Origin from 465 BCE
Under Artaxerxes I, who ruled the Achaemenid Persian Empire from 465 to 424 BCE, more than eight decades after Cyrus the Great founded the empire, Zoroastrianism became the empire's de facto religion. It continued spreading under Artaxerxes II's forty-five-year reign, 405 to 358 BCE, when it reached from Armenia through Asia Minor and into the Levant. This is Zoroastrianism's earliest recorded state patronage, more than six centuries before the Sassanid state religion already on this atlas's map; the tradition's own founding figure and its very earliest following are not independently dated here, and this event marks only its rise to state standing.
Facts
Dates
Start YearSourced to the subject's own account-465 marks Artaxerxes I's accession, when the source states Zoroastrianism became the empire's de facto religion; -358 marks the end of Artaxerxes II's reign, when the source states the religion had spread into Asia Minor and the Levant. Neither Zoroaster's own lifetime nor Cyrus the Great's personal beliefs are dated by this event. End YearSourced to the subject's own account StatusSourced to the subject's own account Learn More
How Zoroastrianism Became the Achaemenid State's De Facto Religion
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Zoroastrianism became the de facto religion of the Achaemenid Persian Empire under Artaxerxes I, who ruled from 465 to 424 BCE, more than eight decades after Cyrus the Great had founded the empire. State patronage did not appear at the empire's founding: it took several generations of Achaemenid rule before the Persian court gave the tradition this standing.
The pattern continued under Artaxerxes I's successor. Artaxerxes II ruled for forty five years, from 405 to 358 BCE, and during his reign Zoroastrianism's reach extended from Armenia through Asia Minor and into the Levant, carried by an empire that by then had held the faith as its own for generations.
This period marks the earliest recorded state patronage of Zoroastrianism, more than six centuries before the Sassanid Empire later made it Persia's official state religion outright. The tradition's own founding figure and its earliest following are not independently dated from this period; what the Achaemenid record fixes is only the point at which the imperial state itself took up the faith.
What the reigns of Artaxerxes I and Artaxerxes II changed for Zoroastrianism's spread was the difference between a Persian faith and an imperial one. Once the Achaemenid court patronized the religion, it traveled with the empire's own administration across three continents, carried far beyond wherever it began.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Armenia directly: "n, 405 to 358 BCE, when it reached from Armenia through Asia Minor and into the Levant."
This source names Asia directly: "when it reached from Armenia through Asia Minor and into the Levant."
This source names Persians directly: "Under Artaxerxes I, who ruled the Achaemenid Persian Empire from 465 to 424 BCE, more than eight decades after Cyrus the Great founded the empire, Zoroastrianism became the empire's de facto religion."
This source names The Levant directly: "Armenia through Asia Minor and into the Levant."
Occurred In
Anchored to the modern country entity for Iran, matching how this atlas already anchors Zoroastrianism's Sassanid-era and Arab-conquest events to the same entity rather than to the historical region name.
Spread Event Of
Zoroastrianism's earliest event on this atlas's map, more than six centuries before the existing Sassanid state-religion event (224 to 379 CE) and under a different, earlier Persian empire.
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.