Historia religionis veterum Persarum, eorumque magorum, published by Thomas Hyde Oxford, 1760
You have before you the first work giving a complete description of the religions of ancient Iran. It was written by the English scholar Thomas Hyde (1636-1703), one of the greatest orientalists of his time.
A great connoisseur of Oriental languages, he studied Zoroastrianism not only by relying on Greek and Roman sources, but also by using sources, but also using works written in Arabic, Chinese, Syriac and Middle Persian (Pahlavi). Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest organised religions in the world, stemming from the reform of Indo- Iranian beliefs by the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra) in ancient times. It is still practised today, particularly in the regions of Yazd (Iran) and Bombay (India).
Some aspects of this religion, such as its messianism, beliefs in heaven and hell, angels and demons, and a judgement after death bring it closer to the Abrahamic religions. Our author also devotes long pages to Mithra, another very important Iranian god whose cult Iranian god whose cult was popular in the Roman Empire.
This exceptional and extremely rare work contains magnificent engravings that bear witness to the richness of Iranian religions and their influence, particularly in the Greco-Roman world.
