Religions of the ancient world, including Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, Persia, India, Phoenicia, Etruria, Greece, Rome . tars, andstanding roimd them perfonned for an hour at atime their magical incantations. The credulousmultitude, impressed by sights of this kind, andimposed on by the claims to supernatural powerswhich the Magi put foruard, paid them a willingI homage ; the kings and chiefs consulted them ;and when the Iranians, pressing westward, cameinto contact \\ith the races professing the MagiauI rehgion, they found the Magian priest-caste all-I powerful in most of the western nation
Religions of the ancient world, including Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, Persia, India, Phoenicia, Etruria, Greece, Rome . tars, andstanding roimd them perfonned for an hour at atime their magical incantations. The credulousmultitude, impressed by sights of this kind, andimposed on by the claims to supernatural powerswhich the Magi put foruard, paid them a willingI homage ; the kings and chiefs consulted them ;and when the Iranians, pressing westward, cameinto contact \\ith the races professing the MagiauI rehgion, they found the Magian priest-caste all-I powerful in most of the western nations.( Originally Zoroastrianism had been intolerant and exclusive. Its first professors had looked with, aversion and contempt on the creed of their In-dian brethren ; they had been fierce opponents of(idolatry, and absolutely hostile to every form of 1 Dino, Fr. 8; Schol, ad. Nic. Ther. Strabo, xv. 3, ^ 15 ; Diog. Laert. Proem. 118 THE EEIIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WOELD. religion except that which they had themselves worked out. But with the lapse of time these feel- ) ings had grown weaker. The old reHgious fervour. MAGIAN PRIEST. had abated. An impressible and imitative spirithad developed itself. NMien the Zoroastrianscame into contact with Magism, it impressedthem favourably- There wasjno contradiction THE I^KLIGION OF THE ANCIENT IRANIANS. 119 between its main tenets and those of their oldrehgion; they were compatible, and might readilybe held together; and the result was, that, with-out giving up any part of their previous creed, the / Iranians adopted and added on to it all the prin-cipal points of the Magian behef, and all the moreremarkable of the Magian religious usages. Thisrehgious fusion seems first to have taken place in ( Media. The Magi became a Median tribe, andwere adopted as the priest-caste of the Mediannation. Elemental worship, divination by meansof the barsom, dream-expounding, incantationsat the fire-altars, sacrifices whereat a Magus offi-ciated, were
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