History of Religion: Zoroastrianism

I was asked recently, "What was the religion in the middle east before Islam?". Most countries such as Egypt and India had a pantheon of Gods. Same with the Babylonians, Assyrians and Greeks. Zoroastrianism started in what is present day Iran by the Prophet Zoroaster. History tells that it started approximately 3500 years ago as a monotheistic religion.
The only other known monotheistic religion at the time was Judeism. Zoroaster worked to reduce the amount of gods and proclaimed that the ultimate divine being was called Ahura Mazda.

Zoroaster

Ahura Mazda is seen as the creator of everything and is seen as completely good with no evil tendencies. The religion started being called Zoroastrianism formally around the 6th century BCE. It was the predominant religion in Iran for many centuries. At some point the religion lost many of it's original important texts but still retain some. Some sources attribute this to the Zoroastrians being conquered by Alexander the Great who apparently did not like them and burned their sacred texts. Some sources however say that Alexander sought their blessings when he encountered them.

The Divine God

Zoroastrianism is not unlike Christianity of which they have angels, demons and other saints. Other counties adopted the religion as their official religion including the Sassanid Empire which at its height controlled Iran, Iraq and parts of Turkey and Egypt.

The Sassanid Empire

Just before the 7th century Islam was beginning to rise and gain strength. There were also Jewish and Christian communities that were already established in parts of the empire. Ultimately, the Sassanid Empire collapsed in 651 when the last of the royal family escaped to China.

Zoroastrianism is still practised today and there are a reported 2.6 million followers mostly located throughout Iran, Iraq and Turkmenistan. Zoroastrians are afraid to report their religious leanings out of the fear of violence so there may be more than previously thought.