SOURCE: “Iconoclasm among the Zoroastrians” in Christianity, Judaism, and Other Greco-Roman Cults, Part Four, edited by Jacob Neusner, E. J. Brill, 1975, pp. 93-111.

In the essay below, Boyce examines the way in which the veneration of fire, which served an important role in Zoroaster's teachings, was transformed by his followers to a ritual temple cult.

The iconoclastic movement in Christianity has been carefully studied, as has Islamic iconomachy, but the origins of both still present problems; and in investigating these consideration should certainly be given to the fact that Zoroastrianism, ancient and until the 9th century a.d. immensely influential, had an iconoclastic movement which preceded both, and which may well have played a part in inspiring them. Zoroastrian iconoclasm has been ignored for various reasons. The history of the faith is poorly documented for all periods before the 17th century a.d., and has to be pieced...