Abstract:
Early oriental historians have used two series of sources about ancient history of Iran, including
Iranian and non-Iranian sources. As these sources are independent of each other, two different
chronologies about these ancient periods have arisen. Naturally, this duality has led to different
and contradictory results about dating important events of this period. One of them is the
contradictory reports about two separate religious personalities – Messiah Mehr and Jesus of
Nazareth. Despite the fact that these historians have taken the identity and time of appearance
of Messiah Mehr and Jesus from the abovementioned two sources, they unknowingly
considered the two characters as one and the same person. Al-Mas’udi is one of the earlier
oriental historians who made remarkable reports and points regarding the alterations of
political and religious history of the Ashkanian dynasty by the earlier Sasanians. These
alterations caused the reality of Messiah Mehr to be concealed. This article tries to explain
briefly the reasons for this topic through the viewpoints of oriental historians with emphasis
on Al-Mas’udi’s reports.
