Willy Minnix

Why I don’t think Zoroaster influenced Daniel:

-          The Zoroastrian sacred texts (the Avesta) were supposedly written down in 346-360 AD, though the earliest copies we have are from the 1200’s. There are references to Zoroastrian belief as late as Plutarch in AD46 – AD120, who believed Zoroaster lived at 6,000 BC, which is ridiculous.

-          What we know about Zoroaster was written down at least 929 years after he was supposed to have lived. We don’t know anything specifically about him that comes from the time in which he lived.

-          Zoroaster was supposed to have died in 583 BC, which would put him contemporaneously with the prophet Daniel, though they claim that he wrote the Avesta sometime before the 10 Century BC. It is ridiculous to believe the Zoroaster lived from 1000 BC to 583 BC that would make Zoroaster over 400 years old.

-          Many claim that the stories of Jesus were based on Zoroaster, however, the stories of Zoroaster were written down in 346-360 AD, 300 years after Jesus lived. Isn’t it more conceivable that Zoroastrian similarities to Jesus were based on Jesus, since they were written down 300 years later?

-          Many of the stories about Zoroaster are similar also to Daniel, and we know that the earliest references to Daniel are at the latest within a couple hundred years of when Daniel lived. Doesn’t it make sense that maybe Zoroaster was based on Daniel, and not the other way around?

-          Babylonian and Persian society was polytheistic before Daniel. Many of the Persian kings were descended from Esther. Monotheism developed in Israel first before Persia, and history shows that for a fact that Babylon conquered Israel, bringing monotheism in contact with Babylonian religion. The Babylonians were overthrown by the polytheistic Persians, who were then brought into contact with the monotheistic Jews. After Persian contact with Jews Persians became monotheistic. We can’t prove that Zoroastrianism as we know it today even existed at the time of the Jewish captivity in Babylon, therefore, wouldn’t it make sense that the Monotheistic elements of Zoroastrianism came from Daniel, and not the other way around?