Zoroastranisme en die ontstaan van apokaliptiese denke

Abstract

Where and how did apocalyptic thought originate? Ancient cultures looked at the world as a changeless essence. A battle between good and evil, order and chaos is distinctive of the world. But the victory of good and order is guaranteed. At the turn of the second millennium BCE the proto-Indo-Iranians trekked from what today are the Steppes of Russia, through Caucasia to different destinations. The Vedic Indians established themselves in the rich Indus valley, while the other group settled in the east of what is the Iran of today. The Vedic Indians preserved the ancient doctrine of a changeless universe, while an Iranian prophet by the name of Zarathustra, often better known by the Greek version thereof, Zoroaster, started teaching that this world would come to an end. Zoroaster subscribed to the doctrine of a battle between good and evil but, for the first time in history formulated the belief that a final victory of good over evil would lead to a new earth and a new heaven.