Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Similarities in Greek & Persian-Iranian Cuisine

There are many similarities in Greek and Persian-Iranian cuisine. Indeed, Greece shares more in common with Persian cuisine than it does with Western European cuisine. Basil, mint, cumin, cloves, saffron and coriander were traded along with olive along the ancient Aryan trade routes connecting Greece and Iran (Persia). Later Parthian and the Sassanian (100 BCE-600 CE) records mention walnut, pistachio, pomegranate, cucumber, broad bean, pea and sesame in their trade records.

Abyrtake
Historically, a sour sauce called abyrtake (also aburtake, abyrtake, aburtakh) demonstrates the Persian influence on Greek cuisine during the fourth century BCE. Polyaenus states that abyrtake was prepared for the Persian king's table and playwright Theopompus (born c. 380 BCE) in Theseus writes, "He will reach the land of the Medes, where aburtake is made mostly of cress and leeks." Theopompus notes that abyrtake was the foreign ('barbarian' sic) fashion in Athens. Abyrtake is described by Photius as a luxury Medic (i.e. Persian) sauce (with a laxative effect) made from sour ingredients: salted capers, cress, garlic, cardamom, mustard, raisins, pomegranate seeds, leeks and even vinegar. (cf. Food in the Ancient World from A to Z by Andrew Dalby)

Persian Dolma and Greek Dolmades

Dolma is a edible leaf wrap stuffed with a variety of mixtures that may or may not contain meat. Dolmas that contain meat are usually served hot, while vegetarian dolmas are often served cold as a finger food. The leaf used to wrap the stuffing is often a parboiled grape leaf, though cabbage leaves are also used. The stuffing may consist of ground meat, rice, chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, split peas, and seasoning. Fruit stuffings are distinctly Persian. While the name dolma is said to have Turkish roots, the concept of using grape leaves and a rice-based stuffing lends itself to Iranian roots. Dolmas are popular throughout what was once the Persian Empire.

Persian Chelo-Kebab and Greek Rice-Souvlaki
Chelo (or chelow) mean parboiled rice. Kebab (or kabob) is grilled meat. When the kebab is grilled on a skewer, a seekh, it is called seekh-kebab or shish-kebab. One of the more common chelo-kebab dishes use ground meat shish-kebabs. Variants are chicken and sea-food kebabs. Souvlaki is the Greek version of a shish-kebab. The traditional meat for both is lamb. When served with rice, souvlaki is similar in concept to the chelo-kebab. Both the rice and the souvlaki have more in common with the east and Persia-Iran than they have with Europe.

Kebabs or Souvlaki and Pita Bread
Kebabs and souvlaki are often eaten with naan and pita bread respectively rather than rice. Once again Greek pita bread has more in common with the east and naan than it has with Western Europe.

The examples of Iranian-Persian and Greek cuisine above serve to demonstrate historical cultural links and ties between the two nations. These links are more overt than are even linguistic comparisons. They also give us clues to the direction of cultural movement. Persian history, culture and customs preoccupied classical Greek writers in their investigations and form a sizeable portion of their texts. Greater Iran (which includes Persia) itself serves as an interesting bridge culture between India to the south-east and Greece to the west - and the cuisine of these areas gives us a fascinating insight into these links.

We should also not forget that ancient Greece was substantially Asian with 'Ionian' Greece occupying the west-coast of what is Turkey today and with Greek settlements extending along the northern Turkish coast up to the Caucasus mountain range - all areas that bordered either the extended Persian-Iranian empire or the core empire of Iran-shahr.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Hermippus Redivivus by J.H. Cohausen (1749) - Hermetic Philosophy & Zoroaster

Hermippus Redivivus: or, The Sage's Triumph Over Old Age and the Grave
by Joannes Henricus Cohausen (1749).

Pages 198 onwards:
"This story appeared to me what I think it muse appear to every one, equally singular and strange, and the more so, as it was told me by a Mohammedan, who I have all the reason in the world to believe never set one foot in France. As to the rest, I report this matter purely as an historian, and I have even passed by abundance of circumstances more remarkable than any I have related; the truth of which however, he affirmed. I shall content myself therefore, with saying, that we are apt to entertain too mean notions of the learning of the Mohammedans, for certainly this man was a person in all respects of extensive knowledge, and a superior genius (Voyage du Lucas, tom. I. p. 79 — 90).

"The surprise expressed by our author at the knowledge of these people in the hermetic science, appears to be ill founded; for there is no doubt, that it is as well, and as generally understood throughout the East, as it is here. Indeed, why should it not, since it is on all hands allowed, that the sages of Europe received it from the Arabs (our note: from the references below the writer probably means Persian), who are supposed to have had that, as they are said to have obtained all their other learning from the Greeks. It is commonly believed, that Geber*, who in the title of his works is called an Arabian king, was the first of their writers, and he is said to have lived about the beginning of the eighth century."

[Our note:* Geber is a latinized version of the name Jabir, and may refer to Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan (c. 721 - c. 815 CE), a native of Yus, Khorasan, Iran and a later resident of Kufa, Iraq. (Gabr, is also the name given to Zoroastrians by Muslims.) He was an alchemist and natural philosopher. Some of the followers of his work were Ismailis. Because much of his work was written in code that could only be understood by the initiated alchemists, the term gibberish is thought to refer to his work. In the Book of Stones (cf. Philosopher's Stone) he states, "The purpose is to baffle and lead into error everyone except those whom God loves and provides for." Deeply religious, Jabir emphasizes that alchemy is possible only by subjugating oneself completely to the Allah's will and becoming an instrument of Allah on Earth, since the manipulation of reality is possible only for Allah. His Book of Stones prescribes long and elaborate sequences of specific prayers that must be performed without error alone in the desert before one can even consider alchemical experimentation. Alchemy had a long relationship with Shi'ite mysticism; according to the first Imam, Ali ibn Abi Talib, "alchemy is the sister of prophecy". Sassanian medical schools apparently played a role in promoting so-called 'alchemy', actually chemistry, in Iran. Reference is made in his works to ancient Persians such as Jamasp and Ostanes/(H)ushtsna (and his dialogue with Aristotle) as well as Mani. We have noted elsewhere on our website, that some of the Zoroastrian refugees to India from Khorasan were chemists (so-called alchemists) The prefix 'al' in alchemy is a reference to the Arabic quest of turning silver to gold using a Philosopher's Stone. However, except for one obsure reference, Jabir/Geber was a chemist and there is no evidence of Zoroastrian chemists being alchemists, even though they are so named by Western authors.

Note continued: Hermes Trismegistus, meaning "thrice-great Hermes" is the mythic representation of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god, Thoth, is/are the guardians of alchemy and astrology, and also the guides for souls in the after-life. However, according to Wikipedia, many Christian writers, including Lactantius, Augustine, Giordano Bruno, Marsilio Ficino, Campanella and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola considered Hermes Trismegistus to be a wise pagan prophet who foresaw the coming of Christianity. They believed in a prisca theologia, the doctrine that a single, true theology exists, which threads through all religions, and which was given by God to man in antiquity and passed through a series of prophets, which included Zoroaster and Plato. In order to demonstrate the verity of the prisca theologia Christians appropriated the Hermetic teachings for their own purposes. By this account Hermes Trismegistus was either, according to the fathers of the Christian church, a contemporary of Moses or the third in a line of men named Hermes, i.e. Enoch, Noah and the Egyptian priest king who is known to us as Hermes Trismegistus, or "thrice great" on account of being the greatest priest, philosopher and king. Hence the appellation "Trismegistus" meaning "Thrice Great" is derived from statements in the The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, that he knows the three parts of the wisdom of the whole universe. The three parts of the wisdom are alchemy, astrology, and theurgy (ritual magic). The pymander (a chapter in the Corpus Hermeticum), from which Marsilio Ficino formed his opinion, states that "they called him Trismegistus because he was the greatest philosopher, greatest priest and greatest king". The word hermetic (not to be confused with hermitic) is derived from Hermes.

The original Hermes may have referred to Zoroaster or the arch magus Ostanes. There is a book called the Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster occasionally attributed to Hermes and it is often difficult to separate references to the three. Also see Thrice-Greatest Hermes by Mead.]

"But I have met with another account of this, which is, that Geber was a native of the province of Khorasan, and that instead of receiving his knowledge in this science from the Greeks, he had it from the ancient Persees, whose priests and learned men, derived it from the writings of their law-giver Zerdusht, who was the Zoroaster of the Greeks, and was the father and founder of the Magi, those ancient sages, who are allowed by all the writers of antiquity, to have been thoroughly versed in all the occult sciences. I mention this, because it seems to give an easier and better account, than any we have yet received of the means by which the hermetic science became diffused all over the East, where, without doubt, there have been, and are many professors of it, even in the remotest parts of the Indies, as well as amongst the Tartars, (no unletter'd nation) subjects to the grand Lama, who, by the way, pretends to be immortal*.

[Footnote: *"This notion of our author, shews plainly, that he had made the history of philosophy very much his study, since notwithstanding the novelty of his opinion in this respect, it has very much the appearance of truth. The very learned Herbeht, to whom we are so much indebted for his oriental library, tells us, that Geber, who is stiled Giabar by all the Eastern nations, was thought to be a native of Haran, from whence himself, or his son, was surnamed al Harrani; that his father's name was Senan, and that he was supposed to receive his knowledge from the Zabians (Our note: the author may mean Sabians, a people of Sassanian southern Mesopotamia with stated origins in Parthia, i.e. Khorasan and followers of Mani. Also see Elcesaites), who were a sect so early as in the time of Abraham. But if we reflect upon the time in which he flourished, and the authorities there are to prove him a native of Khorasan, we shall see good reason to prefer our author's sentiment, or rather, we shall discern its consistency with the former opinion; for in the East, many conceived Zerdusht and Abraham to be the same person; but this is certainly an error, arising from hence, that Zerdusht, in his own books, professes to teach the religion of Abraham; so that upon the whole, Giabar having his philosophy from the disciples of Zerdusht, may probably make honourable mention of Abraham in some of those many treatises of his that are common in the East, though not known to us, and from thence the opinion might arise of his being the countryman of Abraham and of the sect of the Zabians, whom almost all the Eastern writers confound with the Magi.]

"In China again, the hermetic science has flourished many ages, and if we will believe the Jesuit Martinis was known and practised two thousand years before the Christian era. However, allowing this to be a mistake, and that the Jesuits have either been imposed upon themselves, or willing to impose upon others in reporting such a story as this, yet there are two things absolutely certain: the first, that they are great pretenders to this science in all parts of China; the second, that they had these notions long before they had any correspondence with the Europeans. Now, I think it is very hard to conceive, that they should derive this sort of knowledge from the Arabians, or from the Greeks,but that, upon the dispersion of the Persees.

[Footnote: *"It is a little surprising at first fight, to find men of great learning, make use of the same argument to prove sentiments directly opposite to each other. A very learned writer in France, infers from the prevalence of chemistry in China, that the inhabitants of that empire must have received most of their learning later than is generally imagined, because we know of no books of chemistry in Europe earlier than the third century. Our author, on the contrary, thinks the prevalence of chemistry among the Chinese, is a proof of the antiquity of their knowledge, and from thence attempts to account for it. As to the matter of fact, they agree, and indeed, there is nothing more indisputable than that the hermetic philosophy prevails more in China, and in the Indies, than even in Germany itself, where a man is hardly thought learned who has not a tincture of this science.]

"This is a matter which I think has not been hitherto considered, or explained, and therefore, I have taken the liberty to commit these remarks to writing, in hopes of giving those who are better acquainted with this subject than I pretend to be, an opportunity of setting the grounds of them in a clearer light, either by refuting what I have advanced, and shewing how this kind of learning came otherwise into China, or by pursuing this enquiry, and supporting it by better authorities than I have met with, tho' some I could mention, if I did not apprehend it would lead me too far out of my way.

"But however, I shall very readily allow, that whatever knowledge the lurks at present have of the hermetic science, they must have had it, as they had all the rest of their learning, from the Arabs; and indeed it is very certain that as the former translated into their own language, the best authors they could meet with in the libraries of all the countries which they had conquered, so the Turks, since they began to affect learning, more especially since the reign of Mahomet II, have translated the best books out of the Arabick, upon this, as well as all other sciences into Turkish, and amongst them not a few relating to this science. Yet it ought to be known, that though the hermetic philosophy was in great credit among the Arabians, as well as very much improved by them; this did not hinder some of the most learned men amongst them, from treating all notions Of of that kind both with resentment and contempt; It was the Advice of Abou Jouseph upon his death bed to his children, apply yourselves to every kind "of learning to which you have an inclination, for your time cannot be better employed, since every sort of science is in some part of life, or other of use, except these three: Astrology, Alchemy, and Controversy. Astrology serves only to increase the miseries of life by adding innumerable false fears to that multitude of apprehensions, which are but too well grounded, in the sense, that reason affords of the vicissitudes of fortune. Alchemy leads to beggary by promising riches, we flatter ourselves that we are going to a palace, and in reality, we are in the high way to an hospital. Industry is the philosopher's stone, provided it be accompanied with the fear of God. Controversy is the warfare of idle men, we doubt and dispute till we believe nothing, and by a foolish eagerness to search out the sublimest truths of religion, we lose religion itself, and travel all our lives without ever coming to our journey's end. Beware then of these false sciences my children, and study what else you will." It is a custom of the grand signiors never to build a mosque, or erect a tomb, without adding a college in the same place, in which a certain number of dervishes, or monks are maintained, and these frequently study the most curious parts of learning, and the occult sciences more especially, so that our author had no ground for his surprise, that these sciences should be understood amongst the Mohammedans, but he might very well be amazed at their having any knowledge of the progress of those sciences in Europe, or of the names of their professors, since this was of all others the thing, he had the least reason to expect; for in no sort of learning are the Turks so ignorant, as in that which concerns the history of the western nations; the reason of which is, that their knowledge like that of the Arabians, is entirely the fruit of their conquests, and consequently, the limits are the same. But with respect to speculative science, the principles of which they have in their own language; their ecclesiasticks, and more especially their dervishes, carry it to a great height, and there are amongst them as great metaphysicians, as any of the disciples of Malbranche, Leibnitz, or Wollf, whatever vulgar notions may teach to the contrary."

See Google Books for the complete text

The Arabic Hermes: From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science by Kevin Thomas Van Bladel

Monday, April 25, 2011

Greek Perceptions of Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism & the Magi

[Also see the companion pages:
» Zoroastrian-Persian Influence on Greek Philosophy and Sciences
» Ostanes - Persian Sage
» Alcibiades, Plato & Some Amazing Insights. Part 1 The Historical Alcibiades
» Alcibiades, Plato & Some Amazing Insights. Part 2 Selections from Plato]

1. Classical Hellenic Literature - A Primary Source of Achaemenian Period Persian History
The Burning of Persepolis by Alexander and his troops c330 BCE (artist unknown)
Classical Hellenic texts have become the primary source of information on Achaemenian Period Persian and Zoroastrian history.

As a result of the destruction of Persian texts by Alexander of Macedonia around 330 BCE (also see Destruction of the Avesta and Burning of Persepolis by Diodorus Siculus), not only did the Persians loose records of their history during the Achaemenian era (c. 700-330 BCE), but they lost records of the preceding era as well: the history of the Medes (c. 800-550 BCE) and the intervening history between the end of Kayanian rule based in Central Asia - the northeast of the core Iranian empire, Iranshahr - and the beginning of Median rule based in the northwest of the Iranian empire.

After Macedonian-Hellenic rule of the previous Persian Empire of the Achaemenians came to an end, the Persians attempted to reconstruct their history. But a large gap in the information still remained. By the time the poet Ferdowsi composed his epic, the Shahnameh, about a thousand years ago, other than a vague understanding of Achaemenian King Darius the Great, Ferdowsi's sources had forgotten about the greatest of Achaemenian kings, Cyrus the Great. For information about Cyrus, we have to rely on Greek sources. For instance, one of these sources is the classical Greek author Xenophon's (c. 430-354 BCE) Cyropaedia. The Cyropaedia demonstrates the dichotomy of how the Greeks viewed the Persian. On the one hand, an almost palpable hatred accompanied by an appropriation of everything the Greeks had borrowed from the Persians, and on the other hand, an admiration bordering on reverence.

As an example of the latter, Xenophon in his Cyropaedia elevates Achaemenian Persian King Cyrus to one of the greatest human beings who had every lived. Many classical Hellenic (Greek) authors and philosophers so preoccupied themselves with Persian culture that they journeyed, studied, and as a result, adopted many Persian-Magian-Zoroastrian ideas and skills. But several Hellenic authors also unfortunately either claimed this adopted knowledge as their own or disparaged the Persians.

Nevertheless, when we peel away the layers of bias, hyperbole and old-fashioned fantasy, the Hellenic authors do begrudgingly acknowledge that Zoroaster was an original philosopher and wise - and one from whom the Greek's learnt much. It is not too difficult to see through the distortions and tease out the foundational facts, if only because the Hellenic authors did a good job in criticizing and contradicting one another [e.g. Colotes of Lampsacus (c. 320-260 BCE), a notable Greek critic, accused Plato of plagiarizing Zoroaster when Plato substituted Er's name for that of Zoroaster in his Republic's concluding story].

The earliest extant Classical Greek reference to the religion of the Persians is Herodotus c.430 BCE (see our page on Herodotus and the Customs of the Persians). The latest is Agathias (c. 530-582/94 CE) in Histories 2.23-5. The period they span is close to a thousand years.
School Of Athens by Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483-1520 CE) Painted 1509-10. Fresco in Stanza della Signatura, Vatican Palace, Rome
Key to Philosophers & Thinkers
1-Plato, 2-Aristotle, 3-Socrates, 4-Xenophon, 5-Æschines, 6-Alcibiades, 7-Zeno, 8-Epicurus, 9-Federico Gonzaga, 10-Averroes, 11-Pyhthagoras, 12-Francesco Maria Della rovere, 13-Heraclietus, 14-Diogenes, 15-Archimedes, 16 Zoroaster, 17-Ptolemy, 18 Raphael’s self-portrait.
Ptolemy viewed from the back holding an earth sphere. He is facing Zoroaster who holds a celestial sphere. Western Astrology is based on Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos. It is significant that the two are part of a conversation and that Zoroaster holds the celestial sphere.

2. Zoroaster
a. Founder of the Religion of the Persians
[Also see Zoroaster/Zarathushtra at Zortoastrian Heritage.]
In classical Hellenic (otherwise Greek) texts, authors such as Plutarch (c. 46 – 120 CE) in Isis and Osiris 46-7, Diogenes Laertius (3rd cent. CE) in Philosophers 1.6-9 and Agathias (c. 530-582/94 CE) in Histories 2.23-5 understand Zoroaster (Zarathushtra / Zarathustra) to be the prophet and founder of the religion of the Persians.

Herodotus (c.430 BCE) does not mention Zoroaster by name when he speaks of the religion of the Persians. We are not surprised. The religion that Zoroaster established was never known to the Persians by a name analogous to Zoroastrianism. Though Zoroastrians dearly respect Zoroaster / Zarathushtra as the founder of their religion, they hold that a religion based on a person is a cult. Zoroastrians call their religion Mazdayasni - the reverence or worship of God. It is the Greeks who in their quest for knowledge labelled or ascribed the religion as that of Zoroaster (thereby Zoroastrianism) or that of the Zoroastrian priests, the Magi (thereby Magism or Magianism).

The first direct classical Greek reference to Zoroaster and the Magi that we have located is in the dialogue Alcibiades I, a work attributed to Plato (429–347 BCE). In the dialogue, Zoroaster (Zoroastren) is called "the son of Oromasus/Oromazes" (cf. Hormozd from Ahura Mazda, God) and Zoroaster's religion is called "the magianism of Zoroaster... which is the worship of the Gods". The inference here is that Zoroaster is the founder of the doctrine of the Magi.

The other Platonic or neo-Platonic references to Zoroaster are in Alcibiades or Alkibiades Protos (121E-122A), Republic X (p. 600B) and Anonymmi Vita Platonis.

According to Hermodorus, one of Plato's disciples who lived in the 4th century BCE, Zoroaster was a Persian and the first Magian [it is important to note that the Greeks consider Zoroaster the founder of the Persian religion and the first Magus, for when they speak of Persian or Magian customs we can understand that to mean Zoroastrian customs.

Albert de Jong in Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin Literature states, "There is no trace of a plurality among the Iranians. On the contrary, in the (Greek and Latin) Classical texts, only one religion is recognized: the religion of the Persians. This religion is often connected with the name Zoroaster, who enjoyed a wide reputation in the ancient world as the founder of the order of the Magi, and by extension as the founder of the wisdom and religion of the Persians."

The oldest cited reference is that of Xanthus of Lydia (mid 5th Cent. BCE) as cited by Nicolaos (Nikolaos) of Damascus (1st cent. BCE) in Fragment 19. (cf. A.V.W. Jackson, Zoroaster, The Prophet of Ancient Iran.)

According to Hermippus, a third century BCE philosopher, Zoroaster was a Bactrian whose teacher was a man named Agonakes (also Agonaces / Azonaces). [According to Martin Haug, Agonakes/Agonaces was a (Magian) teacher of Hermippus and not Zoroaster. Haug goes on to say that Agonakes was likely a Parsi (Persian) priest since he would have had to have knowledge of the Zoroastrian scriptures.]

First century BCE Roman historian Trogus Pompeius in his Historiae Philippicae (and as quoted by Justinus), notes, "Zoroaster, king of the Bactrians, who is said to have been the first that invented magian (magic?) arts, and to have investigated, with great attention, the origin of the world and the motions of the stars." Trogus also states that Zoroaster was killed by Ninus, a king of the Assyrians (c. 2200 BCE), the eponymous founder of Nineveh, capital of Assyria, and the first to engage in empire-building beyond traditional borders. Ninus was succeeded by his wife Semiramis.

Ctesias, a 5th century BCE Greek historian who preceded Trogus has a different account of the Assyrian war with Bactria. [Ctesias was a Greek historian, author of Indica and a physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon, whom he accompanied in 401 BCE on his expedition against his brother Cyrus the Younger. Indica is an account of India through a Persian perspective.] Ctesias states that Ninus, having conquered all neighboring Asian countries apart from India and Bactria, proceeded to make war on the Bactrian king Oxyartes (Avestan Ukhshyatereta?), employing an army of nearly two million soldiers. During the siege of of the city of Bactria, he met Semiramis, the wife of one of his officers, Onnes, whom he took from her husband and married. Armenian tradition portrays Semiramis as a homewrecker and a harlot. In the Armenian version of Eusebius, Zoroaster is seen as leading a rebellion against Semiramis who succeeded her husband Ninus.

The Ninus-Semiramis piece in the accounts above does not correspond with Zoroastrian tradition which states that Zoroaster was killed by invading Turanians and not Assyrians (conflict with the Assyrians lead by Zahhak occurred with legendary King Jamshid of ancient Iran). However, of particular interest is the Hellenic confirmation of Zoroaster's domicile and ministry: Bactria in the north-east of Iran-shahr, the classical heartland of the Iranian-Aryan empire. Ancient Bactria was a large kingdom and the capital of not just the kingdom of Bactria, but the Iranian-Aryan empire as well. The Bactrian kingdom would have included Central Asia and what we know of today as the five countries whose names end with -stan, the Persian word for place or country.

Quoting the authority of Ctesias, Diodorus Siculus (1st cent. BCE) in his Library of History 1.94.2 written in the reign of Augustus [also see Commentary on Diodorus Siculus], uses the name Zathraustes, a name closer to the original than the more commonly used Greek version Zoroastres. In his account, Diodorus states that Zarathushtra/Zoroaster was an Arian/Aryan, that is, a native of east Iran [here we have confirmation that Zoroaster was eastern Iranian (Bactrian) and Aryan].

Extracts from Diodorus Siculus 1.94: "We must speak also of the lawgivers who have arisen in Egypt and who instituted customs unusual and strange. After the establishment of settled life in Egypt in early times, which took place, according to the mythical account, in the period of the gods and heroes... ." "...among several other peoples tradition says that this kind of a device was used and was the cause of much good to such as believed it. Thus it is recorded that among the Aryans Zathraustes claimed that the Good Spirit gave him his laws."

Plutarch (c. 46 – 120 CE) speaks of Zoroaster's communion with God and compares him with Lycurgus and Numa. Plutarch, drawing partly on Theopompus, speaks of Zoroaster's religion in his Isis and Osiris (cc. 46 and 47).

Dio Chrysostom (see below), Plutarch's contemporary, declares that neither Homer nor Hesiod sang of the chariot and horses of Zeus so worthily as Zoroaster.

Agathias (c. 530-582/94 CE) in Histories 2.23-5 states, "But the Persians of today... have adopted new ways... seduced by the teachings of Zoroaster the son of Horomasdes. When this Zoroaster or Zarades... first flourished and made his laws is impossible to discover with certainty. The Persians of today [i.e. 6th century CE - during the latter half of the last Zoroastrian empire, the Sassanian / Sasanian] say that he was born in the time of Hystaspes, without further qualification, so that it is... impossible to tell whether this Hystaspes was the father of Darius or someone else... . [Zoroaster] was their teacher and guide in the rites of the magi; he replaced their original worship by complex and elaborate doctrines."

The other references in classical Hellenic literature to the religion of Zoroaster, i.e. the religion of the magi or the Persians, for Zoroaster is not mentioned by name, can be found in Herodotus' Histories 1.131-2 and Strabo's Geography 15.3.13-15.

b. Passion for Wisdom, Justice, Honesty & Truthfulness
Perceptions post 0 CE & and reconstruction of Zoroastrian history & beliefs after the destruction of Persian texts by Alexander: According to Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (before163-after229 CE) in Oration 36.40 f., "For the Persians say that Zoroaster, because of a passion for wisdom and justice, deserted his fellows and dwelt by himself on a certain mountain; and they say that thereupon the mountain caught fire, a mighty flame descending from the sky above, and that it burned unceasingly. So then the king and the most distinguished of his Persians drew near for the purpose of praying to God; and Zoroaster came forth from the fire unscathed, and, showing himself gracious towards them, bade them to be of good cheer and to worship in recognition of God having come to that place. And thereafter, so they say, Zoroaster has associated, not with them all, but only with such as are best endowed with regard to truth, and are best able to understand God, men whom the Persians have named Magi, that is to say, people who know how to cultivate divine power, and not like the Greeks, who in their ignorance use the term to denote wizards." (Adapted from a translation by H. Lamar Crosby).

c. Zoroaster as a Philosopher
Synesius of Cyrene (4th cent.CE) Considered Ammon, Zoroaster and Hermes as among the greatest philosophers.

[See also our pages:
» Zoroaster / Zarathushtra / Zarathustra
» Zoroastrian-Persian Influence on Greek Philosophy and Sciences]

3. Age in Which Zoroaster / Zarathushtra Lived
Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) quotes Eudoxus of Cnidus (ca. 365 BCE) and Aristotle (ca. 350 BCE) as placing Zoroaster 6000 years before the death of Plato (347 BCE) or 6365 BCE.

Pliny also quotes Hermippus (ca. 250 BCE) as placing Zoroaster 5000 years before the Trojan war (ca. 1200 BCE) or around 6200 BCE.

Diogenes Laertius (230 CE) states that according to Xanthus of Lydia (ca. 450 BCE), Zoroaster lived 6000 years before the Persian king Xerxes invaded Greece (ca. 480 BCE) or about 6480 BCE.

Diogenes also states that according to Hermodorus (ca. 400 BCE), a follower of Plato, Zoroaster lived 5000 years before the Trojan war (ca. 1200 BCE) i.e. 6200 BCE.

Plutarch (ca. 46-120 CE) also places Zoroaster 5000 years before the Trojan war (ca. 1200 BCE), i.e. 6200 BCE.

While he is not a classical Greek author, Lactantius (ca. 240-320 CE), a Latin-speaking native of North Africa, states that ancient King Vishtasp (Hystaspes) reigned long before the founding of Rome (ca. 750 BCE?). Zoroaster lived during King Vishtasp's reign.

4. Founder of Mithraism & Cosmology
According to Porphyry, a third-century CE Neoplatonist, Zoroaster instituted Mithras-worship in the archetypal mithraeum: "... Zoroaster was the first to dedicate a natural cave in honor of Mithras, the creator and father of all; it was located in the mountains near Persia and had flowers and springs. This cave bore for him the image of the cosmos which Mithras had created and the things which the cave contained, by their proportionate arrangement, provided him with symbols of the elements and climates of the cosmos. After Zoroaster others adopted the custom of performing their rites of initiation in caves and grottoes which were either natural or artificial." (De antro nympharum 6, trans. Arethusa edition).

The notion of Zoroaster instituting Mithraism is fanciful. However, what may be significant here is a confirmation of the Persian, i.e. Iranian origins of European Mihtraism and the consequent influence of Persian theology on Europeans and ultimately Christianity (cf. Birth of Christ on December 25, the festival of lights etc.). However, many aspects of European Mithraism are antithetical to Mithra in Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta and European Mithraism appears to a syncretic belief system of Iranian (Zoroastrian and pre-Zoroastrian), Greek, Roman and other beliefs.

5. Founder of Magic & Astrology, Magic & Alchemy
Some Hellenic authors make Zoroaster the inventor of 'magic' (Greek magikos) and astrology albeit 'non-plus-ultra', the very best. According to Roger Beck in Zoroaster, as Perceived by the Greeks at Iranica (2003), in many of their constructs, the Hellenic authors were "flagrantly dishonest".

However, Diogenes Laertius (3 cent. CE?) reports on the religion of the magi in very favorable terms and acquits the magi of the charge of sinister magic. Dio Chrysostomus in Oration 36.41 says Greeks call Magi magicians out of ignorance.

Dr. Dhalla in his book Zoroastrian Theology cites Sotion (c. 200-170 BCE) on the authority of Aristotle as saying that sorcery was unknown amongst the Magi and further, that the Magi abhorred divination by magic (Frag. 5 FHG 2.90; Diogenes Laertius, Proaem 9). The Avesta's (Zoroastrian scriptures) Book of Vendidad at 1.14-15 condemns sorcery as in the domain of the evil spirit Ahriman, especially sorcery that deludes peoples and causes harm.

The combination of traits the Greek authors labelled as 'magic' (a term that appears to have been derived from the remarkable skills and abilities of the Zoroastrian priests, the magi) while often used in a disparaging or derogatory sense, also offer grudging acknowledgement of the superior knowledge and skills possessed by the magi, so much so that the efficacy of the magi's work (notably as doctors and healers) appeared to them as 'magic'.

We can understand that the skills (especially their medical skills and knowledge of the natural sciences) of the Zoroastrian priests, the magi (through whom these authors understood Zoroastrianism), were of such a high level so as to appear like 'magic' for the more ignorant. Many basic modern science feats would appear as super-magic to them.

6. Ostanes or Osthanes [Old Iranian (H)ushtana]
1st century author, Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE), names Zoroaster as the inventor of magic (in Natural History 30.2.3). Pliny names a Persian senior magus, Ostanes as the person who developed the magicis (magical) arts, invented 'alchemy' and first committed the knowledge including Zoroaster's original verbal teachings (mostly in the form of verse) to writing. According to Pliny, it is Ostanes who first introduced magicis to the Greeks. Pliny make Ostanes a contemporary of Achaemenian King Xerxes and who accompanied Xerxes (519-465 BCE) on his invasion of Greece. Astrology was an adjunct to the knowledge of the natural sciences. The credibility of Pliny's account suffers greatly when he makes Ostanes a contemporary of Alexander (356-323 BCE) as well.

While the art of the magi were seen as being magicis i.e. magical, Pliny's harangue calling it the "most fraudulent of the arts," greatly influenced Western perceptions of the magi. While to Pliny magicis was both the quality magical and the membership magian, for the Roman the two associations became one and the same.

In 30.2.3, Pliny states that while it was universally known that magic began with Zoroaster. In 30.2.8, Pliny notes that Ostanes was the first extant writer of the practice. According to Beck, Pliny also notes that Ostanes's introduction of the "monstrous craft" to the Greeks gave those people not only a "lust" (aviditatem) for magic, but a downright "madness" (rabiem) for it. In 30.2.8-10, Pliny goes on to state that many Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato travelled east to study the philosophy and craft of the magi and then returned to Greece to teach what they had learned from the Persian magi. Pliny notes that Ostanes was the teacher of Democritus (c. 460–c. 370 BCE), an influential pre-Socratic philosopher who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos. Many consider Democritus to be the father of modern science.

[Also see our page: Ostanes - Persian Sage]

7. The Magi & Zoroaster
The 4th century CE, Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus made the following observations in his Rerum gestarum libri 23.6.31-36:

"31. They have also as many cities as Media, and villages as strongly built as towns in other countries, inhabited by large bodies of citizens. In short, it is the richest residence of the kings.

32. In these districts the lands of the Magi are fertile; and it may be as well to give a short account of that sect and their studies, since we have occasion to mention their name. Plato (at Ax. 371D; Isoc. II.28, 227A), that most learned deliverer of wise opinions, teaches us that Magias is by a mystic name Machagistia (Mazdayasni? If so, one of the few Western references to this name which is the Zoroastrian name for their religion and means 'Worship of God'), that is to say, the purest worship of divine beings; of which knowledge in olden times the Bactrian Zoroaster derived much from the secret rites of the Chaldaeans; and after him Hystaspes, a very wise monarch, the father of Darius.

33. When Zoroaster had boldly made his way into the unknown regions of Upper India, he came to a certain woody retreat, of which with its tranquil silence the Brahmans, men of sublime genius, were the possessors. From their teaching he learnt the principles of the motion of the world and of the stars, and the pure rites of sacrifice, as far as he could; and of what he learnt he infused some portion into the minds of the Magi, which they have handed down by tradition to later ages, each instructing his own children, and adding to it their own system of divination (an interesting reference and we can only wonder about Marcellinus' source).

34. From his time, though many ages to the present era, a number of priests of one and the same clan has arisen, dedicated to the worship of the gods. And they say, if it can be believed, that they even keep alive in everlasting fires a flame which descended from heaven among them; a small portion of which, as a favourable omen, used to be borne before the kings of Asia.

35. Of this class the number among the ancients was small, and the Persian sovereigns employed their ministry in the solemn performance of divine sacrifices, and it was profanation to approach the altars, or to touch a victim before a Magus with solemn prayers had poured over it a preliminary libation. But becoming gradually more numerous they arrived at the dignity and reputation of a substantial clan; inhabiting towns protected by no fortifications, allowed to live by their own laws, and honoured from the regard borne to their religion.

36. It was of this clan of Magi that the ancient volumes relate that after the death of Cambyses, seven men seized on the kingdom of Persia (cf. Smerdis), who were put down by Darius, after he obtained the kingdom through the neighing of his horse.

37. In this district a medical oil is prepared with which if an arrow be smeared, and it be shot gently from a loose bow (for it is extinguished in a rapid flight), wherever it sticks it burns steadily, and if any one attempts to quench it with water it only burns more fiercely, nor can it be put out by any means except by throwing dust on it.

38. It is made in this manner. Those skilful in such arts mix common oil with a certain herb, keep it a long time, and when the mixture is completed they thicken it with a material derived from some natural source, like a thicker oil. The material being a liquor produced in Persia, and called, as I have already said, naphtha in their native language."

8. The Extent of the Zoroastrian-Magian-Persian Corpus of Knowledge
According to Martin Haug, Hermippus, the philosopher of Smyrna (ca. 250 BCE), "is reported by Pliny (Historia Naturalis 30.2.4) to have made very laborious investigations in to all Zoroastrian texts, which were said to comprise two million verses, and to have stated the contents of each book separately." Pliny credits Callimachus' pupil Hermippus with having "written on this art in the most exact fashion, while also making accessible, by the contents-lists prefaced to his volumes, the two million verses composed by Zoroaster" (qui de tota ea arte diligentissime scripsit, et viciens centum milia versuum a Zoroastre condita, indicibus quoque voluminum eius positis explanavit). Hermippus' work has been lost.

A copy of the corpus of Hermippus' work (or a portion of it) was said to reside in a library at in Egypt at Alexandria - which was at one point part of the Persian empire. That copy has also been lost to us.

2nd century CE Greek philosopher, Celsus stated that "Zoroaster and Pythagoras formulated their doctrines in books" which were conserved until his time, an observation affirmed by a medieval textual commentator of Alcibiades who stated that Zoroaster had left philosophical writings.

If Zoroaster lived before the advent of writing, then the writings credited to him were likely written by his followers including the magi. We take these various references to Zoroastrian texts to mean that Zoroastrian texts had been committed to writing at some stage and that these texts were extensive in both size and the breath of content.

The Net Result of Greek Perceptions
History as they say is written by the victors. Given that classical Greek authors and the horde of modern so-called researchers who are for the most part hopelessly biased against the Persians - as typified by the third-rate 2006 American movie "300" (based on a comic series of the same name written by Frank Miller, directed by Zack Snyder) - are the primary source of information about the ancient Persians, there is little objectivity in most Western perceptions about the Persians and thereby Iran (for a discussion on the use of these terms, see Iran & Persia, Are They the Same?). Some politicians and professors find it expedient to join that drum-beat. Few scholars give credence to the positive information and even the positive relations between ancient Greeks and Persians contained in the writings of at least some of the classical Greek writers. There are many legendary connections between the Persians and the Greeks as noted in our page on the subject. We also have a section that examines Greek-Persian Relations during the Achaemenian Era.

With regards to the Greek perceptions of Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism & the Magi, leaving aside the pejorative and negative value laden terms used by Pliny and a few others (modern authors can see through the nationalistic bias of the authors), what we gather from these references is that the Greeks credit Zoroaster and subsequent magi for 'inventing' many of the sciences including philosophy, medicine, chemistry, astronomy and the other natural sciences - including astronomy.

Reference
Albert de Jong in Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin Literature

Companion Pages
» Zoroastrian-Persian Influence on Greek Philosophy and Sciences
» Ostanes - Persian Sage
» Alcibiades, Plato & Some Amazing Insights. Part 1 The Historical Alcibiades
» Alcibiades, Plato & Some Amazing Insights. Part 2 Selections from Plato

Friday, April 22, 2011

Zoroastrian-Persian Influence on Greek Philosophy and Sciences

[Also see the companion pages:
» Greek Perceptions of Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism & the Magi
» Ostanes - Persian Sage
» Alcibiades, Plato & Some Amazing Insights. Part 1 The Historical Alcibiades
» Alcibiades, Plato & Some Amazing Insights. Part 2 Selections from Plato]

Introductory Comments
In reading the works of classical Hellenic (Greek) authors it appears that in some regards, the Greeks were almost obsessed with Persian culture. They journeyed, studied and practiced Persian-Magian-Zoroastrian philosophy and skills, but then unfortunately either claimed this knowledge as their own or disparaged the Persians.

According to Roger Beck in Zoroaster, as Perceived by the Greeks at Iranica (2003), in much of their writings, the Hellenic authors were "flagrantly dishonest". It is not too difficult to see through the distortions and tease out the foundational facts, if only because the Hellenic authors did a good job in criticizing and contradicting one another.

Nevertheless, when we peel away the layers of bias, hyperbole and old-fashioned fantasy, the Hellenic authors do begrudgingly acknowledge that Zoroaster was an original philosopher and wise - one from whom the Greek's learnt much. In all likelihood, the Greeks learnt about Zoroaster's teachings, philosophy and science through contemporaneous Zoroastrian priests, the Magi. Existing records speak of this transfer of information taking place between about 600 BCE and the reign of Alexander in the 300s BCE.

Some of the Persian information transferred to the Greeks was reputed to have been stored in the great library of Alexandria in Egypt. That library, founded by Ptolemy II Philapdephius, was said to have contained two million lines (that would mean 800 or so rolls) attributed to Zoroaster (most probably committed to writing via the Magi) by Hermippus, a Greek scholar working in Alexandria in about 200 BCE, and who is cited by Pliny in Natural History 30.2.4.

We see Persian influence on the Greeks not just in philosophy and the natural sciences, but in manifestations of culture as well. For instance, Greek food is in many ways more Persian than it is European (or at the least influenced by food from the Persian Empire including Asia Minor).

Zoroastrian Influence on Greek Philosophy and its Origins
Influence on Philosophy and the Sciences
Hermippus of Smyrna, who lived about 200 BCE and who wrote on "Zoroaster’s writings", believed in the Oriental / Magian / Zoroastrian origins of Greek thought (cf. David Livingstone in The Hidden History of Western Civilization p.149).

Synesius of Cyrene (4th cent.CE) considered Zoroaster as among the greatest philosophers.

Michael Stausberg in an article, Zoroaster as a Figure of Authority, cites an anonymous scholiast to the Platonic Alcibiades I as noting that Zoroaster who lived 6,000 years before Plato had left behind various writings showing that there were three kinds of philosophy, namely, physics, economics and politics.

According to Diogenes Laertius (3rd cent. CE) at 1.8 of Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Hermippus also published Peri Magon, On the Magi, a multi-volume work on the Magi who were viewed as Oriental wisdom-teachers. The Magi were Zoroastrian priests.

According to Eric Gerlach of Berkeley City College, In the Renaissance, the two greatest philosophers, Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, both Neo-Platonists, believed that there was one true philosophy which was passed from the Egyptian priests and Persian magi to Greek philosophers and Indian sages, and that this wisdom was incarnated on earth as Jesus.

Influence on the first Greek Thinkers - The Milesian School of Thales, Anaximander & Anaximenes
The first ancient Greek philosophers, Thales (c. 624 BC–546 BCE), Anaximander (c. 610–546 BCE) and Anaximenes (585 BC-528 BCE), were all from Miletus, and so they are known as the Milesian School. Pythagoras (see below) was Anaximander's student.

Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. It was situated near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria. By the middle of the 6th century BCE, Miletus had become the greatest and wealthiest of Greek cities. Nowadays, the ruin are found near the town of Balat in Aydin Province, Turkey. The Ionian city states such as Miletus were settled by the Greeks around 1000 BCE.

According to Eric Gerlach of Berkeley City College, "That the first (Greek) philosophers came from Miletus suggests Persia had a particularly powerful influence, which would be corroborated by Christianity (influenced by Persian Zoroastrianism) spreading through Syria and Ionia to the rest of Greece and Egypt centuries later. There was not much difference between Miletus and Athens other than Miletus having been under the Persian Empire in the centuries before its greatest thinkers arose." "Greece was not yet a political entity at the time, but shared a Homeric culture with other Greek city states such as Athens."

Professor Mary Boyce in her A History of Zoroastrianism: Volume II: Under the Achaemenians (Leiden, 1982) at page 150 gives an overview of the influence of Zoroastrianism on the philosophers of Ionia.

Influence on Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato
The greatly upset and nationalistic 1st century CE author, Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE), decries the great influence Zoroastrian philosophy and science had on the Greeks, saying that it gave them not only a "lust" (aviditatem) for the sciences ('magic' sic), but a downright "madness" (rabiem) for it. He further states that many of Hellenic philosophers, such as Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato traveled abroad to study it, and then returned to teach it (30.2.8-10).

Pliny singles out the Magus Ostanes or Osthanes' [Old Iranian (H)ushtana] as having committed to writing this "monstrous craft". According to Pliny, Ostanes was also the teacher of Democritus, an influential pre-Socratic philosopher who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos and is regarded as the father of science. Democritus was largely ignored by the Athenians, perhaps because he sympathized with the Persians (a medicizing Greek). The Persian Emperor Xerxes is reputed to have paid a personal visit to Democritus' home.

According to the Pythagorean tradition, the mathematician Pythagoras (c. 570-495 BCE) is said to have studied under Zoroaster in Babylonia [Porphyry (234-c 305 CE) Life of Pythagoras 12, Alexander Polyhistor (1st cent. BCE) in Clement of Alexandria's (c.150-215 CE) Stromata I.15, Diodorus of Eritrea, Aristoxenus (4th cent. BCE) cited by Hippolitus /Hippolytus of Rome (170-230 CE) VI32.2]. As we now know that Zoroaster (Zarathushtra / Zarathustra) lived long before Pythagoras' time (according to the Greeks themselves), the reference to Zoroaster here means Zoroastrians, the magi included, and not Zoroaster.

Aristotle / Antisthenes
David Livingstone in The Hidden History of Western Civilization p.147 informs us that "Magian (Zoroastrian) thought was also evidenced in Plato's most famous pupil, the teacher of Alexander, Aristotle. According to Diogenes Laertius, lists Aristotle as among the authorities* on the Magi (see below). In Book 1, Prologue, Section 8, "...in the first book of his dialogue On Philosophy, now lost, Aristotle declares that the "Magi are more ancient than the Egyptians." Diogenes credits Aristotle as being the author of a book Magicus (also attributed by Suda to a certain Antisthenes). According to Suda, this book explicitly states that Zoroaster is the originator of wisdom. While the works commonly attributed to Aristotle do not go on to speak at length of the Magi, some of Aristotle's philosophies such as those regarding dualism have magian overtones. It is unfortunate that Aristotle's own writings about the influence of Zoroastrianism are now known to us primarily through refernces, the original works now being lost.

On Nature
Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus Lycaeus / Diadochus (412–485 CE) attributed to Zoroaster (Zarathushtra/Zarathustra) a four-volume i.e. papyrus rolls, treatise On Nature (Peri physeos) dedicated to King Cyrus. Colotes of Lampsacus (c. 320-260 BCE), a notable Greek critic, accused Plato of plagiarizing Zoroaster, since the framework of On Nature's narrative reappears in Plato's Myth of Er in the concluding story of the Republic. The original work, On Nature (Peri physeos) mentioned by Proclus and Clement of Alexandria (see below) does not survive.

Clement of Alexandria, i.e. Titus Flavius Clemens (c.150-215 CE) and Proclus Lycaeus / Diadochus, the Neoplatonist philosopher (412–485 CE) quote from a work entitled On Nature, attributed to Zoroaster in which Zoroaster is equated with Plato's Er. Clement quotes the opening of On Nature as: "Zoroaster, then, writes: 'These things I wrote, I Zoroaster, the son of Armenius, a Pamphylian by birth: having died in battle, and been in Hades, I learned them of the gods.' This Zoroaster, Plato says, having been placed on the funeral pyre, rose again to life in twelve days. He alludes perchance to the resurrection, or perchance to the fact that the path for souls to ascension lies through the twelve signs of the zodiac; and he himself says, that the descending pathway to birth is the same. In the same way we are to understand the twelve labours of Hercules, after which the soul obtains release from this entire world."

[This author's note: There are several classical Greek works titled On Nature (Peri Physeos), authored by Thales of Miletus (c. 624–c. 546 BCE, Diogenes of Apollonia (400s BCE), and a poem by Parmenides of Elea (born 515 BCE). According to Martin J. Henn, the latter was said to have studied the teachings of Zoroaster and the magi, and then repudiated them.]

As an aside, we find it interesting to note that On Nature has the sun in the 'middle' position (in the solar system), while Plato's 4th century BCE version had the sun in second place above the moon.

Oracles of Zoroaster & Plato
Sapere Aude in a preface to William Westcott's The Chaldæan Oracles of Zoroaster states, that Berosus, a Babylonian, is said to be the first who introduced the writings concerning astronomy and philosophy among the Greeks, and it is certain that the tradition very largely influenced Greek thought. Aude further states that "Taylor considers that some of these mystical utterances are the sources whence the sublime conceptions of Plato were formed, and large commentaries were written upon them by Porphyry, Iamblichus, Proclus, Pletho and Psellus. That men of such great learning and sagacity should have thought so highly of these Oracles (of Zoroaster), is a fact which in itself should commend them to our attention."

Karl H. Dannenfeldt in his article The Pseudo-Zoroastrian Oracles in the Renaissance published in Studies in the Renaissance (Univ. of Chicago Press) states that "of special interest...is the close relationship between Plato and Zoroaster which existed in the minds of many ancient writers and even among some modern authorities (for a detailed discussion on this relationship, see Milton V. Anastos, Plaetho's Calendar and Liturgy, in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, No. 4, (Cambridge, Mass. 1948) 283-289; J. Bisdez, Eos ou Platon et l'Orient (Brussels, 1945).

For example, Zoroastrian dualism is said to be reflected in the struggle between good and evil world-souls found in Plato's Laws (10, 896E). "Plato's interest in Persia and Zoroastrianism is also evident in the First Alcibiades (121E-122A) [cf. Werner Jaeger in Aristotle, Fundamentals of the History of His Development (Oxford, 1934) pp.132-133; Paul Shorey in What Plato Said (Chicago, 1933), pp 147-654.].

Hermodorus, Eudoxus of Cnidus, and Herclides Ponticus, three disciples of Plato, were also known to be interested in Zoroastrianism [cf. Pliny's Natural Historia, 30, I, 3; Plutarch's Adversus Coloten, 14 (1115A); Bidez-Cumont in Mages, I, 12-15, 80-84, 113; II 2, 9. 25, 66, 68].

There is some suggestion that Plato's disciples or Academicians claimed that Plato was a 'reincarnation' of Zoroaster (Andre-Marie J. Festugiere in Platon et l'Orient, at Revue de Philologie 21 (1947) pp. 5-45) [Also see The Chaldaick Oracles of Zoroaster And his Followers With the Expositions of Pletho and Psellus]. The reference to reincarnation leads us to believe that Plato's disciple saw Plato as the inheritor of Zoroaster's teachings.

Plato's contemporary, Heraclides Ponticus wrote a text titled Zoroaster based on Zoroastrian philosophy in order to express his disagreement with Plato on natural philosophy.

Lydus (6th cent. CE) , in On the Months II.4, attributes the creation of the seven-day week to "the circle of Zoroaster and Hystaspes in Babylon," the basis being that there were then known seven planets.

According to Porphyry, a third-century CE Neoplatonist, Zoroaster instituted Mithras-worship in the archetypal mithraeum (De antro nympharum 6, trans. Arethusa edition). The notion of Zoroaster instituting Mithraism is fanciful. However, what may be significant here is a confirmation of the Persian, i.e. Iranian origins of European Mihtraism and the consequent influence of Persian theology on Europeans and ultimately Christianity (cf. Birth of Christ on December 25, the festival of lights etc.).

Other Authorities on the Magi & Their Influence
*The other authorities on the Magi listed by Diogenes are: Sotion, Succession of Philosophers, Diadoche, Book 23 (13); Hermodorus, the Platonist, Xanthus the Lydian; Dino in Histories, Book 5; Hermippus, On the Magi (see above); Eudoxus, Voyage Around the World; Theopompus, Philippica Book 8; Eudemus of Rhodes; Hecataeus [of Abdera] and Clearchus of Soloi's, On Education. [Also see Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin Literature by Albert de Jong.

Magic
We can understand that the skills (especially their medical skills and knowledge of the natural sciences) of the Zoroastrian-Persian priests, the magi (through whom these authors understood Zoroastrianism), were of such a high level so as to appear as 'magic' to Pliny and others ignorant in these skills. Many basic modern science feats would have appeared as super-magic to them. The pejorative and negative value laden terms used by Pliny and a few others aside (most modern authors can see through the nationalistic bias of the authors), what we gather from these references is that Zoroaster and subsequent magi 'invented' many of the sciences including philosophy, medicine, chemistry, astronomy and others - astrology as well; and that several Greeks including Plato and Pythagoras travelled to study the subjects and then returned to Greece to teach them.

Dio Chrysostomus in Oration 36.41 says Greeks call Magi magicians out of ignorance.

We see the accusations of the enraged Pliny and others more as a compliment and a confirmation that some of the most notable Greek philosophers travelled to Persia to learn from ('infected' by, in Pliny's words) the Persians and more specifically the inheritance of Zoroaster.

Transfer of Persian Sciences and Philosophy by Alexander
The list is below is further catalogued and referenced in The Arabic Hermes: from Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science by Kevin Thomas Van Bladel, pp 33-35.. Also see our pages on Ostanes - Persian Sage in Egypt for further citations regarding the preservation and recovery of some texts in Egypt and on the Destruction & Compilation of the Avesta.

Mahankard (c. 750 CE. Translated from Middle Persian to Arabic): Alexander destroyed the original ancient Persian books after having them translated into Greek. (Other accounts below state that only certain topics/books were translated and the others, e.g. religious, were

Hamza al-Isfahani, wr. 961 [Eight collated translations of the Middle Persian Khwaday Namag (Khoda Namah also used by Ferdowsi) to Arabic] & supported by the account of Musa ibn Isa al-Kisrawi: Alexander, jealous of the unparalled knowledge of the Persian nation, first translated what he needed from the Persian, then destroyed the rest, killing the Magi too. Although he destroyed their books on religion, he translated their books dealing with philosophy, astrology, medicine, and agriculture from Persian into Greek and Egyptian, which he sent to Alexandria (cf. our page on Ostanes - Persian Sage in Egypt). This account confirms that the Avesta and supporting texts were encyclopaedic in knowledge as further confirmed by the Dinkard's summary of the 21 books of the Avesta.

Din Vijirgard (Persian in Pahlavi script): Alexander destroyed the Nasks (Books of the Avesta) except for those concerning medicine and the stars, with he had translated into Roman (i.e. Greek. Post Parthian period, the Persians called Europe 'Rome' since the interface with the Iranian / Persian Empire was the Roman Empire.)

Reciprocal Influence
The influence was of course reciprocal, with the Persians absorbing much of Greek culture as well. This mutual influence of one upon the others appears to have stretched back to the beginnings of time as recorded in mythology. We explore some of these connections in our page on the Olympic Flame and elsewhere. The Persians on their part were readily open to cultural influences from all the cultures with whom they had contact in their trading missions and the establishment of trading colonies along the Silk Roads from Greece and Egypt in the west, Scythia in the north, China in the east and India in the south. The result was an international influence and outlook in the superstructure of Persian culture including language and food, but, given this openness, a surprising resilience in maintaining core Aryan history and values including religion. This phenomenon is evident amongst the handful of Parsi (meaning Persian) Zoroastrians surviving in the world today. Unlike the Greek nation as a whole, this group of Persians refused to abandon their historic beliefs despite the oppression and coercion brought on by conquerors.

Reference
Albert de Jong in Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin Literature

Companion Pages
» Greek Perceptions of Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism & the Magi
» Ostanes - Persian Sage
» Alcibiades, Plato & Some Amazing Insights. Part 1 The Historical Alcibiades
» Alcibiades, Plato & Some Amazing Insights. Part 2 Selections from Plato

Astrology & Zoroastrianism

Ali Mostofi [ali@alimostofi.com] wrote a while back introducing himself as an astrologer. His blog-site is subtitled: Zoroastrian Stock Market and Current Affairs Astrologer and Commentator. He added "The meanings behind each month (in the Zoroastrian calendar) correspond to astrology." Mr. Mostofi's email prompted us to explore the issue of astrology and Zoroastrianism further, write this response and dedicate a separate blog to the subject.

For more comprehensive information, please see our blog Zoroastrian (Persian) Astrology & Cosmology
_______________________________
References to Zoroastrian Astrology in Hellenic & Roman Texts

Classical Hellenic texts make Zoroaster the inventor of astrology. They also make the Magi, Zoroastrian priests as astrologers. Christians claim the Magi began their journey to visit the Christ-child after observing a particular star or planet in the east (Matthew 2). The latter reference also indicates the standing with which the Magi were perceived - despite derogatory comments of some Classical Hellenic authors.

Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus Lycaeus / Diadochus (412–485 CE) attributed to Zoroaster (Zarathushtra/Zarathustra) a four-volume i.e. papyrus rolls, treatise On Nature (Peri physeos) dedicated to King Cyrus. What we gather from quotes such as the one below is that it contained several astrological references.

Colotes accused Plato of plagiarizing Zoroaster and On Nature since the framework of On Nature's narrative reappears as Plato's Myth of Er, a concluding story in the Republic. Clement of Alexandria, i.e. Titus Flavius Clemens (c.150-215 CE) quotes from On Nature: "These things I wrote, 'I Zoroaster, the son of Armenius, a Pamphylian by birth: having died in battle, and been in Hades, I learned them of the gods'." Fiction but interesting. Clement continues, "This Zoroaster, Plato says, having been placed on the funeral pyre, rose again to life in twelve days. He alludes perchance to the resurrection, or perchance to the fact that the path for souls to ascension lies through the twelve signs of the zodiac; and he himself says, that the descending pathway to birth is the same. In the same way we are to understand the twelve labours of Hercules, after which the soul obtains release from this entire world." The On Nature (Peri physeos)  mentioned by Proclus and Clement of Alexandria does not survive and is known only through references such as the ones above.

We are also informed that while Zoroaster's On Nature had the sun in middle position, while Plato's 4th century BCE version had the sun in second place above the moon.Further, Lydus (6th cent. CE), in On the Months at II.4, attributes the creation of the seven-day week to "the circle of Zoroaster and Hystaspes in Babylon," the basis being that there were then known seven planets.

Heraclides Ponticus wrote a text titled Zoroaster based on Zoroastrian philosophy in order to express his disagreement with Plato on natural philosophy.

Another work circulating under the name of "Zoroaster" was the five-volume i.e. papyrus roll Asteroskopita (or Apotelesmatika). The title and fragments suggest that it was an astrological handbook, "albeit a very varied one, for the making of predictions." A third text attributed to Zoroaster is On Virtue of Stones (Peri lithon timion), of which nothing is known other than its extent (one volume) and that Zoroaster sang it (from which Cumont and Bidez conclude that it was in verse). Numerous other fragments (preserved in the works of other authors) are attributed to Zoroaster, but the titles are not mentioned.

We find it amusing (and this is a good indication of the state of mind of some Hellenic authors) that for some Hellenic authors, the proof that Zoroaster was an astrologer was that his name contained -astr- meaning star! That is, of course, the Greek/Western version of his name, Zoroaster. His authentic name, Zarathushtra, bears no such meaning. Diogenes Laertius (3 cent. CE?), while treating the religion of the magi in very favorable terms and acquiting them of the charge of sinister magic,nevertheless adds his own dose of fantasy by giving the Greek etymology of Zoroaster as derived from 'astrothytes' meaning 'one who sacrifices to the stars' or star-worshipper in short. For others, Zo- when put together with -astra give the combined meaning of living star!! An even more elaborate etymology evolved from some fertile minds, that Zoroaster died by the living (Zo-) flux (-ro-) of fire from the star (-astr-). Zoroaster was then magician enough to have invoked the fire of the star himself. The construct culminated with Zoroaster having been stars by the stars in revenge for their having been restrained by him!!! Buried within all this fantasy is the sentiment that Zoroaster's knowledge of the stars and the heavens - astronomy - was so great that he is seen as having controlled the stars. Suffice it for us to repeat that Zoroaster is a Greek version of the original Avestan name Zarathushtra.

In early Christian literature beginning with the Clementine Homilies 9.4-5, Zoroaster is identified with a parallel series of traditions about Nimrod having been the founder of astrology. In this account, Nimrod is killed by lightning and posthumously deified by the Persians as "Zoroaster, on account of the living (zosan) stream of the star (asteros) being poured upon him."

On a side note, Lydus (On the Months II.4) attributes the creation of the seven-day week to "the circle of Zoroaster and Hystaspes in Babylon," the basis being that there were then seven known planets.

Astronomy in Zoroastrianism
The Magi as Astronomers and Astrologers
The reference of classical Hellenic authors as to Zoroaster and the magi being the inventor of astrology is interesting. Before becoming an astrologer, a person needs to have an understanding of the heavens. The magi were astronomers who understood that the planets were different from the stars, that the planets revolved around the sun, that the planets including the earth were spheres. They identified and named the major planets, stars and constellations and plotted their movements through the heavens to an accuracy of degrees. They also used these movements to establish a very accurate calender based on the solar year and lunar month. Zoroaster is reputed to have built an observatory and amongst it functions was the accurate determination of the equinoxes and solstices, knowledge of which was of great importance to farmers, herders and even to the traders who started and stopped their caravan trains depending on the calendar. The Zoroastrian calendar contained a zodiac.

Zoroastrian Calendar & Zodiac
There are references to the zodiac in the Middle Persian texts related to the organization of the Zoroastrian calendar (see http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/calendar/index.htm#seasons.) Mithraism as it survived amongst the Romans also appears to feature a similar zodiac.

Further in the story of the Zoroastrian escape from Iran to India after the Arab invasion in c. 640 CE - the Kisse Sanjan, - the Zoroastrian priests in the group of refugees consulted their astrological charts before making major decisions.

Astronomy in the Bundahishn, a Zoroastrian Text
The Middle Persian Zoroastrian text, the Bundahishn also contains references to horoscopes and astrology. It's chapter is devoted to astrology and is titled the horoscope of the World. At 5b.12 we have, "In the beginning, when the Adversary entered, it so happened that the dark Sun and Moon could not perpetrate any harm, on account of the contact with the radiance of the Sun and the Moon; and the Seven Bears [Haptoring] and Sataves happened to be of greater vigour than Jupiter and Venus; they disabled Jupiter and Venus from doing harm. For this reason the astrologers call them beneficent. Mars happened to be more vigorous than Antares, and Saturn than the Lord of the Throne; their harmfulness is evident. Therefore, astrologers reckon them as maleficent; and Mercury, who is Apaosh dev, came against Sirius [Tishtar]; both happened to be of equal strength and of equal vigour. Therefore, astrologers say "Mercury is beneficent with the beneficent ones, and maleficent with the maleficent ones. There are some who say so: 'Apaosh is not Mercury.'"

D. N. McKenzie has written a book available for online viewing and as a pdf download titled Zoroastrian Astrology in the Bundahishn.

Visit our page at: http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/
and our blog Astrology & Cosmology - Zoroastrian Heritage