Sheffield Conference: Religion in the Persian Period

A CONFERENCE ON RELIGION IN THE PERSIAN PERIOD is being held at the University of Sheffield in July.

It is thought that early forms of Judaism began to emerge in the Persian period amongst population groups with ancestral connections to the territories of Samaria and Yehud. The possible influence of Zoroastrianism on emerging Judaism has been explored periodically, but the issue of whether the Achaemenids continued to practice old Persian religion or emerging Zoroastrianism remains a point of debate. Persian policy with regard to religious tolerance or intolerance throughout the empire also could be profitably explored, as well as developments in religion amongst other subject groups under Persian hegemony.