Editing Funeral (section)

===Zoroastrianism===
[[File:Parsee Tower of Silence, Bombay.jpg|thumb|[[Parsi]] Tower of Silence, [[Bombay]]]]
The belief that bodies are infested by [[Nasu (Zoroastrianism)|Nasu]] upon death greatly influenced Zoroastrian burial ceremonies and funeral rites. Burial and cremation of corpses was prohibited, as such acts would defile the sacred creations of earth and fire respectively.<ref>Vd. 7:25</ref> Burial of corpses was so looked down upon that the exhumation of "buried corpses was regarded as meritorious." For these reasons, "[[Towers of Silence]]" were developed—[[wikt:open air|open air]], [[amphitheater]] like structures in which [[corpses]] were placed so carrion-eating birds could feed on them.

[[Sagdid|Sagdīd]], meaning 'seen by a dog,' is a ritual that must be performed as promptly after death as possible. The dog is able to calculate the degree of evil within the corpse, and entraps the contamination so it may not spread further, expelling Nasu from the body.<ref>''[[Denkard]]''. 31</ref> Nasu remains within the corpse until it has been seen by a dog, or until it has been consumed by a dog or a carrion-eating bird.<ref>Vd. 7:3</ref> According to chapter 31 of the Denkard, the reasoning for the required consumption of corpses is that the evil influences of Nasu are contained within the corpse until, upon being digested, the body is changed from the form of nasa into nourishment for animals. The corpse is thereby delivered over to the animals, changing from the state of corrupted nasa to that of hixr, which is "dry dead matter," considered to be less polluting.

A path through which a funeral procession has traveled must not be passed again, as Nasu haunts the area thereafter, until the proper rites of banishment are performed.<ref>Vd. 8:15</ref> Nasu is expelled from the area only after "a yellow dog with four eyes, or a white dog with yellow ears" is walked through the path three times.<ref>Vd. 8:16</ref> If the dog goes unwillingly down the path, it must be walked back and forth up to nine times to ensure that Nasu has been driven off.<ref>Vd. 8:17-18</ref>

Zoroastrian [[ritual]] exposure of the dead is first known of from the writings of the mid-5th century BCE [[Herodotus]], who observed the custom amongst [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] expatriates in [[Asia Minor]]. In Herodotus' account ([[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]] i.140), the rites are said to have been "secret", but were first performed after the body had been dragged around by a bird or dog. The corpse was then embalmed with wax and laid in a trench.

While the discovery of [[Ossuary|ossuaries]] in both eastern and western Iran dating to the 5th and 4th centuries BCE indicates that bones were isolated, that this separation occurred through ritual exposure cannot be assumed: burial mounds,<ref>{{citation|last=Falk|first=Harry|title=Soma I and II|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies|volume=52|issue=1|year=1989|pages=77–90|doi=10.1017/s0041977x00023077|s2cid=146512196}}</ref> where the bodies were wrapped in wax, have also been discovered. The tombs of the [[Achaemenid empire|Achaemenid emperors]] at [[Naqsh-e Rustam]] and [[Pasargadae]] likewise suggest non-exposure, at least until the bones could be collected. According to legend (incorporated by [[Ferdowsi]] into his [[Shahnameh]]), [[Zoroaster]] is himself interred in a tomb at [[Balkh]] (in present-day [[Afghanistan]]).

Writing on the culture of the [[Persians]], [[Herodotus]] reports on the Persian burial customs performed by the [[Magi]], which are kept secret. However, he writes that he knows they expose the body of male dead to dogs and birds of prey, then they cover the corpse in wax, and then it is buried.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/herodotus-iii|title=Herodotus iii. Defining the Persians|website=Iranicaonline.org – Encyclopaedia Iranica|access-date=24 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129214830/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/herodotus-iii|archive-date=29 January 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The Achaemenid custom is recorded for the dead in the regions of [[Bactria]], [[Sogdia]], and [[Hyrcania]], but not in [[Western Iran]].

The Byzantine historian [[Agathias]] has described the burial of the Sasanian general [[Mihr-Mihroe]]: "the attendants of Mermeroes took up his body and removed it to a place outside the city and laid it there as it was, alone and uncovered according to their traditional custom, as refuse for dogs and horrible carrion".

Towers are a much later invention and are first documented in the early 9th century CE. The ritual customs surrounding that practice appear to date to the [[Sassanid]] era (3rd–7th century CE). They are known in detail from the supplement to the ''[[Shāyest nē Shāyest]]'', the two ''[[Revayat]]s'' collections, and the two Saddars.