UC Riverside

The subject of this dissertation is the relationship between Iranian philosophy of religion and the history of political thought. Major turning points in this history can be attributed to the ideas of the ancient Iranian poet, Zoroaster. He preached against raiding nomads who would steal animals for sacrificial purposes. His moral and ethical philosophy is known as Zoroastrianism.

As the first monotheist philosophy, Zoroastrianism inspired a unique form of religious toleration. The ancient Zoroastrians opposed the political rivalries attributed to belligerent city-state gods. This played a vital role in the rise of the Persian Empire. During the height of the Empire, Zoroastrianism was the largest religion in the world.

The belief in a single Creator also changed the idea of history itself. By rejecting the existence of conflicting spirits, some human beings no longer perceived themselves as the irrelevant victims of a cosmological struggle. Although Zoroastrianism endured a sharp and dramatic decline after the Muslim conquest of Iran, its legacy lives on. This legacy has been unjustly ignored by historians of political ideas. It played a major role in the development of numerous cultural philosophies, and it had more influence on the history of human religion than any other faith. In this study, I will argue that Zoroastrianism is relevant to virtually every philosophy of history. I will also demonstrate how the study of Zoroastrianism by European travelers and philosophers from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries influenced the history of German nationalism and helped set into motion the unfortunate events that culminated in the Aryan Supremacy movement. The rise of the Nazi party disgraced the Aryan identity and stigmatized many Oriental traditions, but the remnants of ancient Iranian culture are still admired by the Iranians of today. In the concluding section of this study, I will argue that Zoroastrianism still plays an important role in Iranian political affairs. While Zoroastrians are a recognized minority in Iran, all Iranians, including Muslims and Jews, celebrate Zoroastrian traditions and holidays. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran these traditions have been used to defy the Islamic policies of the state.