Towers of silence

Tower of Silence in use,
vultures waiting patiently above

Ever since my two-week visit to Iran in 2011, I've held myself out as an expert on all matters Iranian and Persian, smiling condescendingly at any opinions expressed by those who had never been there.  So, of course, I was interested in last night's final lecture of the UW Alumni lecture series -- this one discussing life, death, heaven, and hell in "Ancient Iran."

It was the largest audience of the series, including an unusually large number of students from Roosevelt and Garfield high schools.  Whether attendance was heavy because it was the last chance to catch one of this year's lectures, or because of interest in Iran, or for other reasons, I have no idea.

The lecture was actually limited to a discussion of Zoroastrianism, the more or less indigenous religion of the Persian Empire -- an empire stretching at its maximum extent from India to Turkey, before being subdued by Alexander the Great.  Persia as a great and independent empire was temporarily eclipsed by Alexander's conquest, but Zoroastrianism continued throughout the region until the Arab invasions brought Islam to the area in the seventh century A.D.

As the lecturer explained, Islam's victory over Zoroastrianism was not instantaneous, but proceeded steadily over a period of time.  In recent times, the religion has continued to exist primarily in parts of India and Central Asia.  The lecture opened with a photograph of the Tower of Silence in Yazd, in southeastern Iran, which was in use until very recently.  Yazd, like portions of Central Asia, was an area remote enough to escape thorough subjugation by Islam.

I had visited the Tower of Silence in Yazd, and was excited to see early photographs taken when the tower was used for its intended use -- a place where the dead were undressed and laid in rows about a circular hole, awaiting the attention of the ever-present buzzards.  The buzzards picked the bodies clean within hours, and the bare bones were pushed into the central pit. 

The speaker pointed out that almost every religion and culture has taboos against allowing the dead to be eaten by predators.  The only other place, according to the speaker, where something similar occurs is Tibet.  The practice evolved from the Zoroastrian belief in what I guess we would now call a Manichean world, where the power of the creator, Ahura Mazda, contends against the powers of darkness.  Dead flesh belonged to the forces of disorder and evil. Vultures, and notably dogs, were agents of good, removing the corrupt flesh from the world. 

The lecture focused not only on the towers of silence, but on funeral arrangements in general.  It also observed that some of the most eye-boggling and gruesome visions of Hell have come from Zoroastrian writings and carvings.  Although no known direct connection exists between Zoroastrian visions of Hell and the descriptions of Hell in medieval Christian writings, including Dante's Inferno, the resemblance is striking.   We were also showed illustrations of the souls of the dead being weighed after death, their thoughts, words, and deeds during life determining their final destination.

The lecture was interesting, but a greater background in Zoroastrian theology would have made much of it easier to understand and assimilate.   But again, the lecture was limited to 45 minutes, with maybe ten more minutes for a few questions.