxes I records that "by the favor of Ahura Mazda I destroyed that establishment of the daivas and I proclaimed, 'The daivas thou shalt not worship!'"[5] This statement has been interpreted either one of two ways. Either the statement is an ideological one and daivas were gods that were to be rejected, or the statement was politically motivated and daivas were gods that were followed by (potential) enemies of the state.[6]
Under the Achaemenids, Ahura Mazda received state patronage as the chief deity and the emperors became his representatives. Ahura Mazda was thus recognized as the creator of the world. Dualism was strongly emphasized and human nature was considered essentially good. The chief ritual of the ancient Iranians was the yasna, in which the deities were praised and the mind-altering drug hauma was consumed. This ritual was performed by a highly trained priestly class. Politics and religion under the Persian empires were strongly connected.
Beginning in the early 10th century BC, the ancient Iranian religion was gradually displaced by Zoroastrianism, which contains some aspects of its predecessor.
- ^ Boyce, M. (2015). A History of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism under the Achaemenians. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East. Brill. p. 17. ISBN 978-90-04-29390-8. Retrieved 15 Feb 2022.
- ^ Boyce, Mary (1 Jan 1982). "The Pre-Zoroastrian Religion of the Medes and Persians". A History of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism under the Achaemenians. Brill. pp. 14–39. doi:10.1163/9789004293908_003. ISBN 978-90-04-29390-8.
- ^ De Witt Griswold, H. (1923). The Religion of the Rigveda. Religious quest of India. H. Milford, Oxford University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-89684-305-9. Retrieved 15 Feb 2022.
- ^ Lenormant, F.; Chevallier, E. (1871). Medes and Persians, Phoenicians, and Arabians. A Manual of the Ancient History of the East: To the Commencement of the Median Wars. J. B. Lippincott. p. 12. Retrieved 15 Feb 2022.
- ^ Kent 1937, p. 297.
- ^ Herrenschmidt & Kellens 1993, p. 600.