Abstract

The assumption that an already established Zoroastrian religion served as the source for terms, concepts, and themes, which Mani and Manichaeans appropriated and altered, is due for reassessment. Building on the work of P. O. Skjaervø, this study argues that (1) Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism arose together, side by side, in the third century (2) against the background of older Iranian religious cultural traditions, (3) each fitting those antecedent cultural artifacts into different systems of interpretation and application.

Highlights

  • A little over twenty years ago, Prods Oktor Skjærvø published a set of four articles in which [1] he surveyed the “Iranian Elements in Manicheism” as well as the possible impact Mani and Manichaeism may have had on institutional Zoroastrianism in the early Sasanid period (Skjærvø 1995a, 1995b, 1996, 1997)

  • In the last generation have more and more researchers come to realize that Rabbinic texts are well removed from earlier conditions, and that Judaism and Christianity co-developed in the first half-millennium CE, both making use of prior Israelite religious traditions

  • In light of this dawning awareness, we can begin to think of Zoroastrianism as something [49] that came into existence as a nativist and traditionalist reaction to conditions of religious options and innovations that existed in the third century

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Summary

Jason BeDuhn

ଈ୪ഌഝ೶ଈ୽ഝ The assumption that an already established Zoroastrian religion served as the source for terms, concepts, and themes which Mani and Manichaeans appropriated and altered is due for reassessment. O. Skjaervø, this study argues that (1) Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism arose together, side by side, in the third century (2) against the background of older Iranian religious cultural traditions, (3) each fitting those antecedent cultural artifacts into different systems of interpretation and application. ౖ஥൰ൠಧ೶ஐഌ Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Avesta, pantheon, ritual, legend, ethos, eschatology

Introduction
The Religious Landscape of Late Antiquity
Competing Religious Appropriation of Iranian Cultural Traditions
Dualistic Universe
Myth of Primordial Combat
Veneration and Ritual Support of Natural Elements
Use and Interpretation of Iranian Religious Literature
Heroic Legend
Conclusions
Full Text
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