What if Christianity had been born in the Persian Empire?

If the Persian Empire governs Jerusalem during the time when the Christianity was born, what would that Christendom be like? Would it have existed? Where would it spread?
 
Butterflies, butterflies... You would need such POD that Jesus would had been butterflied away. Even if there would be someone preaching being God's son and found new religion it would be very different compared with Christianity.
 

Dolan

Banned
Judea is actually pretty hard to reach from Persia proper. It is doable with oroper POD but the butterflies would be too much.

Alternate Christianity might still exist on somewhat different background though, if you butterfly away Ptolemaioi internal conflicts that culminating in their annexation by Rome.

Jesus' mission under Ptolemaic rule could be pretty much recognizeable, but maybe this time Jesus will have a strong words or many against incest.
 
Persian already had State Church : Zoroastrian. Even if Persia tolerate Christianity as bramch of Jewish faith, it would have more difficult time spreading and greater persecution. It would exist as opposition to State faith. It would remain minority faith like Manicheanism or Church of East.
 
Then it wouldn´t have been Christianity as the context would be different. Even if you had the historical character of Jesus migrate to Persia, the religion was primarily the invention of Paul and strongly influenced by Greek philosophy. He would also not be crucified, as that was a Roman way of executing people.
 
If the Christianity was originated in Persia, one advantage would have been a more scientific calendar system. The Persia had a better calendar system than Rome which started on spring equinox. The Julian Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar are both quite unscientific and continued due to sheer inertia of people who stick on to tradition.
 
If the Christianity was originated in Persia, one advantage would have been a more scientific calendar system. The Persia had a better calendar system than Rome which started on spring equinox. The Julian Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar are both quite unscientific and continued due to sheer inertia of people who stick on to tradition.
Another thing that’s better in the Persian calendar is they have all the months with 31 days first, then all the ones with 30 and finally the last one has 29- that’s a nice orderly progression, nothing like the insane thirty days has September April June and November, all the rest have thirty one except for February.
 
If the Christianity was originated in Persia, one advantage would have been a more scientific calendar system. The Persia had a better calendar system than Rome which started on spring equinox. The Julian Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar are both quite unscientific and continued due to sheer inertia of people who stick on to tradition.

Another thing that’s better in the Persian calendar is they have all the months with 31 days first, then all the ones with 30 and finally the last one has 29- that’s a nice orderly progression, nothing like the insane thirty days has September April June and November, all the rest have thirty one except for February.
How is 31s then 30s then 29 better than alternating 31 and 30 with one 30 being just 28/29?
I agree the Julian Calendar is bad by not matching the solar year but Gregorian corrects this.
 
How is 31s then 30s then 29 better than alternating 31 and 30 with one 30 being just 28/29?
I agree the Julian Calendar is bad by not matching the solar year but Gregorian corrects this.
Even in the Gregorian Calendar there is no logical order in the choice of months with 30 and 31 days and 28 for February. If it is 30 for the first month, 31 for the next five and 30s for the remaining six, and the year starts with spring equinox, I think the autumn equinox and summer and winter solstices will fall on the first days of the months. In the leap year the first month too can have 31 days. Several proposals have been put forward for the revision of the Gregorian Calendar. The French Revolutionary Calendar which was very similar to the ancient Egyptian Calendar was also one such move. The 454 system with fixed weekdays for the dates of all months was another proposal.
 
Even in the Gregorian Calendar there is no logical order in the choice of months with 30 and 31 days and 28 for February
It followed the original long short method for each half of the year and was devised around a lunar calendar. Was perfectly logical until adapted to the solar one.
Going by all long then all short isn't really more logical, even if it's more numerical.
A more logical system would be the Shire reckoning devised by Tolkien where each month is the same length with added intercalary days for seasonal festivals and an extra one every 4 years or so.
 
You wouldn't have had the Maccabbee rebellion and the conflict between traditional and Hellenizing Jews.

You also don't have the expectation of restoring the kingdom - the Persians were willing to leave Judea alone as long as they were getting paid. You likely don't see them appointing tetrarchs and high priests. So there's a very different political environment. There are no Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus fit best with the Essenes in OTL but that movement is likely butterflied as well.

As Eivind pointed out, with no Greek influence there are no epistles by Saul of Tarsus. In the same vein, you don't have the crooked tax collectors so another one of the educated early Church figures (Matthew) is gone.

You might see some Jewish leaders recognize Jesus as the Messiah while others don't, resulting in a schism where Jerusalem is the center of Judaism and the surrounding countryside is the center of Messianic Judaism. But you would still need His death and resurrection to make a lasting impression - nothing else would distinguish Him from the prophets.
 
Assuming a butterfly net that allows the birth of Jesus, we could have a POD as late as 40BC, with a successful Labineus invading the Roman East and taking it for the Parthians. In this situation, the Hasmoneans stay in power with Antigonus II as the Parthians client king, so no Herod.
 
Seems like I didn´t read the original post properly, I only read the title and did not see that the Persians should govern Jerusalem. I only assumed that Jesus would found a religion after migrating to Persia, so my first reply was based on a wrong understanding of the thread. If by Persians you mean the Achaemenids you would need a VERY early POD, as this would need to butterfly Alexander´s conquests. Even with another and later POD, you would need a POD after Jesus was conceived, in order to avoid him being butterflied away. In this case the only Iranian empire that was around was the Parthian empire, so the Parthians would have to start a war and conquer Jerusalem AFTER Jesus was conceived. With a POD any earlier than that, even a few minutes before, he would not be born.
 
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