1. It began to flourish in ancient Iran, which was known as Persia. It flourished during the Persian Empire.
2. One Persia was conquered by the Greeks, aspects of Persian culture, including Zoroastrianism, spread far and wide.
3. When he was about thirty year old, an angel called, Good Thought appeared to him and brought him the Wise Lord also known as Ahura Mazda. Zarathustra recognized Ahura Mazda as the one true God, and he began to preach the radical message of monotheism to polytheistic people.
4. The Avesta is the sacred text of Zoroastrianism, and the oldest material in the text is the Gathas. Zarathustra wrote the Gathas.
5. Ahura Mazda is eternal and universal goodness, controlling the cosmos and the destiny of human beings.
6. Ethical dualism is the belief in universal forces of good and evil.
7. The Lie is an evil, cosmic force.
8. Humans must choose between the truth and the Lie, between the beneficent spirit and the hostile spirit.
9. Heaven, or the House of Best Purpose is said to be forever in sunshine, and its inhabitants enjoy the company of the saved. Hell, the Worst Existence, is a foul-smelling, dark place where the tormented are forced to remain completely alone.
10. The traditional Zoroastrian is centered around agriculture. some of its ethical demands include caring for livestock and fields. A follower usually leads a simple life which includes telling the truth and doing what is right. /worship practices include prayer, which is to be done five times a day.
11. Zoroastrians who live in India.
12. The Iliad and the Odyssey.
13. The gods have human attributes. Their moral behavior is much more humanlike than godlike.
14. He was concerned with celebrating Zeus' great power and wisdom. The play Agamemnon explains human suffering as being a necessary part of the divine plan of Zeus.
15. An oracle is a sanctuary favored by a particular god, who communicated in some manner to those who visited the site. The most famous was at Delphi, where the Greeks came to confront Apollo. It had been considered a sacred site from early times and was thought to be the center of the earth.
16. Individuals had to choose to become initiates, and they went though some form of initiation ritual. Initiates experiences a personal encounter with the deity. And initiates gained spiritual renewal through participation in the religion and, as with most mystery religions, hope for a better afterlife.
17. The Eleusinian Mysteries.
18. Dionysus is associated with fertility, vegetation, and specifically the vine. Dionysus is often depicted in Greek art with vines and grapes.
19. Their religious goal is to lea a pure life, through vegetarianism and other ascetic practices, so that the soul might eventually escape the body and fully realize its divine, Dionysian nature.
20. Plato believed that we know things in this life partly because we have experienced them in previous lives. Knowledge, therefore, is recollection.
21. Plato's highly influential perspective that true reality consists of eternal and perect Forms, or ideas, and that the material, bodily world is an imperfect reflection of the world of Forms, dependent on them for all its qualities.
22. 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. The numina were supernatural powers, each in charge of a specific function. These powers inhabited a wide variety of spaces, such as fields, streams, trees, doorways, altars, and shrines.
24. Jupiter was the most powerful of all Roman deities.
25. Jupiter, Venus, Mars, Neptune, Mercury, and Saturn.
26. To be closer and more in tune with their selected gods.
27. Mithraism and the mystery religion celebrating the goddess Isis.
28. 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. Osiris became god of the underworld.
29. Emperor Augustus encouraged the worship not of himself, but of his genius, or guardian spirit. This focused worship on Rome, because the emperor's genius was thought to guard the welfare of the entire state.
30.They clashed because emperor worship contradicted their belief in only one God. The Romans grew suspicious of the Christians because their refusal to worship on behalf of the emperor implied that they did not support the state.
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