Archives

You’re Already Zoroastrian (You Just Don’t Know It)

Written by Diesel the Magus

75 Things You Say, Believe, Eat, Wear, Play, and Do Every Day That Came From Zoroastrian Persia

You have never read an article like this one.

Not because the information is secret — every fact below is documented, sourced, and verifiable. But because no one has ever gathered it into a single place and forced you to confront the full scale of what Zoroastrian Persia put into your life.

You think of Zoroastrianism — if you think of it at all — as an ancient religion with a small, shrinking community. A footnote. A curiosity.

By the time you finish this article, you will understand that you wake up in Zoroastrian Persia, eat breakfast in Zoroastrian Persia, get dressed in Zoroastrian Persia, speak Zoroastrian Persia, think in Zoroastrian Persia, play in Zoroastrian Persia, pray in Zoroastrian Persia, and go to sleep in Zoroastrian Persia.

Every single day.

I. Words You Speak

Every time you say any of the following English words, you are speaking Persian — the language of the Zoroastrian civilization. The Encyclopaedia Iranica’s article on “Persian Elements in English” documents this transmission in exhaustive scholarly detail. Here is what it means in practice:

1. Paradise. The English word comes from Latin paradisus, from Greek parádeisos, from Old Persian paridaiza — meaning “an enclosed garden.” Xenophon used it to describe the walled royal parks of the Achaemenid Persian kings. The authors of the Septuagint used it for the Garden of Eden. The New Testament used it for the abode of the blessed. Every time a Christian, Jew, or Muslim says “paradise,” they are saying a Persian word coined in a Zoroastrian empire. The concept of heaven as a garden of delight — that’s Persian.

2. Magic. From Latin magicus, from Greek magikós, from Magus — the Zoroastrian priestly caste. The Magi. The original “magicians” were Zoroastrian priests performing sacred rituals. The entire Western concept of magic — the word, the cultural association, the archetype of the robed wise man with esoteric knowledge — comes from the Zoroastrian priesthood.

3. Checkmate. From Persian shāh māt — “the king is helpless” or “the king is frozen.” Chess as we know it was codified in Sassanid Persia (the Zoroastrian empire), its rules were refined there, and every major chess term in English has Persian roots. “Rook” comes from Persian rukh (chariot). The game passed from Persia to the Arab world to Europe carrying its Persian vocabulary intact.

4. Pajamas. From Persian pāy-jāmeh — “leg garment.” The garment traveled from Persian culture into Indian usage and then into English through the British colonial encounter with India.

5. Bazaar. From Persian bāzār — a marketplace. Every “bazaar” on earth speaks Persian.

6. Khaki. From Persian khāk — meaning “dust” or “earth-colored.” The British military adopted khaki-colored uniforms through their contact with Persian-influenced cultures in India. The color of military camouflage worldwide is named in Persian.

7. Shawl. From Persian shāl. The garment itself has deep roots in Persian and Zoroastrian culture.

8. Caravan. From Persian kārvān — a group of travelers.

9. Jasmine. From Persian yāsaman, transmitted through Arabic yāsamīn.

10. Orange. From Persian nārang, through Arabic nāranj and Spanish naranja. The fruit’s name — and therefore the color’s name — is Persian.

11. Lemon. From Persian līmū, through Arabic.

12. Azure. From Persian lājavard — lapis lazuli — through Arabic al-lāzoward. The color of the sky is named in Persian.

13. Scarlet. Traced through multiple intermediaries to Persian saqerlāt — a type of red cloth.

14. Taffeta. From Persian tāfta — a type of silk cloth.

15. Pistachio. From Middle Persian pistag, through Arabic and Latin.

16. Musk. From Persian mošk, through Arabic.

17. Julep. From Persian golāb — “rose water.”

18. Satrap. From Old Persian xšaθrapāvan — “guardian of the realm.”

19. Dervish. From Persian darvīsh — a mendicant, a poor one.

20. Cummerbund. From Persian kamarband — “waist-binding.”

21. Pashmina. From Persian pashm — “wool.”

22. Serendipity. Coined in English by Horace Walpole in 1754, based on the Persian fairy tale “The Three Princes of Serendip.” The concept of fortunate accidental discovery is named after a Persian story.

23. Candy. From Persian qand — crystallized sugar. Every candy bar on earth carries a Persian name.

That is 23 common English words — and there are hundreds more. Wikipedia’s “List of English words of Persian origin” runs to thousands of entries. You speak Persian every day. You just call it English.

II. Concepts You Live By

24. Heaven and Hell. Zoroastrianism taught the doctrines of posthumous reward and punishment centuries before Judaism, Christianity, or Islam developed these concepts. Mary Boyce wrote that “Zoroaster was thus the first to teach the doctrines of an individual judgment, Heaven and Hell.”

25. Satan. The cosmic adversary of God — a being who chose evil — derives from the Zoroastrian Angra Mainyu. Pre-exilic Judaism had no such figure.

26. Angels with names and ranks. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael — named archangels with specific functions appeared in Judaism only after contact with the Zoroastrian Amesha Spentas and Yazatas.

27. Resurrection of the dead. Bodily resurrection and final judgment appear in Judaism only in the Book of Daniel — written during Persian influence. Zoroastrianism taught bodily resurrection from the Gathas onward.

28. The Messiah / Savior. The Zoroastrian Saoshyant — a future redeemer born of a virgin who will lead the final renovation of the world — predates the developed Jewish Messianic concept.

29. The Holy Spirit. As Origen himself wrote, the Christian Holy Spirit derives from Zoroastrian Spenta Mainyu. The term is a direct translation: Spenta = Holy. Mainyu = Spirit.

30. Free will. Zoroastrianism is the first religion to make free will theologically central — the choice between Asha (truth) and Druj (falsehood) is the moral drama of human existence.

31. The cosmic battle between good and evil. The framework of all Abrahamic eschatology — that history is a battle between good and evil culminating in a final victory of good — is Zoroastrian.

32. The idea that the material world is good. Against Gnostic traditions that devalue matter, Zoroastrianism insists that the physical world was created by God and is sacred.

33. Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds. Humata, Hukhta, Hvarshta — the most elegant ethical system ever formulated. Three words that cover everything.

III. Games You Play

34. Chess. The game in its recognizable form — with a king, vizier/queen, cavalry, elephants/bishops, chariots/rooks, and infantry/pawns — was codified in Sassanid Persia as chatrang (from Sanskrit chaturanga). The Sassanids refined the rules, the terminology, and the culture of competitive play. The oldest surviving chess manual is the Middle Persian text Wičārišn ī čatrang ud nihišn ī nēw-ardaxšēr (“Explanation of Chess and Invention of Backgammon”), written in the 6th century CE during the reign of the Zoroastrian king Khosrow I Anushirvan. Chess passed from Sassanid Persia to the Arab world as shatranj and from there to Europe — carrying its Persian vocabulary: “checkmate” (shāh māt), “rook” (rukh). Every time you play chess, you are playing a Sassanid Persian game.

35. Backgammon. Invented in Sassanid Persia by Bozorgmehr, the grand vizier of Khosrow I, as documented in the Chatrang-nāmag. The game was originally called Nēw-Ardaxšēr (New Ardashir) or Nard. The Encyclopaedia Iranica’s article on board games in pre-Islamic Persia confirms that the game was “interpreted in terms of Zoroastrian cosmology: the board symbolizes the earth Spandarmad” — Spenta Armaiti, the Amesha Spenta who presides over earth. The 24 points on the board represent the 24 hours of the day. The 30 checkers represent the 30 days of a month. The 12 points on each side represent the 12 months of the year. The opposing black and white pieces represent the Zoroastrian duality of light and darkness. Backgammon is not just a Persian game — it is a Zoroastrian cosmological model disguised as entertainment. Archaeological findings at Shahr-e Sukhteh (the Burnt City) in Iran suggest early forms of the game were played there over 5,000 years ago.

36. Polo. The sport of kings originated in Persia. The oldest records of polo date to the Achaemenid period, and it was a staple of Persian court culture through the Parthian and Sassanid eras. The Shahnameh describes polo matches in detail. The word “polo” itself derives from the Tibetan pulu (ball), but the game traveled from Persia eastward and westward. Persian women played polo alongside men — Queen Shirin is described playing against her husband Khosrow II.

IV. Systems You Depend On

37. The postal service. The Achaemenid Persian Empire created the Angarium — the first organized postal relay system in history, described by Herodotus with the famous line: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness of night prevents these couriers from completing their designated stages with utmost speed.” Sound familiar? The unofficial motto of the United States Postal Service is adapted from Herodotus’s description of the Persian postal system. Every letter you receive echoes Cyrus the Great.

38. Human rights. The Cyrus Cylinder (539 BCE) — issued by the Zoroastrian emperor Cyrus the Great after conquering Babylon — is recognized by the United Nations as the first declaration of human rights. It proclaimed freedom of religion, the abolition of slavery, and the right of displaced peoples to return to their homelands. The concept of universal human rights, now encoded in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, was first articulated by a Zoroastrian king.

39. A functioning road system. The Achaemenid Royal Road stretched 1,677 miles from Susa to Sardis, with relay stations, rest houses, and guards along its length. It connected the empire and enabled commerce, communication, and governance across a territory that stretched from India to Egypt. The Roman road system — and every highway system after it — learned from the Persian model.

40. Provincial governance. The satrapy system — dividing an empire into governed provinces, each with an appointed governor (satrap), a military commander, and a tax collector — was a Persian invention. Every federal or provincial government on earth uses a structural model that originated in the Achaemenid Empire.

41. A standardized currency. The Achaemenid daric was one of the world’s first standardized gold coins, facilitating trade across the largest empire the world had ever seen.

42. Qanat irrigation. The qanat — an underground aqueduct system that channels water from mountain aquifers to arid plains using gravity alone, without pumping — was invented in ancient Persia and spread across the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Some qanats built 3,000 years ago are still functioning today. The entire agricultural infrastructure of the arid world owes a debt to Persian hydraulic engineering.

43. Refrigeration. The ancient Persians built yakhchāl — massive domed structures that stored ice in the desert, using principles of evaporative cooling, thick mud-brick insulation, and underground channels. This was functional refrigeration technology in the ancient world.

44. The hospital. The Sassanid Academy of Gundishapur was the most important medical center of the ancient world — a functioning teaching hospital with systematic medical training, written pharmacology, and clinical practice. It influenced both Arab medicine and, through it, European medical education.

V. Foods You Eat

The Persian culinary legacy is staggering. When you eat any of the following, you are eating food that was developed, refined, or named in Zoroastrian Persia:

45. Pistachios. The word is Persian. The nut is native to Iran. Iran remains the world’s largest producer of pistachios.

46. Saffron. Persian in origin and name. Iran produces over 90% of the world’s saffron. The spice was cultivated in Zoroastrian Persia for millennia.

47. Spinach. From Persian ispanākh, through Arabic isfānākh, through Latin spinachia. The vegetable’s English name is Persian.

48. Rice pilaf / pilau. From Persian polow — the method of cooking rice in broth with spices. Every “pilaf,” “pilau,” and “paella” (through Arabic pullao) on earth speaks Persian.

49. Kebab. From Persian kabāb — meat roasted on a skewer. The global kebab industry — from Istanbul to London to Los Angeles — operates under a Persian name.

50. Sherbet / sorbet. From Persian sharbat — a sweetened drink. Through Arabic and Turkish, it became “sherbet” in English and “sorbet” in French.

51. Candy. From Persian qand — crystallized sugar.

52. Peach. From Latin persicum (malum) — literally “Persian (fruit).” The Romans called it the Persian fruit because it came to them through Persia. The English word “peach” is a shortening of “Persian.”

53. Rose water. Persian golāb — a staple of Persian cuisine and perfumery for thousands of years, used in sweets, drinks, and religious ceremonies.

54. Pomegranate. Revered in Zoroastrian tradition as a symbol of fertility and immortality, central to the Haft-sin table at Nowruz. Iran is one of the world’s largest producers.

55. Yogurt. While the word comes from Turkish, the fermented dairy tradition has deep roots in Persian pastoral culture, and Persian-style strained yogurt (mast) predates the global yogurt industry by millennia.

VI. What You Wear

56. Trousers. The Persians were among the first civilizations to wear bifurcated leg garments — trousers — as practical clothing for horseback riding. The Greeks and Romans wore robes and togas. The Persians wore pants. When the Western world eventually adopted trousers, it was adopting Persian fashion.

57. The closed-toe shoe. Achaemenid Persian reliefs show closed-toe shoes, in contrast to the sandals worn in Greece and Rome.

58. Color-coded clothing for status. The Sassanid court maintained elaborate dress codes with colors indicating rank and function — a system that influenced Byzantine court dress and, through it, European royal fashion.

59. Cummerbund. As noted above — “waist-binding” in Persian. The formal garment worn with tuxedos worldwide is a Persian invention with a Persian name.

60. Pashmina. “Wool” in Persian. The luxury shawl fabric is named in Persian.

VII. Calendar and Celebrations

61. The New Year starts in spring. Nowruz — the Zoroastrian New Year — falls on the spring equinox (March 20-21). This is the astronomically correct start of the year. The Roman calendar originally began in March too (September = 7th month, October = 8th, November = 9th, December = 10th). Julius Caesar moved it to January. The Persians kept the original.

62. Spring cleaning. Khane Tekani — the Zoroastrian tradition of deep-cleaning the house before Nowruz to prepare for the returning souls of the dead — is the origin of the global tradition of spring cleaning.

63. April Fools’ Day. Sizdah Bedar — the 13th day after Nowruz — is a day of outdoor celebration, pranks, and practical jokes, documented as a tradition for millennia. The oldest known “fooling” holiday is Zoroastrian.

64. Trick-or-treating. Chaharshanbe Suri — the fire-jumping festival on the last Wednesday before Nowruz — includes children going door to door banging spoons on pots, disguised in chadors, receiving treats. This “spoon-banging” (Qashoq-zani) tradition predates Halloween by centuries.

65. The Haft-sin table. Every Nowruz, Zoroastrians and Iranians set a table with seven items beginning with the letter “S” (sin) — each symbolizing an aspect of life and renewal. There is no equivalent tradition in any other culture at this scale.

VIII. Architecture and Design

66. The garden as sacred space. The word “paradise” is Persian — and so is the concept. The chahār bāgh (four-garden) design — a garden divided into four quadrants by water channels — is the prototype for Islamic gardens, Mughal gardens (including the Taj Mahal gardens), and European formal gardens. Every symmetrical garden on earth speaks a Persian design language.

67. The dome. While domes appear in many cultures, Persian architecture pioneered the squinch — the architectural device that allows a circular dome to sit on a square base. This technique, developed in Sassanid Persia, was transmitted to Islamic architecture and from there to the world.

68. The windcatcher. The bādgir — a tower designed to catch and channel wind for natural ventilation — is a Persian architectural invention that served as ancient air conditioning. Versions appear across the Middle East and South Asia.

IX. Science and Ideas

69. Algebra. The Persian mathematician al-Khwarizmi (c. 780-850 CE) wrote the foundational text of algebra — al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wal-muqābala. The word “algebra” comes from al-jabr in the title. The word “algorithm” comes from the Latinized form of his name: Algoritmi. Two foundational concepts of modern mathematics — algebra and algorithm — are named after a Persian scholar from the Zoroastrian heartland.

70. The first teaching hospital. The Academy of Gundishapur in Sassanid Persia was the world’s first institution to combine a hospital, a medical school, and a research library. It trained physicians from across the known world and preserved Greek, Indian, and Persian medical knowledge that would later form the basis of Arab and European medicine.

71. The concept of the university. Gundishapur was not only a hospital — it was a multi-disciplinary academy teaching medicine, philosophy, theology, mathematics, and astronomy. Many historians consider it a precursor to the modern university.

72. Windmills. The first known windmills were built in eastern Persia (Sistan) around the 7th century CE — vertical-axis mills used to grind grain and pump water. The technology eventually spread westward to Europe.

X. Things You Don’t Even Think About

73. The number system. While the “Arabic numerals” used worldwide (0-9) originated in India, they were transmitted to Europe through Persian and Arab mathematicians. Al-Khwarizmi’s work was the primary vehicle. The numbers on your phone, your clock, and your bank account reached you through Persia.

74. The concept of a zoo. The Persian paridaiza — enclosed royal parks — contained collections of exotic animals maintained for royal viewing and study. These were among the earliest known collections of animals for display — the precursors of the modern zoo.

75. Your weekend toast. The English word “wine” traces through Latin vinum from a complex chain, but the Shiraz grape — one of the world’s most famous wine grapes — carries the name of the Persian city of Shiraz. Archaeological evidence shows wine production in the Zagros mountains of Iran dating to 5400 BCE — among the oldest known in the world. The Zoroastrian Haoma ceremony involves ritual consumption of a sacred drink. The culture of wine is, in significant part, a Persian inheritance.

The Count

Go back and count.

23 words you speak every day that are Persian.

10 theological concepts that structure your entire moral universe — all Zoroastrian.

3 games you play that were invented or codified in Zoroastrian Persia.

8 systems you depend on that Persia gave the world.

11 foods you eat that are Persian in origin or name.

5 garments you wear that trace to Persian culture.

5 calendar traditions you celebrate that started in Zoroastrian Persia.

3 architectural innovations that shape the buildings you enter.

4 scientific contributions that structure modern knowledge.

3 cultural inheritances you never think about.

75 things. Seventy-five points of contact between your daily life and a civilization most people think is extinct.

Zoroastrianism is not dead. It is not dying. It is not a footnote.

It is the water you swim in.

You were already Zoroastrian. You just didn’t know it.

Sources & References

efiretemple.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *