which it originated.

During the domination of the Achemenides eastern {144} Asia Minor was
colonized by the Persians. The uplands of Anatolia resembled those of
Persia in climate and soil, and were especially adapted to the raising of
horses.[17] In Cappadocia and even in Pontus the aristocracy who owned the
soil belonged to the conquering nation. Under the various governments which
followed after the death of Alexander, those landlords remained the real
masters of the country, chieftains of clans governing the canton where they
had their domains, and, on the outskirts of Armenia at least, they retained
the hereditary title of satraps through all political vicissitudes until
the time of Justinian, thus recalling their Persian origin.[18] This
military and feudal aristocracy furnished Mithradates Eupator a
considerable number of the officers who helped him in his long defiance of
Rome, and later it defended the threatened independence of Armenia against
the enterprises of the Caesars. These warriors worshiped Mithra as the
protecting genius of their arms, and this is the reason why Mithra always,
even in the Latin world, remained the "invincible" god, the tutelary deity
of armies, held in special honor by warriors.

Besides the Persian nobility a Persian clergy had also become established
in the peninsula. It officiated in famous temples, at Zela in Pontus and
Hierocaesarea in Lydia. Magi, called _magousaioi_ or _pyrethes_
(firelighters) were scattered over the Levant. Like the Jews, they retained
their national customs and traditional rites with such scrupulous loyalty
that Bardesanes of Edessa cited them as an example in his attempt to refute
the doctrines of astrology and to show that a nation can retain the same
customs in different climates.[19] We know their religion sufficiently to
be {145} certain that the Syrian author had good grounds for attributing
that conservative spirit to them. The sacrifices of the _pyrethes_ which
Strabo observed in Cappadocia recall all the peculiarities of the Avestan
liturgy. The same prayers were recited before the altar of the fire while
the priest held the sacred fasces (_barecman_); the same offerings were
made of milk, oil and honey; and the same precautions were taken to prevent
the priest's breath from polluting the divine flame. Their gods were
practically those of orthodox Mazdaism. They worshiped Ahura Mazda, who had
to them remained a divinity of the sky as Zeus and Jupite