[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Jet Jaguar.

[colorado tanker]

My BS detector went off when I jumped to the article. The Persian Empire was hardly a state where every faith was "equidistant" from every other faith. Zoroastrianism was the official faith of the Empire and it was important to the legitimacy of the Archaemenian kings that they be publicly pious Zoroastrians.

True, Cyrus showed great tolerance to other faiths, including Judaism, but that seemed to stem from a very practical view of how he could rule a polyglot empire and obtain loyalty from non-adherents.

It would be silly to project concepts of modern day multiculturalism and diversity onto the Persian Empire.