Parthian Empire Controls Judea When Jesus Is Active, What Happens?

So I was thinking of how Roman repression of Judaism and early christianity contrast with how most Persian empires are much more tolerant.

Now I dont know much about parthian tolerance or attitude to Christianity but I assume they'd be better than rome.

What if for whatever reason, when Jesus of Nazareth was preaching in judea, he was preaching in the Persian empire, not the roman? Would this impact his teachings at all or simply where they spread?
 
It would depend on which ‘Persian Empire’ you refer. The Sassanid dynasty was particularly intolerant to everything aside from the royal Zoroastrianism and Judaism. However, the Arsacids were certainly somewhat tolerant, though much of this is simply that their royal religious adherence was different.

The Arsacids in particular, were practitioners of Iranian polytheism and Akkadian polytheism. Their coinage and patronage is associated most greatly to the worship of these gods.

The Great Gods of ancient Mesopotamia reached a revival of sorts under Arsacid rulers. The decentralized nature of the new empire and its explicit love for the Great Gods, continued the general incline of their prominence from the Seleucid period onward.

The Great God Ishtar remained beloved in Arbela, her home city where the Arsacids improved her temples. Nurgle, the Great God of Fire, looting, flaying, etc, reached a renaissance under Arsacid rule. In fact, Nurgle had been one of the least affirmed Great Gods from 603-300 BCE, his temple became dilapidated under Achaemenid rule. Arsacid rulers seem to have totally rebuilt the structure and expanded the cult city of Cutha into one of the major cities in the empire.

Other gods remained prominent in the region and or were associated to another Iranian deity. Naboo remained a common deity, especially in Borsippa, Sippar, and so forth. Whilst Sîn remained master and lord of Harran and the city of Ur. Nippur’s Duranki temple remained splendid, as Arsacid rulers claimed to repair the greatest temple in the world.

The only gods whom the Arsacid neglected, were Assur, Marduk, Ninurta, Dagon and Hadon... Why is that we may ask? The most sure option, is that these gods though universal Great Gods, were associated to a certain non-Arsacid power structure. They also due to that close association to Assyrian and Karduniashi imperialism, made them difficult to become syncretic with Iranian gods and religions. We have no record or evidence of Arsacid repairs to these temples of these gods, like the Seleucids, they may have even repressed these deities.

This matters for the understanding of Arsacid imperialism and religious practice. Judaism was already common to the Arsacids in Babylonia. As such, the peculiarities will not matter much to the Arsacids. Rather, we would see the Arsacids ruling Judah as a sort of tributary vassal stare as the Arsacids ruled almost the entirety of their empire.

That being, a central royal family who commanded a collection of fiefs and free cities and a conglomerate of retainers. A second, being the noble estates, comprising the many Dahae notables who conquered Iran with the Arsacids. These nobles are called Shahs and are kings of their lands. The final group of states are Arsacid vassals and tributaries. These are varied kingdoms that are not nobles but are otherwise subjects if the Arsacid but not under direct jurisdiction of the Arsacid king. These include:

All of Persia, which was a haphazard collection of priest kings,,

Elam, ruled by a set of mysterious Greco-Elamite kings.

The Atropatene kings, remnants of the old Achaemenid empire.

The Western Semitic-Akkadian stars of Adiabene.

The Kingdoms of Iberia-Colchis.

The Syriac kingdom of Osroene.

The Greco-Akkadian kingdom of Babylon. Used as governors.

In short, there may not be a great level of Jewish regional dissent. Arsacid rulers were quite accustomed to ruling a country that was otherwise independent. Arsacids would only request either tribute or warriors wage raids upon Roman lands.

So, under the Arsacids, Christianity may take different shapes. However, its basis may remain the same. In which case, I would expect the Arsacids to pay it no mind generally, unless the religion begins to cause issues in Mesopotamia. As the Arsacid legitimacy relied upon maintenance of temple structures and divine kingship rule in Iraq; they may take much greater action upon Christians who attempt to weaken the power of temples within Babylonia. Likewise, the Arsacids would not take kindly to a religion that operates without temples and generally accepted modes of discourse.
 
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The entire context that led to Jesus' teachings was as a result of Roman rule. I doubt that there would even be a Jesus per se in the absence of Romans.
 
How close to year 1 could Parthia take and hold Judea? Because as people have said too far back would butterfly Jesus.
 
It would depend on which ‘Persian Empire’ you refer. The Sassanid dynasty was particularly intolerant to everything aside from the royal Zoroastrianism and Judaism. However, the Arsacids were certainly somewhat tolerant, though much of this is simply that their royal religious adherence was different.

The Arsacids in particular, were practitioners of Iranian polytheism and Akkadian polytheism. Their coinage and patronage is associated most greatly to the worship of these gods.

The Great Gods of ancient Mesopotamia reached a revival of sorts under Arsacid rulers. The decentralized nature of the new empire and its explicit love for the Great Gods, continued the general incline of their prominence from the Seleucid period onward.
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The whole thing was really interesting to read, so you're saying that Parthia would be fine with it unless it caused problems in Mesopotamia, and so long as it had something of a temple hierarchy for centralizing and discourse?
 
The whole thing was really interesting to read, so you're saying that Parthia would be fine with it unless it caused problems in Mesopotamia, and so long as it had something of a temple hierarchy for centralizing and discourse?

It would be most effective if it did have a temple hierarchy, but that may not be necessary. There were religions within the empire that did not.

It is not only no causing problems in Mesopotamia, but also within Iran. Christianity will be repressed if it pretenses to change the aristocratic nature of the monarchy or advocate any revolutionary political change. As such, quietism would be required.

Another factor too, that I did not speak of, the Arsacids might become agitated with the new religion if the Jewish populace complains enough or pressures the monarch into action. Though, the Arsacid empire is not centralized at all, the Arsacids makes the Holy Roman Empire appear to us as a fairly central regime. Considering that, there could be vastly different reactions to the religion based on the noble house or the vassal. My opinion is:

Nobles generally will reject the religion and seek to repress it within their realm until Christianity proves itself to be amiable to them.

The vassals depend. We may see Osroene converting first to the religion, but Armenia, ruled by an Arsacid cadet branch, will not convert, but may promote the religion. The religion will flourish in Judah until the Jewish populace seeks to destroy it. In this tl, the Arsacid support of real Jewish autonomy, will allow the Jewish kingdom to emit true reprisals to the Christians. Elam is a toss-up and the regions of Persia or Atropatene will be similar to the nobles in their stance. Adiabene may be exceptionally tolerant, Judaism was very popular there and so was the worship of Ishtar.

The Arsacids themselves, will be tolerant so as Christianity does not cause trouble for the temples of the Great Gods. Even better if the Christians begin to allow the Arsacid monarch assert some authority over their temples and repair their structures. Perhaps the Arsacid monarchs could add 'Christian' titles to their long list of titles (the most grandiose, the Akkadian title of 'King of the Universe').
 
OK, assume a Parthian conquest of Judaea in say 2 or 1 BCE. It's not unthinkable; Parthia briefly occupied the Roman Levant as far as Judaea in 40BCE.

Augustus catches a fever and dies, leaving his two teenaged grandsons as unofficial "heirs". This leads to a succession crisis and war; in the course of this, Parthia strikes from the east and seizes Syria and Judaea. Egypt rebels and expels the Romans; Gauls rebel and Germans cross the Rhine and Danube, leaving Rome too weakened and distracted to reconquer the Levant. We'll guess that Rome stays away, what with one thing and another.

Several things have to be answered. How does Parthia govern Judaea? Probably as tributary state, headed by one of the four "Tetrarchs" set up by Rome a few years earlier. No doubt one of them will side with Parthia; probably Herod Antipas. So when Jesus starts preaching, it's purely an internal affair for Judaea; there's no Parthian analogue to Pontius Pilate.
 
Jesus' movement developed within the context of renewed Jewish messianism under Hellenistic oppression. Unless the Persian empire were particularly anti-Jewish, as the Roman (and earlier Seleucid) empires were, the necessary pieces for Jewish messianic movements aren't going to be present.

In short: if the Romans hadn't ruled Judea, Christianity wouldn't have happened.
 
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