Priest and clergy in pre-Islamic Iranian religions

Iran is a very different geography that has managed to attract many researchers with its unique history and literary aspect. Its multi-cultural structure and its openness to communication and trade with nearby geographies have an important contribution to the sprouting and flourishing of very different beliefs in this region. Although Zoroastrianism is the only Iranian religion that has survived to the present day, the cult of Zurvân, the cult of Anâhitâ, Mithraism, Manichaeism and Mazdakism are other important beliefs that were born, developed and whose information has survived to the present day. Undoubtedly, the most important role in the growth, domination and extinction of these beliefs belongs to the priests. Our study is limited to the religions that developed in the center of Iran before Islam, and our aim is to deal with the similarities and differences between the concept of priest and the clergy of these religions. In this way, it is desired to investigate the nature of the priesthood in ancient Iran and the religious, political, economic, social, cultural, geographical and similar activities and effects of the clergy and to report them comparatively in the light of the obtained data.