First I must thank you for prompting me to research this deeper. As you have pointed out, there is a shortage of web pages that adhere to the scientific form for making their claims. This is really not surprising. After all, everyday we make claims on anything from investment strategies to world politics without referencing research. This does not make the claims worthless, though it does not measure up to the standard for coming to critical decisions. What I am going to say here, comes from what I deem to be respectable sources as oppose to say any Tom, Dick, and Harry who may have had a grudge for having to go to Sunday School. I will provide references in the latter part of this article.
One of the interesting things in your post was the reference to the effects of Mithraism on Judaism. Having read some research on the topic, I am astounded by the magnitude of the change. Yet if Mithraism introduced concepts into Judaism which in turn formed the foundation of Christianity, can we not say Christianity got those concepts from Mithraism? Certainly the Mithraists living in Roman times would not have cared where the concepts came from so long as they were compatible with theirs. For this reason, and because Christianity claims to be based on Judaism, I am going to reference Mithraist or Zoroastrian concepts that were adopted by Jews as well.
Had you not asked for scientific research, I would have left you with something this crystalinks.com
According to Persian mythology, Mithras was born of a virgin given the title 'Mother of God'. The God remained celibate throughout his life, and valued self-control, renunciation and resistance to sensuality among his worshippers. Mithras represented a system of ethics in which brotherhood was encouraged in order to unify against the forces of evil.
...
In Armenian tradition, Mithras was believed to shut himself up in a cave from which he emerged once a year, born anew. The Persians introduced initiates to the mysteries in natural caves, according to Porphyry, the third century neoplatonic philosopher. These cave temples were created in the image of the World Cave that Mithras had created, according to the Persian creation myth.
As 'God of Truth and Integrity', Mithras was invoked in solemn oaths to pledge the fulfillment of contracts and punish liars. He was believed to maintain peace, wisdom, honour, prosperity, and cause harmony to reign among all his worshippers. According to the Avesta, Mithras could decide when different periods of world history were completed. He would judge mortal souls at death and brandish his mace over hell three times each day so that demons would not inflict greater punishment on sinners than they deserved.
Or perhaps refer you back to my previous post on how a mass of drinking wine and bread was seen as incorporating the flesh and blood of god into oneself. And yes I know you said many people drank wine and ate bread. But I can't find any who believed that was the flesh and blood of their god.
Such references are valuable even thought they lack the bibliography you asked for. In any even I got them off sites that come across as a very unbiased source. But since you asked, I am going to use only material that comes from referenced material.
Although many of specifics of Mithra is unknown, the general concepts are quite well known and distinct from Judaism and Christianity of the ~600BC to ~300AD. So we have almost a millennia of documentation to work with. Many of the concepts we take for granted today have their roots in Mithraism/Zoroastrianism. Because Persians were the first Empire Builders and because they highly influenced the Mesopotamia (The Cradle of Civilization), the Jews, The Romans, and The Indians, the footprints of their beliefs can be seen in many cultures today. This is not to say that everything we have comes from ancient Persia. But being the dominant culture so far back in history in the middle east, they had a profound effect on other cultures that later became dominant in their own right. What is more, Persia has been swept over by many races (Arabs, Mongols, Greeks, Turks, and Scythians) who later absorbed the local culture and spread it with them. According to Robert Payne (see cais-soas.com )
We owe a debt to Persia we can never repay. So much that is bright and glittering and desirable was invented by them. They were the first to invent angels, which the Jews borrowed during the Babylonian captivity, and the Christians borrowed from the Jews. The most beautiful of all decorated domes are in Persia. They invented chess and polo, and the first known highways for whecled traffic were the royal roads built by Darius. And half our fairy tales have Persian origins. Their intellectual and spiritual contributions to the world derive from the enchanted interpretation of the world they saw before their eyes: for them the world was a flame, forever quivering, forever bright, forever leaping. For them the world was magic. The very word magic comes from their fire-worshipping priests, the Magi who attended upon Xerxes and Darius. And remembering the Magi who attended the birth of Christ, the third century theologian Sextus Julius Africanus wrote: "Our first knowledge of Jesus came from Persia."
Much of the theological concepts we take for granted today come from Mithraism/Ancient Persia. For example, the concept of Heaven and Hell originates from there as does the concept of Resurrection, the Judgment Day, and that of Messiah. I would say these are pretty core concepts to Christianity. Even the symbolic behavior can be traced to that. For example, the word "Devil" is a transformation of "Daev" (old Pahlavi) or (Deav modern Persian). The association of Devil with Deceit and Darkness is exactly aligned with the Mithraist concept which also represented Mithra with "Truth" and "Light". This is a deeper association than similar religions. In ancient Persia the same word was used for "lie" and "anti-God". When you lied, you were directly seen as aiding the anti-God. Early Christians prayed with hands point to sky and faces up which is also a reference to Mithraists respecting the sun and asking for guidance from it. Keep in mind that the Persian concept of "god" was not the simplistic elemental worship. Unlike the Greek, they did not like to make material representations of gods as much as possible because they believed the nature of god was beyond human or elemental form. Aside from the Bull or the Fire, Mithra was also symbolized by the Cross. You should note that Cross was not a Christian symbol prior to Constantine. Early Christianity had "Fish" as its symbol. I could go on for pages. But I don't want to repeat my previous posts. BTW, I have confirmed that Mithra was indeed born from a Virgin.
In addition to all these, Mithraism and its extension Zoroastrianism, had a much different outlook towards the world than their neighboring religions. The early Romans for example did not believe in Heaven and Hell. Everyone went to hell. Nor was it common to believe in a benign god. Persian gods were all benign. In contrast the Babylonian Gods were big time dictators. And the Greek gods were just exaggerated selfish moody humans. Other than Mithraists and their off-shoots, nobody I know believed in triumph of good over evil, Judgment Day, and Eternal Life with God. Most ancient religions were simply bribing the deity in charge to gain favor or deflect his wrath. As far as I know this was more or less the case with early Judaism too. Nor is the concept of Free Will common in pre-Mithraist religions. Most believed humans to be simply pawns in the hands of not so benign gods.
Could so much commonality be just coincidence, especially when you look at the greater concepts like a benign god, universal love, and so on? I don't think so. Also, keep in mind that by the virtue of being a wide spread religion and that of two dominant empires (Iran and Rome) Mithraist gods had many names and were incorporated in many local pagan rituals. Some of the common names for Mithra are: Now let's move on to the documented research that you asked for.
Sun Tzu
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From Robert Payne and with Reference to Albert Schweitzers: cais-soas.com
A hundred years after Isaiah and a hundryears before Buddha, he brought into existence a monotheistic religion of extraordinary purity, possessing in the words of Albert Schweitzers "an astonishing affinity to Christianity."
[...]
In time, and perhaps even while Zarathustra was still living, the doctrine became more complex. At first he spoke of the blinding glory of Ahuramazda, and from there he had gone to speak of the abstract virtues streaming from the god's contenance: Truth, Empire, Purity, Piety, Immortality, Perfection, the Blaze of Light.
Gradually these abstract virtues became identified as angels. The first of the angels was Sraosha, representing obedience to the divine law. His dwelling-place, according to the Avesta written long after the death of Zarathustra, was a palace supported by a thousand pillars which glowed with their own light, the roof of the palace being spangled with stars. Sraosha drove in a chariot drawn by four white horses "swifter than the winds or the rain or the winged birds." He wore the shape of an unconquerable youth.
Mithra was another of the angels, and his history was perhaps the oddest of all, for in earlier days he was regarded as the greatest among the gods. Displaced from his supreme position, he became the leader among angels, the captain of the host against Evil (Ahriman), his place so high in the hierarchy that sometimes he was invoked together with Ahuramazda.
From him comes life and increase; to him women prayed for sons, he was the fatness of cattle and piety of priests. As Sraosha represented Truth, Mithra represented Empire. His single glance could hurl spirits of evil into distant corners. His spies incessantly reported him the affairs of earth: he could decide at his pleasure whether there would be peace or war between nations. In time, the cult of Mithra was to shake itself free of Zarathustraism entirely, and to extend throughout the Roman Empire: there were temples to Mithra even in London.
Source:
From: William Stearns Davis, Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources, Vol. 2: Greece and the East (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912), pp. 58-61.
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In the 4th century AD as a result of errors made in calculating leap years and dates, the birthday of Mithra was transferred to 25 December. Until then Christ's birthday had been celebrated on 6 January by all branches of the Christian Church. But with the cult of Mithra still popular in Roman Europe, the Christian Church adopted many of the Mithraic rituals and proclaimed 25 December as the official birthday of Christ. Today the Armenian and Eastern Orthodox Churches continue to celebrate 6 January as Christ's birthday.
cais-soas.com
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[Here, Prof. Mogadam provides evidence for this claim. I have left out the long passage of literary evidence in the interest of bravity. The first paragraph describes Mithra and the second Zoroaster. Combine the two and you get an almost exact image of Christ's birth]
The Saviour was born in the middle of the night between Saturday and Sunday, 24th and 25th of December, 272 BCE, and according to those who believed in Him from an Immaculate (Anahid) Virgin (Xosidhag) somewhere not far from lake Hamin, Sistan, Lived for 64 years among men, and ascended to His Father Ahura Mazda in 208 BCE ...
...
The story of the virgin birth originates from the materialization of Farr or Xvarenah, which after all, in spite of the scholarly literature that has grown about it, is the light within man, what in modern terminology we name aptitude. Now the capacity of the individual for kingship or prophet hood is of course of a higher order and was therefore specified as the Kingly Farr and the Farr of Zarathushtra. Since in popular belief this Farr had taken a material form it could only be transmitted through materials means. Hence the transmission of the Kingly Farr in the case of Freydun through plant, animal and milk, or the Farr of Zardosht conveyed to the future Saviour by means of his reserved seed. And in the case of Zoroaster himself, the heavenly Farr descended in the form of fire and mingled with the holy fire in the atrium and penetrated into the body of His mother and joined the baby Zarathushtra. In this connection is should be pointed out that due to the supposed preservation of the seed as bearer of the Farr in water, three Mithraic symbols came into use.
...
As regards the word Messiah itself, it might be interesting to point out that the western Iranian form is Missa, and the eastern misi, possible originals of the Arabic and Hebrew forms of the word which were popular etymology related to the root for rubbing and anointing, and incidentally for the first time used in the Bible for an Iranian, Cyrus. The word would then mean mediator, supported by Plutarch's mesites and confirmed in the Sorkh Kotal inscription.
In the divine meal, the Lord's Supper, apparently the Cup used for the nushabe became the holiest object in the service. That cup figures very prominently in Persian literature and especially in the mystical poems. The cup has seven lines or measures corresponding to the seven degrees in Mithraism. The full cup is for the Pir or the Father, who is know as the Pir of the seven lines. In the West it gave rise to the "Graded cup", Latin gradalis> grail. The story of the Holy Grail as well as the Arthurian legends will occupy our attention at another meeting.
cais-soas.com
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[Perhaps you will find the best research here: The Zoroastrian-Biblical Connections zarathushtra.com ]
1. The new Zoroastrianism at this era, believed in one universal God, Ahura Mazda. But the six divine attributes were often envisioned as separate entities, perhaps in the form of archangels that with Ahura Mazda at the center, at times illogically were called seven Amesha Spenta.
2. There was battle between the forces of good and evil, with the ultimate victory of good over evil. Those who sided with the forces of good, were supporting the Divine cause. The evil forces were regarded as anger, envy, lies and environmental pollution, etc. In effect the Zoroastrian followers had developed a form of angelology and demonology.
3. The Persians believed in liberty and freedom of choice, as reflected in the Gathas and the texts of later Avesta.
4. Another Zoroastrian concept was The Kingdom of God or chosen government, wherein all the virtuous men and women reside freely and choose leaders for their righteousness, and the oppressed will be rehabilitated. The goal was for everyone to work toward establishing the "chosen government" where good overcomes the evil.
5. They believed in immortality of soul, life after death, that the souls of the dead will be judged for their deeds of the past on the bridge of judgement (Chinovat), where they were guided by their conscience and judged by three angels (Mithra, Rashn, Sraosha), who were to differentiate them and determine the eternal dwellings of the two groups in heaven or hell.
6. Resurrection (Rastakhiz) or the end of the world, when the dead revive and the new world will have a fresh life and new beginning (Farsho Kerat or fresh act).
7. In the Gathas, Saoshyant is a general term and means benefactor. There are benefactors of the past, present and future, but no reference is made to any promised person who shall advent. The concept of future benefactors however at this time had been transformed into the savior of future who will perform the task of resurrection.
The Israelites on the other hand, based on the preexilic writings had not developed eschatology. They rather believed in Sheol or an underground and desolate world where the good and bad after death will equally end up. Therefore the notions of judgement after death and reward of heaven and retribution of hell, were nonexistent in their tenets.
Yahweh was the covenant god of Israelites and did not have a universal status, the dualistic forces of good and evil, angelology and demonology were absent in their beliefs as reflected in the books of preexilic Judaism
...
Morton Smith of Columbia University finds similarities between the inscription of Cyrus in Babylon and IInd Isaiah 40-46 8 which he finds explained in Avestan texts. 9 Some of the parallels are noted by him are juxtaposed 10 and mentioned hereunder:
1. In Cyrus' document the ruler is evil, Marduk (the Babylonian god) is angry; in Isaiah, the people are evil, Yahweh is angry.
2. Marduk scanned and pronounced Cyrus to become the ruler of all the world; Isaiah 46.2: I am Yahweh I have called upon you (Cyrus) in righteousness. I have taken you by the hand and kept you.
3. And he (Cyrus) did always endeavor to treat according to Justice; Isaiah 42.1: Cyrus will bring justice to the nation.
4. Marduk beheld with pleasure his (Cyrus') good deeds and his upright mind and ordered him to march against the city of Babylon; Isaiah 43.14: Yahweh will send Cyrus to Babylon.
Considering the Mesopotamian roots of some of the Biblical events 11 12 those similarities certainly entertain the likelihood of the influence of the Cyrus' inscription in the relevant writings of IInd Isaiah.
Smith notes that before the time of Ilnd Isaiah, the notion "Yahweh created the world" plays little role in Hebrew literature. IInd Isaiah returns consistently to this doctrinal concept. He suggests the common source to be the Gathas of Zarathushtra Yasna 44, the chapter of creation. He finds that besides a peculiar style of IInd Isaiah, almost all the questions asked by Zarathushtra in Yasna 44:3-5 are asked or answered in IInd Isaiah with Yahweh replacing Ahura Mazda.13 Only some examples are mentioned below: 14
1. Yasna 44.3:1-2, O' wise one, who was at its birth the original father of justice? Isaiah 45-8: let the skies rain down justice. ...
2. Yasna 44.3 :4-5, who made the routes of the sun and stars? by whom the moon waxes and wanes?; Isaiah 40:26 lift up your eyes on high and see who created these?
3. Yasna 44.4:1-3, who fixed the earth below and kept the sky above from falling?; Isaiah 40-12, who marked the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in measure?
4. Yasna 44.5:1-3, what craftsman made light and darkness?; Isaiah 45:7, I form light and create darkness....
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Essentially immortality of the soul, judgement and rewards and punishments after death were not recognized by the preexilic Judeans...The concept of resurrection that was imbedded in parts of the early Hebrew scriptures as Exodus and Deuteronomy became vivid in writings of the postexilic prophets. 20 Daniel 12:2-13 refers to rising after death and receiving rewards. In Isaiah 26:19, the dead will rise again from the graves, the ground will give birth to the dead.
In the preexilic period, Messiah was only a title of honor granted to important people, and generally the holder of the title was regarded as a person close to Yahweh. During the postexilic era however, it became an especial title for the Lord's Messiah.
Fohrer 21 after a careful analysis concludes that all the sections relevant to the advent of Messiah have entered the holy book during the postexilic era, and IInd Isaiah is the prophet who in particular refers to the end of the world and coming of the Messiah. 22 It is generally accepted that the prophets of Israel after liberation from the Babylonian captivity, in order to generate hope and confidence among the demoralized Jews, introduced the Persian concepts of future hopes such as victory of good over evil, resurgence of Israel, resurrection, future life, heaven and hell and the Kingdom of God...
Another new development in the postexilic Judaism is belief in angels. Mills mentions that "the angelology of the oldest scriptures which was nearly as dim as their Sheol, became occupied with such figures as Michael and Gabriel 27 while the number seven attached to them is as conspicuous as is significant". 28 The seven postexilic angels (Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Israfil, Israel, Uhiel and Uriel) are vividly reminiscent of the seven Amesha Spenta of the later Avesta.
Another striking finding is "the person of devil as Satan ceased to remain a general term and became a proper names" 29 and demonology began to develop. The struggle between the forces of good and evil, or light and darkness as reflected in the scrolls of Dead Sea reflects the Persian influence.
Until 1947 information about the three Jewish sects, Essenes, Pharisees, and Sadducees were sketchy. Jewish historians as Philo 30 and Josephus 31 had reported about their customs and traditions, but even those reports at times were contradictory...The discovery of Khirbet Qumran scrolls in the caves of Dead Sea in 1947, shed light on the Essenes' tenets and practices. A French author, named Dupont Sommer, after reviewing the text of the scrolls, found many evidences of Zoroastrian influence. The common beliefs of the Essenes and Zoroastrians have been analyzed by different authors and reported as: 35
[The list here is too long so I only bring about some of them]
One of the texts is conspicuously close to the teachings of Zarathushtra: "God created man to rule the world and granted him two spirits of evil and righteousness that are with him to the moment of judgement. From the fountain of light the righteous generation, and from the source of darkness the malicious and wicked men will come to existence. The ruler of the light is in control of the realm of righteous sons who proceed in the illumined path, and the other Kingdom is governed by the angel of darkness, where the sons of evil tread the dim path. All men originate from these two spirits and tread their paths. But God in His wisdom has determined the day when the followers of untruth are destroyed and righteousness prevails in the world".
The Essenes believed in freedom of choice as Zoroastrians did, and they professed everyone should choose his path freely. This concept reflects the Zoroastrian influence, as in the original Judaism, it was Yahweh who would choose his people and grant them the blessing of being the chosen.
Contrary to the original Judaism, the scrolls do not superscribe vengeance, instead they emphasize love, good deeds and justice. The Essenes believed in three principles of love of beneficence, love of mankind and love of justice.
The Judeans did not believe in the immortality of soul and the concepts of eschatology generally were not accepted by them even after Christianity. But the Essenes believed in the immortality of body and soul and they regarded the body as the prison house where the soul was confined temporarily, and finally when departed would ascend high. The sect of Qumran also held as an opinion that the souls of righteous will have eternal life, likewise in the new Zoroastrianism Fravashi (the Divine essence) of all men belonged to God and after death returned to the Source.
[ST: So how did this concept come into Christiantiy if not from Mithraism?]
Conclusion
During the five centuries contact, interaction between the two traditions took place. The Jews under the Persian influence developed eschatology, angelology and demonology, and renewed hope for future in terms of victory of good over evil, advent of Messiah and establishing the Kingdom of Yahweh. Many of these doctrinal concepts, later were transferred to Christianity and Islam and the latter actually expanded them. The details of the bridge of judgement (Sarat), punishments of hell, and rewards of heaven, resurrection and return of the souls to the Source in the Koran are the best witness to this fact. Other Islamic views that are derived from Zoroastrianism are the five times daily prayers, 38 emphasis on wisdom, rejection of images, God, being a kind and merciful entity who is "the light of the heavens and the earth", and conceivably emphasis on helping the poor. It is interesting that although the prophet of Islam in Koran, is titled "the last Prophet", the concept of future savior was not however, entirely forgotten among all the Islamic sects. The Iranian Shiites believe in the last Imam who will come when the world is in disarray, and who will establish justice, order and tranquility.
References:
Encyclopedia of Religion. Edited by Vergilius Ferm, 1981, p. 82.
Boyce M. Zoroastrians, Their Beliefs and Practices. Rautledge & Kegan Paul, 1979, p. 51 & 52.
Talmud is an encyclopedia of Jewish tradition supplementing the old Testament. Its origins go back to the close of the old Testament canon and it reached the final stages of development at the end of the fifth century.
Frye R., 'Qumran and Iran: The State of Studier of Christianity, Judaism and Other Greco-Roman Cults", p. 2, note 1. Leiden: E. J. Bribl 1968.
Tobit, an apocryphal book, probably composed originally in Aramaic 200 B.C. by pious Egyptian Jew. Tobit, who was exiled to Ninevah, it mentions Persian cities of Media, Ecbatana and Rhages.
Frye R., Qumran and Iran, p. 170.
Forsee G. L. Zoroaster and Isaiah, microfilm 1984, p. 30-31.
The book of Isaiah has been divided in three books. This division is not accepted by the traditional Jews.
The first Isaiah born in Jerusalem about 765 B.C. Isaiah I includes Chapter 1-39, however they may be the work of different eras. Chapters 1-12 represents a combination of number of collections. Isaiah 24-27 is a production of the later Persian and early Creek era. Chapters 36 to 39 have been taken directly from II Kings 18:13-20:18.
Duetero Isaiah (Isaiah II) coincides with Cyrus and suggests a date 550-538 B.C. It comprises Chapters 40-55 and are the work of an anonymous prophet-poet.
Trite Isaiah (Isaiah 111), chapters 56-66 have diverse origin. They were written by authors unknown, working between 525475 B.C. Some of the material may be derived from a period even later than these times (375-250 B.C.)
Smith M., IInd Isaiah and the Persians, Journal for American Oriental Studies, 83 (1963) p. 415-421.
Forsee G. L., Zoroaster and Isaiah, microfilm 1984, p. 43-44.
Pritchard, J. B.: The Ancient Near East, Volume 1, Princeton University Press, 1958, p. 28-30, The Sumerian Great Deluge.
Pritchard, J. B.: The Ancient Near East, Volume 1, Princeton University Press, 1958, p. 85-86, The events surrounding the birth of Sargon, the Akkadian King has a striking resemblance to the birth of Moses.
Forsee G. L., Zoroaster and Isaiah, microfilm 1984, p. 47-48.
Smith M., IInd Isaiah and the Persians, Journal for American Oriental Studies, 83 (1963)1,. 419.
Ashtiyani J., A Research in Judaism, p. 268 in Persian.
Bagli J., Zoroastrianism and Judaism, The Interaction Between Two Great Traditions, p. 17.
Zaehner R. C., The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism, Putnam and Sons, N.Y., 1961, p. 59.
Bamji Sh., The Influence of Zoroastrianish on Judaism and Christianity, microfilm, Dec. 3, 1989, p. 19.
Bamji Sh., The Influence of Zoroastrianish on Judaism and Christianity, microfilm, Dec. 3, 1989, p. 19.
Bagli J., Zoroastrian and Judaism, The Interaction Between Two Great Traditions, p. 17.
Fohrer G., Geschichte der Israel.
Ashtiyani J., A Research in Judaism, p. 366, in Persian.
Ashtiyani J., A Research in Judaism, p. 465-366, in Persian.
Encyclopedia of Religion, Edited by Vergilius Ferm, Philosophical Library, 1981, p. 485.
Encyclopedia of Religion, Edited by Vergilius Ferm, Philosophical Library, 1981, p. 485.
Von Gall A., quoted from A Research in Judaism, p. 367 in Persian by J. Ashtiyani.
Michael (Daniel 10:21), Gabriel (David 9:21).
Mills L. H.: Zarathushtra, Philo, The Achaemenids and Israel, A.M.S. Press, New York, 1977, p. 436.
Mills L. H.: Zarathushtra, Philo, The Achaemenids and Israel, A.M.S. Press, New York, 1977, p. 436.
Judaeus Philo (30 B.C.-50 A.D.), Jewish philosopher and historian, A native of Alexandria, Egypt.
Flavius Josephus (37-100 A.D.) A Jewish writer and historian.
Golb N., Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?, Simon and Schuster, 1995, p. 6.
Ashtiyani J., A Research in Judaism, p. 260, in Persian.
Golb N., Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?, Simon and Schuster, 1995, p. 5-6.
Ashtiyani J., A Research in Christianity, in Persian. p. 124-126.
Golb N., Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?, Simon and Schuster, 1995, p. 81.
Golb N., Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?. Simon and Schuster, 1995, p. 81.
Boyce M., The Contribution of Zoroastrianism To the Great World Religions, transcript of lecture, p.12. |
