ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses Zoroastrianism and the broader legacy of ancient Iranian religions in ancient Anatolia and the Caucasus. Anatolia and the Caucasus were held in the embrace of the Achaemenid Empire for centuries, and the period of Achaemenid rule was the point of genesis of several deep-seated Persian communities and many enduring religious traditions. Appearing in the royal inscriptions and reliefs of Achaemenid palaces and tombs, the lands (Old Persian dahyu-, pl. dahyāva) of Lydia (Sparda), Cappadocia (Katpatuka), Armenia (Armina), and parts of northern Media (Māda) were integral parts of the Achaemenid Empire. Despite many significant differences, these regions shared political, historical, and cultural commonalities with each other with regard to the character of the Iranian religions practised in them as well as the persistence of pre-Persian cults, a fact also noted by ancient observers (e.g., Strabo 12.3.36–37). The traditions of these regions maintained a unique character that was distinctive compared to the varieties of Zoroastrianism practised in Persia or the eastern Iranian world of Central Asia, although they later took on characteristics of Zoroastrianism as practised on the Iranian Plateau through contact with or incorporation into the Arsacid and Sasanian Empires. While literary sources are indeed important, in reconstructing these communities and their religious practices, archaeological and epigraphic evidence often provides our most reliable and even sole attestations.
