Essay on the Sacred Fire and on the Vestals

Magi The author refers to the ancient Persian priestly caste; they persisted in believing in the existence of a single, eternal God, and transmitted this dogma to their posterity. The Parsis Followers of Zoroastrianism in India and Persia still respect it today; the persecutions of the Mohammedans Historical term for Muslims have not been able to turn them away from the Religion they hold from their ancestors; it is not at all idolatrous; if it had been so in the past, how could it no longer be so today? It is hardly the nature of error to purify itself over time; one sees, on the contrary, truth becoming obscured from century to century and changing into error.

Doctor Hyde Thomas Hyde (1636–1703), an English orientalist and author of "Historia Religionis Veterum Persarum", who conducted profound research on the Religion of the ancient Persians, has sufficiently cleared it of the reproach of idolatry: he pushed his attention so far as to inquire exactly into the current sentiments of the Parsis regarding the Sun and Fire; the Priests from whom these clarifications were sought replied: "We worship neither the Sun nor the Stars; we do not pay them any particular honor; if we turn toward them while praying, it is because we know of nothing that possesses greater radiance."

It is not known precisely at what time this worship was established in Persia, or the Country of Elam An ancient civilization in what is now southwestern Iran; Persian Historians assert that Keyumars, their first King, introduced it into his States. This Keyumars appears to many Scholars to be the same as Deioces The first king of the Medes according to Herodotus; be that as it may, this worship must have been very ancient, since the general opinion of the Persians was that it had begun with their Monarchy.

I have already said that some Writers regard Abraham as the restorer of this Religion; the Persians go further, they attribute its establishment to him; the Sabians A religious group mentioned in the Quran, often associated with star-worship or Gnosticism also wanted to see in him the author of their superstitions; both have called their faith Kish-Abraham The Religion of Abraham. They claim that they hold their sacred books from him. The Parsis themselves believe that he lived in the city of Balkh. It is possible that some of the dogmas of their belief were consistent with those of this Patriarch; but it is not certain that he went to their country; his reputation would have spread there, and they would have thought to make him be regarded as the founder of these religious ceremonies to make them more respectable.

The Greeks represented the Persians as gross idolaters, who knew no other Gods than the Sun and Fire; but the latter justify themselves against this absurdity. One can believe them better informed of their own antiquities than the Greeks were. A traveler never knows the customs of a country as well as the inhabitants themselves who are subject to them. Objects strike them; they exercise their imagination to discover the causes; rarely do they ask for an explanation; if sometimes they deign to take this trouble, they do not place much value on what they are told when it does not conform to their way of seeing and thinking. This was especially the fault of Greek travelers; from there
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