Zoroastrianism

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A faith born in the distant prehistoric past, rooted in ancient Iranian texts over 4,000 years old, Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest living religions. and one that shaped empires.

In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Almut Hintze to explore the origins, beliefs, and enduring legacy of Zoroastrianism. From the teachings of the prophet Zarathustra and the central role of Ahura Mazda, to holy fire and its influence on the Achaemenid and Sasanian worlds, join us to discover how this ancient religion helped shape ancient empires and Persian identity for millennia

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Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

Theme music from Motion Array, all other music from Epidemic Sounds

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Ever wondered why the Romans were defeated in the Tudorburg forest?
0:04.0	What secrets lie buried in prehistoric Ireland?
0:07.0	Or what made Alexander truly great?
0:10.0	With a subscription to history hit, you can explore our ancient past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists.
0:17.0	You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week
0:22.5	covering everything from the ancient world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com slash subscribe.
0:30.2	Hey guys, I hope you're doing well. You might remember a few weeks back I did an introduction
0:35.5	where I mentioned how I was going to interview a professor
0:38.4	about Zoroastrianism. Well, that interview went really well and I'm delighted to share
0:43.2	the episode with you now. Our guest is Professor Almut Hintzer. She is a leading expert on
0:49.8	Zoroastrianism. She's based at SOAS, the University of London. She was so warm and welcoming when she let us into her office and we interviewed her for roughly an hour on the big picture of Zoroastrianism in antiquity. What do we know about its origins? What are its key beliefs? This was a really interesting chat, delving deep into what Zoroastrianism is and I really do hope you enjoy.
1:12.6	It's a religion with roots deep in the prehistoric past, and that still endures down to the present day.
1:30.3	Centered around beliefs passed down for more than 3,000 years, preserved in an archaic Iranian language.
1:39.3	The religion of Zoroastrianism.
1:42.3	In antiquity, Zoroastrianism was central to several great ancient Iranian
1:47.3	empires, from the Achaemenids to the Sassanians. But what do we know about this religion?
1:53.7	What were, and still are, its key beliefs? How did it emerge? Who are these central figures of
2:00.3	Ahura Mazda and the Prophet Sarathustra?
2:03.3	And why is fire so important? This is the story of Zoroastrianism with our guest, Professor Almit
2:11.5	Hince. Almit, it is such a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. Oh, the pleasure is all mine. I'm delighted to have you here and to talk to you about Zoroastrianism.
2:20.7	I mean, yes, because can we say it is the oldest or one of the oldest living religions today?
2:26.1	I would say so. I would say one of the oldest, because there may be religions still being practiced of which we do not know.
	...

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