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Oh, and one other thing: Palestine was a Persian province for about two hundred years, from the time that Kurosh (Cyrus) the Great swept through from the East until Alexander the Great swept through from the West. During that time the Jews prospered under Persian rule. One time I attended an Iranian New Year celebration with my companion at the time, who was Jewish, and she whispered to me, "If I'd known I was coming to a Seder I'd have gotten dressed up." And I realized then and there, there is no possible way that the similarity between the Noruz celebration and the Passover celebration could be coincidental. They occur around the time of the spring equinox; they involve a shared evening meal with symbolic dishes; and the evening is given over to readings from traditional poetry and texts. I'm not saying that Passover grew out of Noruz, but it's likely to me that they have a common origin in a spring equinox celebration. Also, the gospels speak of a party in the Jewish leadership called "Pharisees." One characteristic of the Arabic language (and its Aramaic precursor) is that it does not like to put two consonants together. The capital of Iran to a Persian is "Tehran"; to an Arab it is "Teheran." The official language of Iran is Farsi (Persian); in Arabic the language is called "Farisi." Hello? Is it possible that the seeds of the Mithra religion were already planted in Judaea by the first century C.E.? It is not only possible; it is likely. -Tom ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
