• Its main dh-isiona are the Yasrui (abbreviated T» ), which includes the oldest part, the Gdtfids, or hymns ; the VathU (}'0, hymns in honour ot old nature powers; End the Ven- diddil (Vd ), the Leviticus of Parsism. Many of the most imiwrtanlof the 'Rabbinic' writings of Parnism are translated by Dr. E. W. West in the Sacred Books nf the Ea»i (SBE). Il this series also Is found the beat tmulation ot the Avesta Itaell, by Darmesteter and Uilla.
20R0ASTRIANISM
ZOROASTRLVNISM
989
these doctrines were prevalent ' in the cities of the Medes,' and other regions inhabited by Israelites during and after the Exile, may also be regarded as certain. Moreover, it is fair to argue that the Jews would be predisposed to look fav ourably on the religion of their liberator Cyrus. (That the early Acha-nienian kings did hold what may be fairly desoribcd as Zoroastrian faith, may be assumed as probable, though not at all certain.) At present we have to show how far the Zoroastrian and the later Jewish systems coincide, and examine what reason there is for assuming that foreign inllu- ence aflected the development of Judaism. Before discussing this question, we may deal with the few passages of the Bible and Apocrypha in which direct allusion is made to Zoroastrian institutions.
3. There are two allusions in the Prophets which have caused no little difficulty, since both of them refer to pre-exilic times. In Jer 30'- '•' Kab-m.\g appears to be the IJabylonian title of an ollicial head of a sacred caste, like the Magian ii-ei/jcnroXot of Astyagcs in Hdt. i. 108. By itself this passage is not decisive: Tiele (Rdiqionsgesch. ii. llOf.) would deny the connexion of the Rabmag with Median Magi, and make him no religious officer at all.* Tiele has not dealt with the very remark- able passage, Ezk 8'"-, which creates a strong presumption that there were Magi outside Zoro- astrianism, whose influence was felt at Jerusalem before the Exile. The prophet sees sundry ' abominations ' in the temple, the worst of which are sun-worshippers who ' put the branch to their nose.' This 'bianch,' despite Gunkel, must be the bnrsom, or 'bundle of line tamarisk boughs' (Strabo, xv. 3. 14), which the Parsi priest of to- day holds up to his face at worship. Now, if this were 'a distinctively Persian rite' (Davidson, in loo.), it would be 'hardly probable at so early a date in Israel.' But it is only Magian, and not Persian at all. It belongs to the mass of ritual which the Magi contrived to graft long after this time upon the Mazdavasna, hitherto almost desti- tute of ceremonies anil priestly rites. If, then, this characteristically Magian rite lias penetrated as far as Jerusalem in the 7th cent. B.C., it is no longer 'improbable ' (Tiele) that these famous medicine- men should have 'come from Media to Babylon.' On the contrary, their success at Jerusalem is more easily explaineil if they had alreadj' a footing at Babylon.
4. The presence of Parsism in Tobit is so clear that we may fairly discuss it at this point. That 'Atrixooam ( B 'A(rfJiioavs) is A rshma dacna, ' the demon Wrath,' t has been generally accepted, though no very successful attempt h.as been made to account for this and other Parsi traits in a Jewish romance. A key to the (h.aracter of the book may perhaps be found in the recognition of a Median folklore story which a Jewish author has adapted : see the de- tails of this tlieor\' worked out in a paper by the present writer in Jixpos. Times, March I'JOO. The following will be included among the features of the original storj'. (l)Tlie scene is in Media, a meeting-place of Ir.anian and Semitic, and especi- ally in ' Zoro.istrian Itagha' ('Pdyai Ti}5 MriSlas, 9" K). (2) The demon .'\cshma, aa is natural in a popular story, has enlarged his functions to include 'Lust, haitl by Hate,' his Avestan attribute. His opponent in the Median original would be Siaosha, the angel ' Obedience,' wliom Parsism sets in
• He coniparcfl the Awyr. ma;) *prcat,' bo that the word would mean 'prince'; cf. *~iv^ in Jer. l,c, But is this distinctive enough, where other classes of olllcers are mentioned side by side with him?
f The traimlation 'covetous or histfu!,' (rivrn aliove under ASMoo.KCS, is haflcd only on an a'<.<(unie<l etymolo^^y, and flnds no 8U|)port In I'ar^i text*i. Note that the two wordn have become one, the Avesta here, a3 Id Ahura ilazdah and Artffra Ma\nj/u, keeping tbem separate.
special antagonism to AuCTa Mainyu's arch-fiend Aeshnia. Behind him doubtle.ss stands the 'grate- ful dead man ' of the folk-tale, found widely in tha East,* on which Hans Andersen based his Travel- ling Companion. Raphael therefore is ultimately substituted for the dead man of To 2'. (3) The extraordinary emphasis laid on the duty of burying the dead strongly recalls the Vendidad, and it seems clear that the Jewish adapter has simply substituted burial for the Parsi ' Tower of Silence,' on which the vultures strip the bones. Great merit is accumulated when the faithful Parsi, with a companion, — it is mortal sin to do it alone, — removes a corpse thither from polluting the sacred earth. In the original, therefore, the prototypes of Tobit and Tobias must have done this [lious work to- gether. Moreover, a dog was necessary, that his glance might exorcise the corrujition fiend.t Hence the entirely otiose and un Jewish dog which sur- vives in To 6' (S)aud5" ll^(B). In addition to this, there is a clear reference in 4" (B) to the draona, tha ' corpse-cake.' t (4) There seem very clear allu- sions (see 6", and note the attempt at explanation in N : also cf. 3" and 3") to the idea of the merit of marriage with near kin. Now this, in the form of first-cousin-marriage, has always been prominent in Parsism.§ The Magi went further, and made themselves notorious in antiquity by their vehe- ment preaching of incestuous unions, to which they attributeil extraordinary virtue. In the Median Tobit no doubt Raguel and the hero were brothers, so that 7'' (S) may be taken literally. (5) The charm by which Tobit's blindness is healed is very much like one found in the Shah N.lmeh of Firdausi ; see the story in Atkinson's epitome (Chandos Classics), p. Iu6. The jiarallel suggests that in the Median story the blindness may have been caused by demons' enchantment ; the fish in 6- looks also like a demon. (6) In 8'(N, the original text clearly) the demon (lies dvw eis rd m^PI A.lyi- TTTov. That the original Aramaic || DTiD was a blunder for p-i:iD w.as suggested by Kohut.H and in spite of Niildeke's objection seems highly prob- able. Mflzindaran was especially the land of .sorcery ; and on Mt. Dimavand therein (cf. dnj in 8') the hero Thraetaona ' bound ' (<n«7r65i(rtr avrdv xal iirloriijeii, ib. ) the old serpent Azhi Dahftka. (7) The seven angels of 12" may in the original liave been the Amshaspands, who are often made seven by the addition either of Ahura Mazda or of Sr.aosha. If this is so — and it is not really neces- sary— we have the only distinctively Zoroastrian feature in Tobit ; the rest are probably Magian, .and may well antedate the Zoroastrian reform. But, of course, we have no means of dating the original story. It is noteworlliy that there is practically no eschatology in the book ; if its original was untouched by Zoroastrian ism projier, this would be natural. It follows that we cannot rely much on Tobit as a channel for Parsi influences on Judaism. The utmost, therefore, that the book teaches us is that Israelites dwelling in Media were not strongly prejudiced ag.ainst their neighbours (cf. 14*), nor perhaps impervious to their religion.