Truth as the Highest Value

The Persian cultural ideal of expressing the truth and believing it was right was one component that helped to foster this tolerance. The Persian word for truth (asa or arta) occurs in many Persian names, especially those of monarchs like Artaxerxes, demonstrating how important truth was to Persian society. The truth was also one of the oaths that soldiers made upon joining the military. Persians hated liars and ridiculed people who were in debt since a debtor was likely to lie to avoid paying back what was due, according to Greek writers who are occasionally if not frequently antagonistic to Persian principles.

The House of Lies, the Persian name for hell, had three levels, the lowest and darkest of which was reserved for the worst of sinners those who, among other sins, had lied the most. They had no desire to force their religion on anybody else since they were confident that it was real and that eventually, people would come to accept Zoroastrianism for what it was. If not, it didn't matter much to them since they thought that transgressors' or unbelievers' souls were only tortured in the hereafter for a limited period until Ahura Mazda welcomed them to paradise.