--from the Peony archives (re-uploaded for fellow spiritualist, treasure hunter and all around intriguer Don Croner in UB).
Anyone who wants to read up on the history of the Silk Road will immediately hear about Richard Foltz's Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the 15th Century. I bought the book when it was first published almost ten years ago. Such was the positive hype around the book that I have been saving it-- like someone might save a particularly good year of brandy or expensive bottle of champagne-- for just the right time.
This weekend, the right time at last presented itself. Cracking open the first pages of the book on the Shinkansen traveling West toward Mount Fuji, I must admit-- I immediately found the book absolutely fascinating. There are sadly few books that take in the span of the world's great religions from the perspective of the early period. Indeed, the religions we recognize today as Christianity, Buddhism or Judaism were quite different 1000 years ago....
And not only that, but considering that all the major religions of the world had their origins along the lands of the Silk Road-- where there was a stunning amount of inter-cultural exchange, it should come as no surprise to find out that there was much cross-fertilization of ideas, which would have a profound impact on the religions that have come down to us today.
The Silk Road was, after all, the great highway across the spine of Asia which saw not only a phenomenal exchange of goods, but a surprising exchange of ideas as well.
First, bear with me-- I am going to dive into a topic I don't know all that much about: early Judaism. I am, of course, going to avoid the topic of which is the world's oldest monotheistic religion too. On an old BBC In Our Time show devoted to Zoroastrianism, the panel had a good chuckle when the host, Melvyn Bragg, tried to bring up that question of what is the world's oldest extant religion. Let's just say they are both very, very old religions. And while both are still in existence, only Judaism remains one of the world's major religions.
King David-- the beloved,--not only ruled the ancient Kingdom of Israel (centered in Jerusalem) but he was so adept at the harp that he was said to be able to calm the evil spirits of men. The harp is one of the world's most ancient instruments-- and Israel is one of the world's most ancient Kingdoms. We are talking, you will understand, of a time some 3000 years ago.
It must have been glorious but as all things of greatness, it's day came and went as David's great Kingdom was crushed in two waves. The first came as a result of the Assyrians who ransacked the Northern part of the Kingdom in 722 (that is 722 BC!) and relocated all the inhabitants by force to other parts of the Assyrian Empire. The Southern Kingdom (Judah) somehow managed to survive intact for another century. However, in 587 BC the Babylonians arrived. Again, all the residents who survived the initial attack were forcibly relocated back to Mesopotamia (where they were put to work as slaves).
This sorry state of affairs, however, wasn't too last long as Cyrus the Great (Otherwise known as Khurosh-e kabir) led his unstoppable Persian Empire army into Mesopotamia where he invaded Babylon and set all the Jewish slaves free, thereby ending the Babylonian captivity. Many of the freed Jewish slaves returned to their homeland. Many too stayed in Persia--thereby forming the origins of Iran's present-day Jewish communities (granted many now live in Los Angeles!)
Cyrus the Great (the real one) must have been in a very good mood indeed, for not only did he free the Jewish slaves, but he granted protection of their religion as well. Foltz in his book goes on to argue that the Jewish religion was heavily influenced by the Zoroastrianism of the Persians during this period. This happened both in communities that elected to stay in Babylonia as well as those which returned to their homeland (for all was in effect part of the great Persian Achaemenid Empire, which stretched from modern day Turkey in the West to the Indus River in the East).
Foltz in-- what to me-- was a surprising turn, goes on to describe the changes that the Jewish religion undertook during this period. In a nutshell, he says that the following concepts did not exist in Judaism prior to this period and their origins can be traced to Iranian sources(that is they all have Iranian/Zoroastrian origin). These are:
1) Eschatological concepts of coming Messiah/Savior, bodily resurrection, Last Judgment
2) Heaven/Paradise and Hell (punishment for the wicked)
3) Angels and Demons/devils
4) Numerology based on Number 7
To my knowledge, no one has refuted any of his claims, and this leads to the question, of course, what was Judaism before that without the above concepts?
Not surprisingly, the author since this work has turned increasingly to research into ancient Persia and came out with another book (which I would very much like to read next) called Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World's Religions.
This is exactly the kind of "borrowing" that Hattori wants us to think about in terms of our present situation. He wants us to remember a time when peoples and religions were *mutually* interconnected. Of course, Judaism forms the great base of Christianity, but Judaism itself was in all probability heavily influenced during its late period by Persian Zoroastrianism.
**
Anyway, I now want to go back to the first invasion of Israel by the Assyrians in 722 BC. That was when the residents of Israel were forcibly brought to the far Eastern reaches of the Assyrian empire-- to Khorason (modern day Eastern Iran and Afghanistan). The Israelite presence in Central Asia is thought to have begun at this time-- and as one of the great peoples of trade it is not out of the realm of possibility to imagine that they in fact did make it as far as China ("The Jews of Kaifeng").
These forcibly relocated prisoners of war were, of course, said to be one of the lost Ten Tribes of Israel.
The story of the Lost Ten Tribes, based mainly on biblical sources, has intrigued people in much the same way as the Silk Road itself. To imagine these ten tribes of people, scattered to the four corners of the earth, well, you have to admit it captures the imagination. And, then when you hear who they are reputed to be, that is I think what really hooks you in. The Kashmiris? The Pahtuns? The Ethiopians? The Japanese? The Sakas? The Kurds? The Lemba Tribe (of South Africa)? The Jews of Kaifeng? The Irish (!)..... The list continues. I mean if you stop to think about it, these are all the people who themselves think they are somehow culturally or ethnically different from the people around them.
In my last post, I asked the question, Where would you live if you lived 1400 years ago? I think the answer to that question is simple. But what about 3000 years ago? Well, I know I where wouldn't have wanted to be. And that is in David's Kingdom!
But was Babylon, really as bad as people say?
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Below is another strategy for my 基本対策 list (for use against my enemies).
PS
Earl and I have been having an interesting conversation about the concept of sacrifice in Christianity and Judaism in the comments of my Dreaming of Carthage post
And for a kilt recommendation, see this one with pockets big enough to "hold all your crap" (like beer bottles and keitai!)
Posted by: Peony | October 14, 2009 at 09:11 PM