mithraism and christianity the mithraic branch of zoroastrianism also heavily influenced christianity it should not be neglected that aramaic was the language of administration of the persian empire and it is the same language used to write the bible zoroastrianism was the state religion of a large and continious empire in based out of mesopotomia and iran for up to years with brief periods of selucid and parthian rule this religion had a tremendous influence on all middle eastern culture and thought for the next years monotheism the prayer times a day the resurrection judgement day the saviour saoshyant in persian it's originally a persian word if you need references read these books there are many many more zoroastrianism a shadowy but powerful presence in the judaeo christian world mary boyce london and peake's commentary on the bible matthew black and h h rowley ed revised edition ny nelson section b