ple to another. But certain it is that at the beginning of our
era certain Mazdean conceptions had already spread outside of Asia. The
extent of the influence of Parseeism upon the beliefs of Israel under the
Achemenides cannot be determined, but its existence is undeniable.[7] Some
of its doctrines, as for instance those relating to angels and demons, the
end of the world and the final resurrection, were propagated everywhere in
the basin of the Mediterranean as a consequence of the diffusion of Jewish
colonies.

On the other hand, ever since the conquests of Cyrus and Darius, the active
attention of the Greeks had been drawn toward the doctrines and religious
practices of the new masters of the Orient.[8] A number of legends
representing Pythagoras, Democritus and other philosophers as disciples of
the magi prove the prestige of that powerful sacerdotal class. The
Macedonian conquest, which placed the Greeks in direct relations with
numerous votaries of Mazdaism, gave a new impetus to works treating that
religion, and the great scientific movement inaugurated by Aristotle caused
many scholars to look into the doctrines taught by the Persian subjects of
the Seleucides. We know from a reliable source that the works catalogued
under the name of Zoroaster in the library of Alexandria contained two
million lines. This immense body of sacred literature was bound to attract
the attention of scholars and to call forth the reflections of
philosophers. The dim and dubious science that reached {139} even the lower
classes under the name of "magic" was to a considerable extent of Persian
origin, as its name indicates, and along with physician's recipes and
thaumaturgic processes it imparted some theological doctrines in a confused
fashion.[9]

This explains why certain institutions and beliefs of the Persians had
found imitators and adepts in the Greco-Oriental world long before the
Romans had gained a foothold in Asia. Their influence was indirect, secret,
frequently indiscernible, but it was certain. The most active agencies in
the diffusion of Mazdaism as of Judaism seem to have been colonies of
believers who had emigrated far from the mother country. There was a
Persian dispersion similar to that of the Israelites. Communities of magi
were established not only in eastern Asia Minor, but in Galatia, Phrygia,
Lydia and even in Egypt. Everywhere they remained attached to their customs
and beliefs with persistent tenacity.[10]