In everything appertaining to their religious belief the Persians bear
a close resemblance to the Hebrew, but the poetical part of their
mythology is more similiar to the Northern theology, while their
manners bear a strong resemblance to the Germans. The spiritual worship
of nature, light, fire, and of other pure elements, is embodied in both
the Zend Avesta (Persian) and the Edda (Scandinavian). The two nations
have the same opinion concerning spirits which rule and fill nature,
and this has given rise to poetical fancies about giants, dwarfs and
other beings, found equally in Persian and Northern Sagas.
The work of Lokman, existing now only in Arabic, has caused some people
to think that it is of Arabian origin; but it is really Persian, and of
the tenth century B.C. His Apologues are considered the foundation on
which Greek fable was reared. The Code of Zoroaster, in which the two
great principles of the world are represented by Ormuzd (goodness and
light), and Ahriman (darkness and sin) are as old as the creation.
Ormuzd is worshiped in the sun, the stars, and in fire. Zoroaster
explained the history of man as being one long contest between these
two powers until a time to come when Ormuzd would be victorious over
Ahriman. Ormuzd, as the ruler of the universe, seeks to draw men to the
light, to dispel the darkness of ignorance, and to extend the triumph
of virtue over the material and spiritual world. It may be said of the
Persians, as Tertullian said of the Roman Pagans, "that in their
highest moods and beliefs they were naturally Christian." Among a
Persian sect called the Sufis' there is a belief that nothing exists
absolutely but God; that the human soul is an emanation from His
essence, and will ultimately be restored to Him, and that the supreme
object of life should be a daily approach to the eternal spirit, so as
to form as perfect a union with the divine nature as possible. How
nearly this belief approaches the Christian doctrine, will be easily
seen.
Persian poetry is nearly all in the form of love stories, of which the
"Misfortunes of Mejnoun and Leila" represent the Eastern Romeo and
Juliet, and may have been known to Shakespeare in the writing of his
own drama.