Prague, 3 July 2000 (RFE/RL) -- The ancient Persian empire was established ... and Islam replaced Zorastrianism as the state religion. These changes had a profound impact on the many religious ...

Its roots are as a feast day in Zoroastrianism, a religion practiced in ancient Persia that viewed the arrival ... out of fear it might detract from the state religion. But those attempts failed ...

And third, at a time when the regime in Iran has never been more dangerous and provocative against the Jewish state, it was precisely the ancient Persian empire that also played a role in saving ...

The foundations of Iran tie into its long and rich religious history and development, starting from ancient times and the ...

In doing so, evidence of both the interests of the Persian Empire and the respective local interests in self-assertion and in upholding their identity on the religious field are to be elaborated and, ...

Zoroastrianism was the dominant state religion of the Persian Sasanian Empire (224-656 AD). After the conquest of the Sasanian Empire by the Arabs in the mid-seventh century AD, Islam was imposed.