An Exploration of Zoroastrian Influence on Early Judaism

The focus of this project and presentation is examining and describing the influence and appearance of Zoroastrian and Rigvedic traits in neighboring religions, predominantly Judaism. Zoroastrians are currently culturally underrepresented in the historical record, despite their proximity and influence on nearby Abrahamic faiths as well as ancient and classical middle eastern culture. This fact makes them appealing to do research on, procure information on, and spread information about. By reading and analyzing Zoroastrian texts, primarily the Gathas, the Venidad and the Yasht, Orthodox Jewish texts such as The Book of Esther, The Book of Ezekiel, The Book of Ezra, and The Book of Isaiah, Jewish apocryphal texts such as The Book of Enoch, and The Book of Tobit and Rohinton F. Nariman’s excellent summary, Zoroastrianism in Other Faiths. I believe there is ample evidence for Zoroastrian influence on both Judaism, and Christianity. I confidently believe that early Zoroastrian and Rigvedic belief had immense influence on Jewish history and doctrine and believe that influence is measurable by comparison. For example, we can examine the differences in Sheol between pre-exilic, and post-exilic periods of Jerusalem in contrast to how Zoroastrian texts conceptualize and describe death and the afterlifes; we may examine descriptions of Achaemenid emperors in Jewish texts, and how that might be relevant.