Notes

ZOROASTRIANISM

--Born in ancient Iran at least 3,500 years ago. it all began around 1500 BCE.
--While we call the religion Zoroastrianism, actual Zoroastrians tend to call it Mazdayasna, meaning Worshipper of Mazda.
--Zoroastrianism was the chief religion of Iran for over 1000 years. Between the 6th century BCE and the 10th century CE, it was the state religion of 3 huge Iranian Empires, The Achaemenid Empire, along with the Parthian and Sasanian Empires.
--Back then, the priest of Zoroastrianism was known as Magi. The ancient greek thought the Magi had secret magical knowledge because they understood complex astronomy. Because of this, this led to the English word "magic", "mage", and "magician". The Magi would even show up in the Bible, according to the gospel of Matthew, 3 Zoroastrian Magi came to visit the baby Jesus. These 3 wise men as they are known in English are still celebrated by Christians worldwide on January 6. Eventually, the Sassanian Empire would fall to the Muslim Arabs during their invasion of Iran in the seventh century CE, which started the decline and persecution of Zoroastrianism in Iran.
--Following this in the tenth century, some Iranian Zoroastrians fled to India, forming the Parsi community, named after where they came from, which the Indians called Parsis. This once refugee community now forms the largest group of Zoroastrians anywhere on Earth and they settled in quite well.