The time will come when the
adherents of Ormuzd shall everywhere be victorious, and Ahriman
and his followers be consigned to darkness forever.
The religious rites of the ancient Persians were exceedingly
simple. They used neither temples, altars, nor statues, and
performed their sacrifices on the tops of mountains. They adored
fire, light, and the sun as emblems of Ormuzd, the source of all
light and purity, but did not regard them as independent deities.
The religious rites and ceremonies were regulated by the priests,
who were called Magi. The learning of the Magi was connected with
astrology and enchantment, in which they were so celebrated that
their name was applied to all orders of magicians and enchanters.
Wordsworth thus alludes to the worship of the Persians:
"... the Persian,--zealous to reject
Altar and Image, and the inclusive walls
And roofs of temples built by human hands,--
The loftiest heights ascending, from their tops,
With myrtle-wreathed Tiara on his brows,
Presented sacrifice to Moon and Stars,
And to the Winds and mother Elements,
And the whole circle of the Heavens, for him
A sensitive existence and a God."
--Excursion, Book IV.
In "Childe Harold" Byron speaks thus of the Persian worship:
"Not vainly did the early Persian make
His altar the high places and the peak
Of earth-o'er-gazing mountains, and thus take
A fit and unwalled temple, there to seek
The Spirit, in whose honor shrines are weak,
Upreared of human hands.
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