Zoroastrian Saviour Imagery and Its Influence on ... - Kaveh Farrokh

<strong>Zoroastrian</strong> <strong>Saviour</strong> <strong>Imagery</strong>
ideas, or of the preservation of the beliefs in circles for whose exis-
tence no evidence has been adduced, is not convincing. Unless some
historical explanation of this phenomenon can be given the theory of
influence must remain, at best, doubtful.
Some account of the history of the first two centuries B.C. must be
given. It will be easier to begin by considering the Jewish/Iranian con-
tacts in this period. Professor Widengren has noted the many points
of contact that took place between the Parthians, who ruled Iran from
the third century B.C. onwards, <strong>and</strong> the Jews. 79) The period of con-
tacts may go as far back as the beginning of the Seleucid rule in
Palestine, since the Seleucids also ruled over Parthia, <strong>and</strong> both the Jews
<strong>and</strong> the Parthians were seeking to throw off the Seleucid yoke at the
same time. Indeed Professor Neusner has pointed to a series of in-
stances where an uprising by one nation provided the other with the
most timely relief. 80) For example the Jewish rebellion between 170
<strong>and</strong> I60 B.C. eased pressure on Mithridates I when he was seeking
to gain his nation's independence from the Seleucids. On the other h<strong>and</strong>
the Jews were assisted by the attack of Phraates II on Antiochus
Sidetes in I29 B.C. Another example is the assault of Hyrcanus on
Syrian cities whilst Antiochus was attacking Parthia. Opportunism
may explain the odd coincidence, but in view of the number of coinci-
dences one may suspect, with Neusner <strong>and</strong> Downey, some kind of
entente between the two nations. 81)
The evidence for the contacts between the two in the first century
B.C. is much less speculative. There is a reference to Parthian am-
bassadors visiting Jerusalem during the reign of Alex<strong>and</strong>er Janneus
(I03-78 B.C.) <strong>and</strong> these ambassadors mention previous visits that they
had made. 82) Contacts between the two reached a climax in the period
54-38 B.C. To appreciate the significance of the contacts it is necessary
to consider the state of the Jews in the Roman Empire at that time.
79) Iranisch-semitische Kulturbewegung in parthischer Zeit, Cologne, 1960.
(AGF Nordrhein-West. Geisteswiss. Reihe, 70) passim, a development of his
'Quelques rapports entre juifs et iraniens a l'epoque des Parthes,' Vetus Testa-
mentum, supplement IV, 1957, pp. I97-24I.
80) A History of the Jews in Babylonia, vol. I, The Parthian Period, Leiden,
1965, p. 24.
8I) Neusner, p. xii; G. Downey, A History of Antioch in Syria, Princeton,
I96I, p. I26.
82) Neusner, p. 25.
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