Similarities Between Zoroastrianism

Judaism and Christianity are key religions in the history of our world, and are still around today. Both of these religions are monotheistic, believing in only YHWH, the God of Abraham. However, if we look deeper, there are many more similarities and differences in these two religions. Some things that are comparable are their political figures, their holy works, and social beliefs.

Religion was an essential part of the ancient Egyptian society. The ancient Egyptian religion was a set of polytheistic beliefs and rituals. Due to their beliefs, the Pharaoh who was an important ruler in Ancient Egypt held an amount of power. They had over 2000 gods and goddesses. Their religion had a strong impact on their religious traditions. The Egyptians believed that each of their gods and goddesses controlled one major aspect,

When Akhenaten took over the throne he made many religious changes. Firstly, he changed the religion from polytheism to monotheism. The people of Egypt have traditionally worshipped many Gods who were in human or animal forms, but when Akhenaten took over he introduced the idea of worshipping in one God; Aten or sun-disc (BBC). This shows he is a visionary because he is one of the first people in history to introduce such an idea. Now many religions worship one God, but the first person to ever think of this idea was Akhenaten, which shows he thought ahead of his time and developed a new trend. Moreover, he changed the temples to being open to more people and not just high priests. He introduced a new form of temple which had open roofs so the sunlight can shine on the worshippers. The temple was more open to the public and more accessible. In modern society areas of worship are open to the public, this is similar to what Akhenaten tried to accomplish. He tried to show that a place of worship

Zoroastrianism is a type of religion that Darius I and his successors most likely followed. It originated in ancient Iran, and the single god of goodness named Ahuramazda was believed to be in a constant struggle against evil.

The Ancient Egyptian were polytheistic most of the time, which means that they believed in multiple gods. When Akhenaten was pharaoh, the Egyptians were monotheistic, meaning they worshiped only one god. He ended the worship of other gods and claimed that Aten, the lord of all was the only god in Egypt. The Egyptians didn't like this idea, so on their own,

Amenhotep even changed his name to Arkhenaten which means, servant of Aten. Before the consideration of monotheism, Atenism was a henotheistic religion, the honoring and respect to one god but knowing there are others also. When praying or practicing this religion, it was done in the sunlight rather than in dark temple which was the common doing. Aten became the supreme god, with Akhentaten being the only other consideration. Although Atenism is considers to be a Monotheistic religion, it falls on the border line because Akhentaten was believed to be both man and a type god. Akhentaten closed all other temples making Aten the only god that can be worshipped. Unlike the other two religions mentioned, most of the population did not accept their kings religion simply for the fact that, it was not that simple to erase the other gods and pretend they never existed. This is a fact because as soon as Akhenaten died, his religion went with him. The Egyptians simply went back to their own religions and Akhenaten became known as a heretic king. Atenism is one of the shortest religion ever, which only lasted about twenty

Akhenaten was known as a “heretic” pharaoh due to the radical changes he made during his reign as an Egyptian pharaoh. The people of Egypt had been worshipping many different deities all the time and Akhenaten was the first pharaoh to break the tradition by introducing monotheism, which was the worship to only one god. Other than reforming the religious beliefs, he also introduced arts of different styles to worship the Sun god, Aten. The changes made during Akhenaten’s reign had no doubt brought some effects to the lives of the Egyptians and also people from other countries later on.

Greece and Persia’s religion is one factor that makes both of these empires so diverse from each other. During the Achaemenid Period, the main religion of Persia at the time was Zoroastrianism, which the Iranian prophet and reformer Zoroaster founded in the 6th century B.C.E. At the time the royal family brought in Zoroastrianism to Persia, and since the royal family believed in it, most of the people of the Persian Empire choose to believe in it too. Greece on the other hand, did not have a religion until 146 B.C.E when Christianity entered the empire. Before Christianity had entered Greece, they believed in their mythological stories. Each myth or story had a lesson to be learned by the reader.

Between the religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, there are many similarities and differences that are dealt within each of them. Throughout these religions, we can compare and contrast different aspects of each religion such as some of the basic facts of their histories and some of the religious beliefs each of them have in common and or make them different from each other. In the country known as Palestine, the religions known as Christianity and Judaism were founded each by different men. Jesus was the man who began the creation of Christianity and a man named Moses was the founder who established the religion of Judaism. In the country of Saudi Arabia the

I believe there are some beliefs from Zoroastrianism that overtime made their way into early Rabbincal Judaism and therefore into modern Judaism. These connections are possibly due to the similar time frame between the creation of both religions, as well as both Zoroastrianism and Judaism being based out of the Middle East. Some similarities these religions share include: both have Pagan influence by connecting with location and nature; neither acknowledge/mention Jesus; both are monotheistic in belief; claim their God is all knowing and the creator; believe in/use angels in teachings; view women and men as equals; are convinced there will be no second coming; and lastly, practice prayer and doing good deeds. There are also some main differences

Judaism is one of the world's oldest religious traditions. Pre-modern Judaism constituted (and traditional Judaism today constitutes) an integrated cultural system of Jewish law,

Judaism originated a very long time ago, it is a part of the Bronze Age Polytheistic Ancient Semitic religions. The Jewish calendar goes back more than 5000 years, most scholars date the beginning of the religion of the Israelites to the known founder, Abraham, whose life is generally dated around 2000 to 1800 B.C.E. Abraham came to believe that the universe was the works of a single creator, and taught this to other believers. Therefore, Judaism is the first recorded religion to advocate monotheism, meaning there is only one God. Both Christianity and Islam found some of their roots in Judaism, about 2,000 years after Abraham, Jesus was born into Judaism. Then after Jesus, Muhammad could trace his ancestry back to Abraham. Judaism has three essential parts the written Torah, the recognition of Israel, which are the descendants of Abraham, as uniquely holy people chosen by God, and also it is a requirement that Israel lives in accordance with God's laws as it’s said in the Torah.

Amenhotep IV was the first pharaoh to challenge the Egyptian culture and religious beliefs. His decision to make Aten, “The God of the Sun Disk”, the only god, took power away from the temple priests. Before Amenhotep IV made the changes, Egypt practiced polytheism not only worshiping the Sun Disk God, but around 12 other gods with roles such as fertility, the sky, the Nile River, childbirth, etc. With Egypt practicing monotheisms the temple priest have lost control of any political or religious gain they once held. This will be the first time Egypt practices monotheism. In making this change Amenhotep IV became known as Akhenaten, “Shining Spirit of Aten”. Becoming Akhenaten was not the only changes reflected from his reign as pharaoh.

Zoroastrianism is a religion founded by a priest named Zarathustra Spitma or Zoroaster far back in the 1200BCE, with the principle belief of an almighty God or “the One” Ahura Mazda and the context of a cosmic battle between the good and evil forces.

The historical difference starts when a group named Aryan separates into two where one moves to India and the other moves to Iran. To date it is believed that Zoroastrianism came as a child religion of Rigvedic which is a more ancient religion. It was practiced among some Aryans. This can then explain some of the differences and similarities between Hindu and Zoroastrianism. The differences are as a result of them wanting to make the child religion distinct from the mother religion. Zoroastrianism was commonly practiced in Iran and ended up being the most ancient monotheistic religion with a huge following.