Key Judaeo-Christian cosmological concepts originated in ancient Persian religion

Evidence

From Iran, from Iranian religion, comes the concept of a cosmic struggle between almost equal forces of good and evil. The Devil, as you know, was Iranian by birth, although he is now given a local habitation and a name in the Western Hemisphere. The idea of a power of evil, opposite and almost equal, is characteristic of ancient Persian religion: Ahriman is the pre­ decessor of Satan, Mephistopheles, or whatever else we may choose to call him. Linked with that was the idea of judgment and retribution, of heaven and hell; and here I would remind you that paradise is also a Persian word. The para is the same as the Greek peri; peridesos in ancient Persian means walled enclosure. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 300

Categorization

• CANDY: The Devil being ‘Iranian by birth’ and paradise being a Persian word are fun, tweetable bits.
• XREF: Connects to Lewis’s broader argument positioning Iran at the root of Western religious concepts.