Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism and it's influence over Judaism
Among those who accept a tradition (Jeremiah 29:10) that the exile lasted 70 years, some choose the dates 608 to 538, others 586 to about 516 (the year when the rebuilt Temple was dedicated in Jerusalem).
Date: c. 598 BCE - c. 538
Flourished: c.600 BCE - c.551 BCE
Key People: Ezekiel Ezra Jeremiah Nebuchad...
Location: Babylonia
During the peak of the Persian Empire, Jews are thought to have comprised as much as 20% of the population. Jews trace their heritage in Iran to the Babylonian Exile of the 6th century BC and have retained their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identity.
The 5 C's of Historical Thinking
The Community Rule Scroll
Translation of the Community Rule Scroll
Serekh ha-Yahad
4Q258 (S[superscript]d)
Parchment
Copied late first century B.C.E. - early first century C.E.
Height 8.8 cm (3 7/16 in.), length 21.5 cm (8 7/16 in.)
Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority (7)
Originally known as The Manual of Discipline, the Community Rule contains a set of regulations ordering the life of the members of the "yahad," the group within the Judean Desert sect who chose to live communally and whose members accepted strict rules of conduct. This fragment cites the admonitions and punishments to be imposed on violators of the rules, the method of joining the group, the relations between the members, their way of life, and their beliefs. The sect divided humanity between the righteous and the wicked and asserted that human nature and everything that happens in the world are irrevocably predestined. The scroll ends with songs of praise to God.
A complete copy of the scroll, eleven columns in length, was found in Cave 1. Ten fragmentary copies were recovered in Cave 4, and a small section was found in Cave 5. The large number of manuscript copies attests to the importance of this text for the sect. This particular fragment is the longest of the versions of this text found in Cave 4.
Reference:
Qimron, E. "A Preliminary Publication of 4QS[superscript]d Columns VII-VIII" (in Hebrew). Tarbiz 60 (1991):435-37.