The ancestors of the Indian Parsis lived in the mountains of western Iran for about a century before leaving for India by way of Hormuz, some time between 780 and 950 AD. What if some of them had gone instead to the Byzantine Empire? Could a medieval Christian ruler have conceivably extended them the same tolerance that they received from the Hindu Rajputs in Gujarat? Even if not, could they have eked out a marginal existence like European Jews?
I imagine a TL in which a small number of Zoroastrians spread into Europe after a century in Anatolia and Greece. They settle in an archipelago of cities, where they become involved in finance, banking, and trade. Culturally and genetically, they become heavily Europeanized, while maintaining their distinct religion. They speak a dialect of Pontic Greek, or a "Persian" dialect of the local language, but their magi maintain the study of Avestan for liturgical purposes. They are often a target of repression and violence, but they also obtain protection because of their usefulness to Christian rulers. In other words, they fill the same niche which in OTL was filled by the Jews. I figure they might become known as "Magi", in reference to the most prominent Zoroastrians in the Christian tradition.
Is this plausible? What sort of POD could deliver this result?
I imagine a TL in which a small number of Zoroastrians spread into Europe after a century in Anatolia and Greece. They settle in an archipelago of cities, where they become involved in finance, banking, and trade. Culturally and genetically, they become heavily Europeanized, while maintaining their distinct religion. They speak a dialect of Pontic Greek, or a "Persian" dialect of the local language, but their magi maintain the study of Avestan for liturgical purposes. They are often a target of repression and violence, but they also obtain protection because of their usefulness to Christian rulers. In other words, they fill the same niche which in OTL was filled by the Jews. I figure they might become known as "Magi", in reference to the most prominent Zoroastrians in the Christian tradition.
Is this plausible? What sort of POD could deliver this result?
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