Nietzsche chose the name Zarathustra with good reason. It is inbant on we Nietzscheans to find out more about Iran [the Aryan-land], a land whose history is utterly fascinating and tragic.We know the basics, of the Aryans reaching the region in the 2nd millennium B.C., of the creation of the vast Persian Empire by the 6th century B.C. -- And we should not gloss over this. From an Aryan base was ruled all the civilisations of the East;"King Cyrus captured Babylon [539 B.C.]and made himself master of the whole Babylonian Empire, including Phoenicia and Syria wher he restored the Jews to Jerusalem; and also extended his sway widely over the countries to the East, possibly as far as Bactria and Afghanistan. Cyrus' son Cambyses conquered Egypt [525B.C.], and the whole Eastern world was brought under a single rule. The next king Darius [521B.C.-486B.C.] gave to his Empire an efficient organisation and extended his power Eastwards as far as the Indus and sea of Aral; he invaded Europe by the Bosporus, and crossed the Danube". [Muir's 'Atlas of Ancient and Classical History']

As mentioned above, the Jews were subjects of this Aryan ruled Empire [Darius described himself as being of 'Aryan stock'], and it seems that Persian ideas influenced Jewish religious thought greatly;"It seems probable that on such subjects as the number and personality of angels, and the existence of demons, Jewish beliefs were indirectly indebted to Persia; it is possible that the doctrine of future retribution may have recieved an impulse from the Iranian religion. It also seems certain that one of the later Jewish festivals [Purim] has a Persian origin". ['Helps To Study of the Bible']There is also the tender question of monotheism!

This Persian Empire was brought to an end by Alexander the Great in 330 B.C.
It seems that the Empire arose again under the Sasanids in the late Roman period but was then conquered by the Moslems with the catastrophic results you detail.But what of the Parsees, the Zarathustrians who fled Muslim persecution to live in India? They followed strict Order of Rank in their religion only marrying amongst their own kind. In Zarathustrianism we see all the features of cleanliness and 'distance' affirmed by Nietzsche.

Let us find out more about this neglected heritage!