Gad Barnea

And they used the term, the Western term, at-rodan, or the Indo-Iranian term, for a fire holder, which is one of the

main um components of zoroastrianism right the fire holder the veneration of the fire it's not an altar because nothing is offered on it it's just it's a it exists for the veneration of the fire and the fire the fire in zoroastrianism is seen as the the son of ahura mazda the son of the deity of the main deity of zoroastrianism so um so we do have and this is a very compelling because you have within a yahwistic temple and they had their own altar

main um components of zoroastrianism right the fire holder the veneration of the fire it's not an altar because nothing is offered on it it's just it's a it exists for the veneration of the fire and the fire the fire in zoroastrianism is seen as the the son of ahura mazda the son of the deity of the main deity of zoroastrianism so um so we do have and this is a very compelling because you have within a yahwistic temple and they had their own altar

main um components of zoroastrianism right the fire holder the veneration of the fire it's not an altar because nothing is offered on it it's just it's a it exists for the veneration of the fire and the fire the fire in zoroastrianism is seen as the the son of ahura mazda the son of the deity of the main deity of zoroastrianism so um so we do have and this is a very compelling because you have within a yahwistic temple and they had their own altar

which they offered other sacrifices but within the temple they also had a fire holder and they are using the term the indo-iranian term for it and they could have it just if it was just a regular fire holder they could have just used in aramaic or

which they offered other sacrifices but within the temple they also had a fire holder and they are using the term the indo-iranian term for it and they could have it just if it was just a regular fire holder they could have just used in aramaic or

which they offered other sacrifices but within the temple they also had a fire holder and they are using the term the indo-iranian term for it and they could have it just if it was just a regular fire holder they could have just used in aramaic or

what you know they could have expressed it in our in pure aramaic they didn't have to use a technical cultic term in order to refer to this so within the temple they actually had a zoroastrian a clearly zoroastrian um um uh fire holder within the the the confines of the temple So that is very compelling. That is very strong in terms of influence.

what you know they could have expressed it in our in pure aramaic they didn't have to use a technical cultic term in order to refer to this so within the temple they actually had a zoroastrian a clearly zoroastrian um um uh fire holder within the the the confines of the temple So that is very compelling. That is very strong in terms of influence.

what you know they could have expressed it in our in pure aramaic they didn't have to use a technical cultic term in order to refer to this so within the temple they actually had a zoroastrian a clearly zoroastrian um um uh fire holder within the the the confines of the temple So that is very compelling. That is very strong in terms of influence.

Again, it does not mean that they converted to Zoroastrianism at all. I mean, as I said, there is cross-pollination constantly between all – everyone. Everyone is constantly – that is not – that does not mean that they turned into Zoroastrianism. Exactly. There's cross-pollination always, taking ideas, taking concepts, especially with the empire.

Again, it does not mean that they converted to Zoroastrianism at all. I mean, as I said, there is cross-pollination constantly between all – everyone. Everyone is constantly – that is not – that does not mean that they turned into Zoroastrianism. Exactly. There's cross-pollination always, taking ideas, taking concepts, especially with the empire.

Again, it does not mean that they converted to Zoroastrianism at all. I mean, as I said, there is cross-pollination constantly between all – everyone. Everyone is constantly – that is not – that does not mean that they turned into Zoroastrianism. Exactly. There's cross-pollination always, taking ideas, taking concepts, especially with the empire.

I mean, this is the empire that is now controlling everything about your life. And so clearly that does not mean… Anything more than just showing that you're a good citizen of the Achaemenid Empire. It does not mean more than that. But clearly they did adopt things in a more intimate level than possibly other cultic traditions. We don't know.

I mean, this is the empire that is now controlling everything about your life. And so clearly that does not mean… Anything more than just showing that you're a good citizen of the Achaemenid Empire. It does not mean more than that. But clearly they did adopt things in a more intimate level than possibly other cultic traditions. We don't know.

I mean, this is the empire that is now controlling everything about your life. And so clearly that does not mean… Anything more than just showing that you're a good citizen of the Achaemenid Empire. It does not mean more than that. But clearly they did adopt things in a more intimate level than possibly other cultic traditions. We don't know.

This is the earliest evidence that we have for a fire holder directly. Textual evidence that we have for a fire holder anywhere, really. We have fire holders depicted in the Achaemenid Empire, depicted on inscriptions, depicted as an image. We do have images of Zoroastrian priests around the fire holder. So we do know that these were part of the cult in the Kemenid times, not just at Elephantine.

This is the earliest evidence that we have for a fire holder directly. Textual evidence that we have for a fire holder anywhere, really. We have fire holders depicted in the Achaemenid Empire, depicted on inscriptions, depicted as an image. We do have images of Zoroastrian priests around the fire holder. So we do know that these were part of the cult in the Kemenid times, not just at Elephantine.

This is the earliest evidence that we have for a fire holder directly. Textual evidence that we have for a fire holder anywhere, really. We have fire holders depicted in the Achaemenid Empire, depicted on inscriptions, depicted as an image. We do have images of Zoroastrian priests around the fire holder. So we do know that these were part of the cult in the Kemenid times, not just at Elephantine.

But we don't have that as a text. We don't have a textual reference to it outside of Elephantine. So this is the first textual reference that we have. And it's within a Yahoistic context. So I think that's really the most compelling evidence of this cross-pollination between the Yahwists slash Jews and the Zoroastrians. But there's a lot more. There's a lot more.