An Investigation of Achaemenid Political Religion

Religion played a significant role in the political life of the Achaemenian Empire as the kings of this dynasty, with their special religious policies, could rule over this great empire, which consisted of different nations and religions, for over 200 years. Each king of this dynasty had a different view towards religion and tradition and so their treatment of this issue significantly varied; for instance, Cyrus and Darius exhibited more tolerance towards religion compared to other kings. However, in the middle period of this kingdom, some strictness was started, so that it is assumed that Xerxes intended to generalize and institutionalize the royal worldview in the Achaemenid kingdom. In the late period of this dynasty, a kind of deconstruction in the religion and revival of religious micro-currents is seen, starting from the time of Artaxerxes II. According to the traditional view towards the Achaemenid kings’ worldview, as a rule, the effect of Zoroastrian teachings on these kings should be observed and investigated, but contrary to the common method, the present paper attempts to study the influence of the Achaemenids on the Zoroastrian teachings in order to preserve and survive their Imperial, and track their innovations and heresies by comparing the Zoroastrian primary and secondary texts. Using a comparative study of the mentioned texts and a historical approach, the introduction of many pre-Zoroastrian religions by magus, as well as the influence of foreign cultures, were revealed to us, and the existence of secondary influences by the Achaemenid kings on Zoroastrianism became evident since during the Achaemenid era the Zoroastrian unwritten religion had easily provided a suitable context to accept the changes due to the domination of magus over this area. These deliberate influences of the government on the religion reached to the extent that the term "political religion" could be used instead of the term "religious policy" during this period.