The religion of the Achaemenids : comparing sources

The Persians, whose clan came to power throughout the Near East in 521-522, were an Iranian people. We can therefore logically assume, and several testimonies confirm, that their religion is identical or similar to that of the Avestic texts composed as liturgical recitals several centuries earlier in eastern Iran. However, the religious reality of the Achaemenid Empire can only be accurately perceived by collating the documents that make up the cultural landscape of the ancient Near East, and which fall within the remit of the most diverse disciplines (Assyriology, archaeology, Elamology). The symposium is dedicated to this confrontation of sources and disciplines.