Under the Arsacid (Parthian) kings, Iranian religion lives without a single orthodox center: fire temples and priestly schools preserve the oral Avesta, Zurvanite speculation grows, and tradition credits the Arsacid king Vologases with ordering the collection of the scattered Avestan texts.
Tagged: Iranian Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism
The Event
- Date
- c. 247 BCE-224 CE (exact)
- Also called
- Arsacid Empire
- Era
- Parthian Age; Standard periodization of Zoroastrian history
- Location
- Parthia and Mesopotamia; today Iran and Iraq
- Traditions
- Zoroastrianism
- Streams
- Iranian Zoroastrian
Primary Sources
- Strabo, Geography.
Secondary Sources
- Boyce, Mary. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge, 1979.
- Choksy, Jamsheed K. Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, entries on the Avesta, the Sasanians, and the Parsi calendar disputes.
- Hinnells, John R. The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Rose, Jenny. Zoroastrianism: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011.
Provenance: HIST-1005; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-28.
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