ABSTRACT
This chapter will address “Old Iranian religion,” as well as Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and Mazdakism, in terms of their texts, tenets and leaders. I will argue that, despite historical changes in the religion of pre-Islamic Iran, there are continuous patterns that can be referred to as uniquely Iranian, some of which persist to the present. Any study of pre-Islamic Iranian religions will be enriched by considering the cultural heritage of the peoples of Iran. In order to shed light upon the development of ancient Iranian religions, I will revisit the idea that the shared IndoIranian pantheon points to an early compilation of oral religious traditions in Persia parallelling that of contemporary India. In addition, I will analyze migration patterns that evinced a split in the hypothesized Indo-Iranian peoples. Such an analysis will contribute to a more general portrait of both the earliest settlers of Iran and their changing pantheon. By the time of Zoroaster, social changes setting the stage for his revelations had taken place with respect to settlement patterns and geographical locations. I will also examine theways inwhichMani andMazdakdeparted fromZoroastrianism.
