Jesus and the Soma Sacrifice

Apart from islands such as Buddhism, the religious world of ancient India and Iran is still a wasteland on the maps of Western knowledge standards; often in the specialist sciences too. This is initially disconcerting, as it is obvious that Greek and Roman, as well as Jewish and Christian religious history could only have developed in interaction with it. The most pristine cult tradition there was the Soma Sacrifice. It can be traced back to the Bronze Age in parts even to the Neolithic. From the abundant sources reconstructable in detail, striking parallels, particularly with Christian baptism, were already seen a good hundred years ago. But the asymmetrical debate at that time was soon to die down again. A closer look, however, reveals that the parallels and congruencies run throughout: from Jesus childhood stories to the early morning drama of his resurrection.

Harald Strohm is a freelance author focusing on philosophy and the history of religion. His book Jesus und das Somaopfer , first published in German in 2022 by Brill - Fink, is now available in English translation. He is also the author of Die Geburt des Monotheismus im alten Iran. Ahura Mazda und sein Prophet Zarathushtra ( The Birth of Monotheism in Ancient Iran: Ahura Mazda and His Prophet Zarathustra ), published by Brill - Fink in 2014 (2nd edition 2015).