In the Persian Empire of the book of Esther, the Gnostic fire ... - WBM

eligion founded by a Babylonian named Mani.
For most of the Sasanian period, Manichaeans
were deemed a major threat to Zoroastrianism.
Christianity, too, was seen as problematic,
especially after the Roman Empire accepted
it as the official religion in the fourth century
CE. Sasanian Christians, rightly or wrongly,
became associated with the Roman enemy.
Descriptions of the resulting mass persecutions
have been preserved in a substantial library
of martyrologies that recount the suffering of
Christians dying for their religion.
Playing with Fire
From what we can gather from the Talmud, the
harassment of the Jews was neither systematic
nor directed at Jews for being Jews. Instead,
the authorities occasionally took aim at rituals
that offended Zoroastrian sensibilities. For
instance, Hanukkah lamps were confiscated
by Zoroastrian fire worshippers lest Jews treat
the sacred flames with insufficient respect.
The custom of lighting Hannukah lamps on
the table rather than in the window, observed
in some circles, is a product of this clash with
Zoroastrianism.
One talmudic source lists three decrees
enacted by Zoroastrian priests against the Jews:
They decreed against three things on
account of three things. They decreed
against meat because of [the priestly] gifts;
they decreed against bathhouses because
of ritual immersion; they exhume the dead
because they rejoice on the day of their
festivals. (Yevamot 63b)
The passage searches for a theologically
“measure for measure” explanation for these
decrees. Why had God allowed the Zoroastrians
to ban ritual slaughter (shehita)? Because Jews
had not donated the cuts designated for their
own priests, the Kohanim. Why were the
bathhouses and mikva’ot shut down? Because
Jews had neglected the laws of ritual immersion.
Based on our knowledge of Zoroastrianism,
however, each of the activities banned would
have offended Zoroastrians. Jewish ritual
slaughter is diametrically opposed to the
Zoroastrian practice of strangulation. (The flow
of blood onto the ground is problematic, since
Zoroastrians consider the earth sacred.) Indeed,
a Zoroastrian work known as the Dēnkard
complains about Jewish slaughter of calves. As
for immersion, Jewish law requires that married
Ateshgah (“Seat of Fire”) fire temple, built
in the 17th and 18th centuries in a suburb
of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It is
unclear whether this place of worship was
originally Zoroastrian or Hindu
Photo: Nick Taylor
Facing page: mythological scene from an
ancient Persian manuscript
Silver drachma issued by Ardashir III,
one of the last monarchs of the Sasanian
dynasty, c. 630
Photo: Robert DeRose
Zoroastrianism
The Jewish Journey through History Shevat/Adar 5772 37