Zarathustra: The Historical Zoroaster?

# EXISTENTIALIST MEETUP - Melbourne, Australia.

History of Religion: Our monthly online presentation.
The presentations are followed by questions, comments and discussion. All viewpoints welcome.

Early Religion: An Alternative History.
What do the historians and archaeologists think of the veracity of religious legends? Legends are an amalgamation of history and mythology. But how much of each?

"ZARATHUSTRA: THE HISTORICAL ZOROASTER?"

During the third millennium BC, the nomadic cattle-herders of the steppe-lands north of the Caspian and Aral Seas started moving south. We know them as the proto-Indo-Iranians. Their language was Indo-European.
In the 16th century BC their charioteers invaded India carrying with them their language, related to archaic Sanskrit, as well as their primeval religion. In India this religion eventually became the Vedic and, as such, part of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Meanwhile, back in Uzbekistan and Bactria, circa 1400 BC, Zarathustra (Zoroaster) reformed that primeval proto-Vedic religion.

Several centuries later, in 549 BC, Zoroastrianism was utilized as the religious ideology in the formation of the Persian Empire. Ten years later the Empire rescued the Jews from their Babylonian Captivity and sent a number of them back to Jerusalem to rebuild their Temple.
Over the next few centuries Zoroastrian concepts increasingly influenced Judaism, particularly Judaism's radical elements: the Pharisees, Essenes and Christians.

David Miller will present the topic and lead the discussion. He will be presenting his interpretation of the viewpoints of the late Mary Boyce, Professor of Iranian Studies, University of London.

YouTube: David Miller on Zarathustra/Zoroaster

YouTube documentary on Zoroastrianism

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Meeting ID: 889 9027 5501 - - Passcode: 355361
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