1) "It is believed that key concepts of Zoroastrian eschatology and demonology have had influence on the Abrahamic religions. On the other hand, Zoroastrianism itself inherited ideas from other belief systems and, like other practiced religions, accommodates some degree of syncretism." "Zoroastrianism is often compared with the Manichaeism, which is nominally an Iranian religion but has its origins in the Middle-Eastern Gnosticism. Superficially, such a comparison may be apt as both are uncompromisingly dualistic and Manichaeism nominally adopted many of the Yazatas for its own pantheon. Gherardo Gnoli, in Eliade, Mircea (ed.), The Encyclopaedia of Religion, MacMillan Library Reference USA, New York, 1993, volume 9, page 165, has this to say: "...we can assert that Manichaeism has its roots in the Iranian religious tradition and that its relationship to Mazdaism, or Zoroastrianism, is more or less like that of Christianity to Judaism". As religious types they are however poles apart:[21] Manichaeism equated evil with matter and good with spirit, and was therefore particularly suitable as a doctrinal basis for every form of asceticism and many forms of mysticism. Zoroastrianism on the other hand rejects every form of asceticism, has no dualism of matter and spirit (only of good and evil), and sees the spiritual world as not very different from the natural one and the word "paradise" (via Latin and Greek from Avestan pairi.daeza, literally "stone-bounded enclosure") applies equally to both. Manichaeism's basic doctrine was that the world and all corporeal bodies were constructed from the substance of Satan, an idea that is fundamentally at odds with the Zoroastrian notion of a world that was created by God and that is all good, and any corruption of it is an effect of the bad. From what may be inferred from many Manichean texts and a few Zoroastrian sources, the adherents of the two religions (or at least their respective priesthoods) despised each other intensely." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism#Relation_to_other_religions_and_cultures 2) "Boyce credits the religion known as Zoroastrianism for its influence of Abrahamic religions in the concepts of individual judgement (free will), Heaven and Hell, the future resurrection of the body, the general Last Judgement, and life everlasting for the reunited soul and body. It should be noted that some scholars believe that Judaism in fact influenced Zoroastrianism." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religion 3) "Zoroastrianism has considerable historical importance because of its geographical position astride the routes between East and West, and also because of its profound influence on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, especially in regard to beliefs on heaven, hell, resurrection of the dead and the final judgement. It is also thought that it inspired a belief in a saviour to come in Hinduism (Kalkin) and Buddhism." Source and further information: http://www.godweb.org/linkszoroastrianism.htm 4) ""Now it was from this very creed of Zoroaster that the Jews derived all the angelology of their religion...the belief in a future state; of rewards and punishments, ...the soul's immortality, and the Last Judgment - all of them essential parts of the Zoroastrian scheme." From The Gnostics and Their Remains (London 1887) by King and Moore quoted at 607a in Peake's Bible Commentary FROM ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA : "First, the figure of Satan, originally a servant of God, appointed by Him as His prosecutor, came more and more to resemble Ahriman, the enemy of God. Secondly, the figure of the Messiah, originally a future King of Israel who would save his people from oppression, evolved, in Deutero-Isaiah for instance, into a universal Savior very similar to the Iranian Saoshyant. Other points of comparison between Iran and Israel include the doctrine of the millennia; the Last Judgment; the heavenly book in which human actions are inscribed; the Resurrection; the final transformation of the earth; paradise on earth or in heaven; and hell." by J. Duchesne-Guillemin, University of Liege, Belgium MONOTHEISM Fundamentally the Jews were polytheists. But whatever its date, the idea of the covenant tells us that the Israelites were not yet monotheists, since it only made sense in a polytheistic setting. God stated that there are many gods: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"(Exodus 20:3). The full monotheistic conception of God came later (Isaiah 43:10-13, Jer 10:1-16). The second Isaiah juxtaposes the great Persian King Cyrus with the first monotheistic declarations in the Bible. The second Isaiah is the first expression of universalism which has no antecedent in the Bible, according to the Anchor Bible note at Isaiah 45. He also first introduces the idea of false gods - a fundamental and indispensable criteria for monotheism. A universal God determines that only one is worshiped; a tribal god, of necessity, implies polytheism since there are other tribes. Before the exile, God was a vengeful, bloodthirsty, and jealous anthropomorphic tribal God of fear. After the exile, He became a good, perfect, remote, and universal God of love: identical to Ahura-Mazda. It needed the subsequent missions of Nehemiah and Ezra backed by the Achaemenian Imperial Government's authority to make the Jews ruefully conform to the new ideal of monotheism." "CHRISTIANITY AS A MITHRIC CULT In addition, Christianity adopted these doctrines from Zoroastrianism: baptism, communion - the haoma ceremony, guardian angels, the heavenly journey of the soul, worship on Sunday, the celebration of Mithras' birthday on December 25th, celibate priests that mediate between man and God, the Trinity, Zvarnah - the idea that emanations from the sun are collected in the head and radiate in the form of nimbus and rays, and asha-arta, "the true prayer". Centuries later in Greece this became Logos or "true sentence" and like in Persia it was associated with fire. Mithraism is widely considered to be a syncretistic religion, that is: a combination of Persian, Babylonian and Greek influences. However, the Greek influence seems to be limited to the identification in Greece of Mithras with the Greek god Perseus. The Babylonian influence seems to have been limited to astrology. Perhaps, though, the Persian interest in astrology has been overlooked. Zoroastrians worshipped at alters on hills and had a whole class of professional Magi or priests who had lots of time on their hands to do astrological research. Rather than a syncretistic religion, it would be more proper to call Mithraism a Zoroastrian subcult. The center of the Mithric cult was in Tarsus in Cilicia, Southeast Turkey. This is whence Paul, the founder of the Christian church, came from as a young man. Paul's insight on the road to Damascus was that instead of treating Jesus as a false savior, he could be identified as the true savior if combined with the new idea of "the second coming". That would cure the embarrassing fact that nothing had come of Jesus' time on earth. The rest was simple, Paul identified Jesus with Mithras and taught a modified Mithraism. That got Paul branded as a heretic by the true church and James the brother of Jesus. Eventually it cost Paul his life. However, the Mithric ideas were so generally attractive that they eventually won out." Source and further information: http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6315/religion/zoro.html 5) Further information: - "Tenets of the Faith. The Kingdoms of Good and Evil. Millennial Doctrines. Ethical Teachings and Religious Practises. Priesthood and Ritual. Resemblances Between Zoroastrianism and Judaism. Causes of Analogies Uncertain. " http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=147&letter=Z - "Influence of Zoroastrianism on Judaism and Christianity": http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Religions/iranian/Zarathushtrian/zoroastrianism_influence.htm - "Zoroastrianism and Judaism: The Genesis of Comparative Beliefs of two Great Faiths": http://www.vohuman.org/Article/Zoroastrianism%20and%20Judaism.htm - "Influence of Zoroastrianism on other religions": http://www.zarathushtra.com/z/article/influenc.htm

Zoroastrianism predates Judaism, Christianity, and Islam according to historic records (not according to the bible, of course, for then Judaism would predate everything). Thus, I do not see how it can be a corruption of them. I can tell you that before the Babylonian Exile, the Jews had no concept of Satan/Lucifer/demons/angels/the whole good v. evil duality (at least from what information we have historically - this time the bible is included). Much of the Babylonians at that time were Zoroastrian and the duality belief system was assimilated into Jewish culture and customs. It is only during and after the exile that the books in the bible which do talk of angels/demons/Satan/etc. were written. Consequently, since Christianity and Islam spring from a Judaic foundation, they, too, share the same duality concept.

Zoroastrianism is a development of the Indo-Aryan religion practiced by the early Irani. Irani religion was closely related to Vedic Hinduism. Zoroaster/Zarathustra was a religious leader during the Persian empire (proably living between 600 Bc and 100 BC; some scholars try to push him further back, but that contradicts with the archaeological history of the Irani) who reformed traditional Irani religion, turning it from polytheistic to dualistic. One God Ahura Mazda ruled the pantheon thereafter, according to Zorastrian teachings, and the other gods were reduced to the level of assistants (sometimes termed "angels). Ahura Mazda was opposed by the evil opposite Angra Mainyu, who is sometimes called The Devil by western commentators on Zoroastrianism. In fact, Angra Mainyu is quite different from The Devil as seen in Judeo-Christian belief. Angra Mainyu is equal but opposite to Ahura Mazda, and the cosmos is in eternal struggle and will continue to be until the end of time, when he will be defeated As can be seen from the time dating, Zorostrianism cannot have had a great effect upon the development of Judaism, because Judaism developed c 2000 BC under Abraham, and reached a theological zenith under Moses who lived c 1600 BC. Even the great King David lived c 1000 Bc and the prophets continued to preach in Israel up until the 5th century BC. Zoroastrianism continued until the fall of Persia to Islam in the early 7th century. Many Christians and Christian centres flourished in Persia during the later Persian Empire, but Christianity was actively persecuted by the Persian state. It is, in my opinion, and in the opinion of most who have studied Zoroastrianism, that the relationships betwee Zorastrianism and Juedo-christian though are minimal. If anything, aspects of Judeo-christian though may have been taken into the formation of Zoroastrianism, as, at the time it was developing, Persia defeated israel and hundreds of thousands of Jews were taken into Persia by the King. This may have led to the "reform" attempt of Zoroaster, in which he tried to create a religion with a supreme god to counter the influence of Judaism in Persia. As you can see, I have done a lot of research into Zoroastrianism, so I have a lot more knowledge than some of those who have simply cut and pasted out of already biased websites.