Blog Post 22

1)      Zoroastrianism began flourish in Iran during the Persian Empire in the fifth and fourth centuries BC.

2)       Zoroastrianism spread after Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great and it spread through that empire.

3)      When Zarathustra was thirty an angel called Good Thought came to him and brought him as a disembodied soul to Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord. Zarathustra recognized him as the one true god.

4)      The oldest sacred text is the Avesta. The oldest texts in it are the Gathas, his seventeen hymns.

5)      His characteristics and actions were eternal, universal goodness, controller of the cosmos, and the destiny of human beings.

6)      Ethical dualism is the belief in universal forces of good and evil.

7)      Lie is an evil, cosmic force that opposes Ahura Mazda.

8)      They must choose between truth and Lie, between the beneficent spirit and the hostile spirit.

9)      His understanding of human destiny was that after death they were judged. The good go to paradise while the bad go to hell. He also believes in full bodily resurrection of everyone for judgment by fire and molten metal.

10)   The general ethical demands are caring for livestock and fields, always tell the truth, do what is right, and avoid evil people.

11)  The Parsis are Zoroastrians that now live in India.

12)  The Iliad and the Odyssey are commonly regarded as having been the Bible of the Greeks.

13)  It means that the gods had human attributes, none of them are all-knowing or all-powerful, and all have their own specific talents, functions, and limitations.

14)  Aeschylus’s main contribution was that he was mainly concerned with the ideal of divine justice. For example he portrayed Zeus as ruling with order and justice.

15)  An oracle is a mortal that the gods communicate their desires and intentions through. An oracle was a sanctuary favored by a particular god, who communicated in some manner to those who visited the site. The most famous one was the oracle at Delphi where people sought the wisdom of the god Apollo. She was consulted on issues ranging from private matters to far-reaching public concerns.

16)  The three basic aspects are that individuals had to choose to become initiates and went through a ritual, initiates experienced a personal encounter with the deity, and initiates gained spiritual renewal through participation in the religion and hope for a better afterlife.

17)  The Eleusinian mystery honored Demeter and her daughter Persephone.

18)  Dionysus is associated with fertility, vegetation, and the vine. He is often depicted with vines and grapes.

19)  The goal is have the soul escape the body and fully realize its divine, Dionysian nature.

20)  Plato’s theory of knowledge is that we know things in this life partly because we have experienced them in previous lives.

21)  Platonic dualism is the belief that wisdom lies in identifying oneself with the truth of the Forms, rather than with the changing and imperfect material world.

22)   Jesus seemed to have much in common because both were called Savior, and the intimacy of the worshipers’ relationship with Asclepius bore a strong resemblance to the relationship with Christ celebrated by Christians.

23)  Numina were supernatural powers each in charge of a specific function and were thought to inhabit Roman homes, towns, the countryside, fields, streams, trees, doorways, altars, and shrines.

24)  The most powerful Roman deity was Jupiter.

25)  The six planets are Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Neptune, Mercury, and Saturn.

26)  It was essential to ensure the peace of the gods.

27)  The main rivals were Mithraism and the cult of Isis.

28)  The Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris is that Osiris was killed and hacked into pieces by his evil brother, Isis searched far and wide, finally finding Osiris’s body parts. She mummified him, which brought him back to life and he became god of the underworld.

29)  Augustus encouraged worship of his genius or guardian spirit which was thought to guard the welfare of the entire state.

30)  Christian and Roman rulers clashed over emperor worship because Christians didn’t want to worship the ruler since it would go against their belief in one God. The Romans didn’t like this because it looked like the Christians did not support the state.