The Significant Impact Of Zoroastrianism And Its Influence On Judaism

606 Words3 Pages

The importance of Zoroastrianism on Judaism has been that it has had a significant impact on the beliefs of Judaism. What is referred by this significant impact is that Zoroastrianism has influenced some of the beliefs held in Judaism For example, the Zoroastrian belief in the House of the Song and in the House of the Lie are similar to the beliefs that Judaism has in heaven and hell. Part of the reason that today we are able to find influences from Zoroastrianism in Judaism is because when the Jews were exiled by the Babylonian Empire the Jews fled into Mesopotamia where they first learned about this new religion. The knowledge of this new religion brought about influences in Judaism especially after the Jews were once again able to return to their homeland. Originally Angra Mainyu was the spirit that opposed Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord). Mainyu was seen as the evil one or the reason for the existence of all things bad in the world. In the past Angra Mainyu was made to seem that he was equally as powerful as Ahura Mazda, hence why it was difficult for humans to choose to be good or bad. This equal …show more content…

One of the first things that changed was that Zoroastrianism went from being monotheism to dualism primarly due to the fight between the Mazda and Mainyu. With this beign said, Zoroastrianism also now was beginning to be incorporated into new religions like Judaism. This mixture of religions allowed Zoroastrianism to contiue to spread its beliefs. This as well allowed for members of the new form of Zoroastrianism to make changes by adding ideas that at one point Zarathustra rejected. However, maybe one interesting change after the death of Zarathustra was as to who Zarathustra was. Zarathustra was now seen as a god that became a man who would in turn bring salavation to the rest of the world. We can say the story of Jesus Christ was introduced into Zoroastrianism making Zarathustra represent