© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI: 10.1163/156852709X404991 Numen 56 (2009) 217–253 www.brill.nl/nu Hell in Zoroastrian History Michael Stausberg University of Bergen, Department of Archaeology, History, Culture Studies and Religion, P.O. Box 7805, 5020 Bergen, Norway Michael.Stausberg@ahkr.uib.no Abstract he present article surveys some relevant developments of conceptualizations of hell in the Ṛg-Veda, the Avestan corpus and the Middle Persian (Pahlavi) literature of the Zoroastrians, where hell is more extensively discussed. he article concludes by look- ing at the belief in heaven and hell among the world-wide Zoroastrian diaspora com- munities, urban laity in Mumbai, and professional priests in Westen India. Keywords Zoroastrianism, hell, eschatology, ethics, sins, priests . . . a-dānīh . . . čiyōn mahist parwānag ī ō dušox . . . ignorance . . . which (is) the greatest guide to hell (Zādspram 30:38) In his groundbreaking work La philosophie de l’histoire from 1765 the French enlightenment philosopher Voltaire challenged some main para- digms of established European historiography. Based on the idea of the principal unity and continuity of mankind, Voltaire replaced the idea of salvation history conceived as a pyramid with Judaeo-Christianity as the top with a more open structure, in which other cultures are assigned significant places. heir contributions to the civilization of mankind are sometimes emphasized as part of Voltaire’s campaign against the church and other manifestations of l’infâme. For example, Voltaire claims that fundamental aspects of unspoiled religion had originated in the East a long time before they became part of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Zoro- astrianism is an important case in point. Having read a Persian Zoroas- trian text in Latin translation (published in 1700), Voltaire writes: