"or, as theorized by Descartes, between thought and extension. Ethical dualism on the other hand highlights the moral dimension instead or in addition to the metaphysical one, and envisions an inherent situation of conflict between two antagonistic forces, like light and darkness, Good and Evil. One of the most known and clear-cut interpretations of ethical dualism is the one conceptualized by Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian religion, which bases its thought on the figure of the prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra), who claimed the existence of two original and contrasting principles, Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, respectively representing the forces of Good and"
"as Persian or Perso-Median Zoroaster; Ctesias located him in Bactria, Diodorus Siculus placed him among Ariaspai (in Sistan), Cephalion and Justin suggest east of greater Iran whereas Pliny and Origen suggest west of Iran as his birthplace. Moreover, they have the suggestion that there has been more than one Zoroaster. On the other hand, in post-Islamic sources Shahrastani (1086–1153) an Iranian writer originally from Shahristān, present-day Turkmenistan, proposed that Zoroaster's father was from Atropatene (also in Medea) and his mother was from Rey. Coming from a reputed scholar of religions, this was a serious blow for the various regions who"
"of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) appeared in Persia at some point during the period 1700-1800 BCE. His wisdom became the basis of the religion Zoroastrianism, and generally influenced the development of the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian philosophy. Zarathustra was the first who treated the problem of evil in philosophical terms. He is also believed to be one of the oldest monotheists in the history of religion. He espoused an ethical philosophy based on the primacy of ""good thoughts (andiše-e-nik), good words (goftâr-e-nik), and good deeds (kerdâr-e-nik)."" The works of Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism had a significant influence on Greek philosophy and Roman philosophy."
"called,[20] at least one other group is said to have come overland from Sari, Iran.[21] This religion founded by Zarathustra Spitma (better known as ""Zoroaster"") resembles Hinduism in many ways (although differing as a strict monotheism too.) For example, in this religion, the cow is very sacred. In the 9th chapter of the ""Vendidad"" of the ""Avesta"", the purificatory power of cow urine is dilated upon. It is declared to be a panacea for all bodily and moral evils. It is drunk as well as applied externally as is done by Hindus also. Urine of the bull, called ""nirang"" is"
"Denkard. Arabic loanwords are not common in the work. It also contains some rare Pahlavi words. Zaratosht-nama Zaratosht-nama () is a religious epic poem in Persian language composed in 7th century AH. The poem is about the life of Zoroaster, the prophet of Zoroastianism. The author of the poem is ""Kay Kavus pur-i Khosrow"". The poem is erroneously attributed to Zartosht Bahram-e Pazhdo who is actually the copier of the first surviving manuscript of the work. The poem contains nearly 1,533 couplets and is composed in the same meter as Shahnameh of Ferdowsi. The work is based on the oral"
"eastern Iran, including Central Asia, remain tentative"". Zoroaster is recorded as the son of Pourušaspa of the Spitaman or Spitamids (Avestan ""spit"" mean ""brilliant"" or ""white""; some argue that Spitama was a remote progenitor) family, and Dugdōw, while his great-grandfather was Haēčataspa. All the names appear appropriate of the nomadic tradition, as his father's means ""possessing gray horses"" (with the word ""aspa"" meaning horse), while his mother's is ""milkmaid"". According to the tradition, he had four brothers, two older and two younger, whose names are given in much later Pahlavi work. His training for the priesthood probably started very early,"
"father was named Petrasp, who was the Grandfather of Zoroaster. Zoroaster's mother was named Doghdovi and when she was five month pregnant with Zoroaster, she had a dream. The story is about Arda Viraf, a Zoroastrian priest who takes a spiritual journey into heaven and hell. The Persian poem is based on the Middle Persian Book of Arda Viraf. Being an important Persian poet of Zoroastrian faith, Zartosht Bahram has brought down the most comprehensive biography of Zoroaster from a Zoroastrian point of view. He has also used many Middle Persian words Bahram Pazhdu in Encyclopedya Iranica by J. Amuzegar"
"that it was a form of rational Deism, preferable to Christianity. Zoroaster was the subject of the 1749 opera, ""Zoroastre"", by Jean-Philippe Rameau. With the translation of the Avesta by Abraham Anquetil-Duperron, Western scholarship of Zoroastrianism began. An early 19th-century representation of Zoroaster derived from the portrait of a figure that appears in a 4th-century sculpture at Taq-e Bostan in south-western Iran. In E. T. A. Hoffmann's novel """" (1819), the mage Prosper Alpanus states that Professor Zoroaster was his teacher. In his seminal work ""Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra)"" (1885) the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche uses the native Iranian"
"the Deluge without having to be in Noah's Ark. Zoroaster’s name has been adopted from the Greek and Latin Zoroastres. The ancient form of his name in the Avesta is Zarathustra. His native country was probably Media in Western Iran, (possibly in modern Azerbaijan), but his ministry took place in eastern Iran, especially in the region of Bactria, about 1200 BC. Zoroaster was originally a Magian priest, and under the reforms he instituted, Mithra became one of the Yazatas (Worshipful Ones), the angels or lesser divine beings. ""It was said that (Zoroaster's) birth was foretold from the beginning of time,"
"and Darius I. Zoroastrianism eventually became the official religion of Ancient Persia and its distant subdivisions from the 6th century BCE to the 7th century CE. Zoroaster is credited with authorship of the Gathas as well as the Yasna Haptanghaiti, hymns composed in his native dialect, Old Avestan, and which comprise the core of Zoroastrian thinking. Most of his life is known from these texts. By any modern standard of historiography, no evidence can place him into a fixed period, and the historicization surrounding him may be a part of a trend from before the 10th century that historicizes legends"
"name derive from the Middle Iranian variants of ""Zarϑošt"", which, in turn, all reflect Avestan's fricative ""-ϑ-"". In Middle Persian, the name is 𐭦𐭫𐭲𐭥𐭱𐭲 ""Zardu(x)št"", in Parthian ""Zarhušt"", in Manichaean Middle Persian ""Zrdrwšt"", in Early New Persian ""Zardušt"", and in modern (New Persian), the name is زرتشت ""Zartosht"". There is no consensus on the dating of Zoroaster, the Avesta gives no direct information about it, while historical sources are conflicting. Some scholars base their date reconstruction on the Proto-Indo-Iranian language and Proto-Indo-Iranian religion, and thus it is considered to have been some place in northeastern Iran and some time between"
"Zaratosht-nama Zaratosht-nama () is a religious epic poem in Persian language composed in 7th century AH. The poem is about the life of Zoroaster, the prophet of Zoroastianism. The author of the poem is ""Kay Kavus pur-i Khosrow"". The poem is erroneously attributed to Zartosht Bahram-e Pazhdo who is actually the copier of the first surviving manuscript of the work. The poem contains nearly 1,533 couplets and is composed in the same meter as Shahnameh of Ferdowsi. The work is based on the oral narratives of Zoroastrians and has a lot of similarities with Middle Persian religious books such as"
"last until the Persians challenged and ultimately replaced them from rule. The city of Bactria (which later became Balkh), is believed to have been the home of Zarathustra, who founded the Zoroastrian religion. The Avesta refers to eastern Bactria as being the home of the Zoroastrian faith, but this can be a reference to either a region in modern Afghanistan or Border line of Afghan-Pakistan. Regardless of the debate as to where Zoroaster was from, Zoroastrianism spread to become one of the world's most influential religions and became the main faith of the old Aryan people for centuries. It also"
"and myths. Zoroaster's name in his native language, Avestan, was probably ""Zaraϑuštra"". His English name, ""Zoroaster"", derives from a later (5th century BCE) Greek transcription, ""Zōroastrēs"" (), as used in Xanthus's ""Lydiaca"" (Fragment 32) and in Plato's ""First Alcibiades"" (122a1). This form appears subsequently in the Latin """" and, in later Greek orthographies, as Ζωροάστρις ""Zōroastris"". The Greek form of the name appears to be based on a phonetic transliteration or semantic substitution of Avestan ""zaraϑ-"" with the Greek ζωρός ""zōros"" (literally ""undiluted"") and the Avestan ""-uštra"" with ἄστρον ""astron"" (""star""). In Avestan, ""Zaraϑuštra"" is generally accepted to derive from"
"in Iraqi Kurdistan. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds. The most important texts of the religion are those of the ""Avesta"", which includes the writings of Zoroaster known as the Gathas, enigmatic poems that define the religion's precepts, and the Yasna, the scripture. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is: Ahura, The Lord Creator, and Mazda, Supremely Wise. The religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition, but focused on responsibility, and did not create a devil per se. Zoroaster proclaimed that there is only"
"opposed to another group of seven who are evil and destructive. It is this persistent conflict between good and evil that distinguishes Zoroastrianism from monotheistic frameworks that have only one power as supreme. By requiring its adherents to have faith and belief in ""equally opposing"" powers Zoroastrianism characterizes itself as dualistic. The teachings of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) appeared in Persia at some point during the period 1700-1800 BCE. His wisdom became the basis of the religion Zoroastrianism, and generally influenced the development of the Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian philosophy. Zarathustra was the first who treated the problem of evil in philosophical"
"Zoroastrians in Iran Zoroastrians are the oldest religious community of Iran. Prior to the Muslim conquest of Persia, Zoroastrianism was the primary religion of the nation. It originated from the pre-Zoroastrian Religion of Iran, Iranic paganism. According to the country's official census, there were 25,271 Zoroastrians within the country as of 2011. There are no written records from Zarathushtra's time. The earliest surviving written references to Zarathushtra are those of Greek writers from 1000 BC. Prophet Zoroaster and his first followers were Iranians that lived between the Bronze Age and Iron Age (est. 1200-600 BC). The term ""Prophet"" is of"
"enabled actual Assyrian records to be deciphered in the 19th century, however, historians have ascribed little value to the Greek account. According to some writers, Bactria was the homeland of Indo-European tribes who moved south-west into what is today Iran and into the north-western Indian Subcontinent (modern day Pakistan and India) around 2500–2000 BCE. Later, it became the northern province of the Achaemenid Empire. It was in these regions, where the fertile soil of the mountainous country is surrounded by the Turanian desert, that the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathushtra) was said to have been born and gained his first adherents. Avestan,"
"all claimed that Zoroaster originated from ""their"" homelands, some of which then decided that Zoroaster must then have then been buried in their regions or composed his Gathas there or preached there. Also Arabic sources of the same period and the same region of historical Persia consider Azerbaijan as the birthplace of Zarathustra. By the late 20th century, most scholars had settled on an origin in eastern Greater Iran. Gnoli proposed Sistan, Baluchistan (though in a much wider scope than the present-day province) as the homeland of Zoroastrianism; Frye voted for Bactria and Chorasmia; Khlopin suggests the Tedzen Delta in"
"part of these are the Gathas (, , ""hymn""), that are a collection of hymns believed to be composed by Zoroaster, the reformer of the ancient Iranian religion and the founder of Zoroastrianism, dating to the 6th century BC. Old Persian, the earliest form of the Persian language that is attested on several inscriptions from between the 6th to the 4th century BC, gave rise to Middle Persian in the 3rd century BC, which later produced a number of literary works centered in religious Manichaean and Zoroastrian books written between the 3rd to the 10th century AD. Parthian, another Middle"
"its indoctrination process. Zoroastrianism plays a large role in influencing Hermeticism. In 525 BCE, Egypt was conquered by the Persian Empire, bringing Zoroastrian ideas along with it. In obscure texts, Hermes claims to look to Zoroaster as a spiritual father, having learned much of the zodiac from him. It is further said that Zoroaster had penetrated the mystery of the zodiac more than any other. Alternatively, it has been suggested that Zoroaster (like so many others) and Hermes are one and the same. However, it is possible that this was from a faked Zoroastrian text. Theurgy is often called Zoroastrian"
"Yuezhi) were an Eastern Iranian language-speaking people. The division into an ""Eastern"" and a ""Western"" group by the early 1st millennium is visible in Avestan vs. Old Persian, the two oldest known Iranian languages. The Old Avestan texts known as the Gathas are believed to have been composed by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism, with the Yaz culture (c. 1500 BCE – 1100 BCE) as a candidate for the development of Eastern Iranian culture. During the 1st centuries of the 1st millennium BCE, the ancient Persians established themselves in the western portion of the Iranian plateau and appear to have"
"progress towards perfection"". Its basic maxims include: The name ""Zoroaster"" is a Greek rendering of the name ""Zarathustra"". He is known as ""Zartosht"" and ""Zardosht"" in Persian and ""Zaratosht"" in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is ""Mazdayasna"", which combines ""Mazda-"" with the Avestan language word ""yasna"", meaning ""worship, devotion"". In English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is ""Behdin"", meaning ""The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh (good) + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā"". In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is"
"prophet, and since Avestan literature indicates that revelation happened when Zoroaster was 30 years old, 568 BCE was taken as his year of birth. The date entered written records as the beginning of the era of Zoroaster, and indeed, the Persian Empire. This incorrect date is still mentioned in many current encyclopedias as Zoroaster's birth date. The Parthians (Arsacid dynasty) adopted the same calendar system with minor modifications, and dated their era from 248 BCE, the date they succeeded the Seleucids. Their names for the months and days are Parthian equivalents of the Avestan ones used previously, differing slightly from"
"the Median empire (est. 612 BC), Zoroastrianism is known to have been well established in both the Pars region (later capital of Persia) as well as in the Eastern regions. Persians led by Cyrus the Great soon established the second Iranian dynasty, and the first Persian empire by defeating the Medes dynasty in 549 BC. As Persians expanded their empire, Zoroastrianism was introduced to Greek historians such as Hermodorus, Hermippus, Xanthos, Eudoxus and Aristotle; each giving a different date regarding the life of Zoroaster but naturally believed him to be a Persian prophet and called him ""Master of the magi"""
"strengthens this scenario. The religious practices depicted in the ""Rigveda"" and those depicted in the ""Avesta"", the central religious text of Zoroastrianism—the ancient Iranian faith founded by the prophet Zoroaster—have in common the deity Mitra, priests called ""hotṛ"" in the ""Rigveda"" and ""zaotar"" in the ""Avesta"", and the use of a ritual substance that the ""Rigveda"" calls ""soma"" and the ""Avesta"" ""haoma"". However, the Indo-Aryan ""deva"" 'god' is cognate with the Iranian ""daēva"" 'demon'. Similarly, the Indo-Aryan ""asura"" 'name of a particular group of gods' (later on, 'demon') is cognate with the Iranian ""ahura"" 'lord, god,' which 19th and early"
"Oriental antiquity, was an excellent classical scholar, and there was hardly an Eastern tongue accessible to foreigners with which he was not familiar. He had even acquired Chinese from the Chinese Jesuit Michael Shen Fu-Tsung, while his writings are the best testimony to his mastery of Turkish, Arabic, Syriac, Persian, Hebrew and Malay. In his chief work, ""Historia religionis veterum Persarum"" (1700) [The History of the religion of ancient Persia], he made the first attempt to correct from Oriental sources the errors of the Greek and Roman historians who had described the religion of the ancient Persians. He identified Zoroaster"
"The first surviving reference to Zoroaster in English scholarship is attributed to Thomas Browne (1605–1682), who briefly refers to the prophet in his 1643 ""Religio Medici"", followed by the ""Oxford English Dictionary's"" record of the 1743 (Warburton, ""Pope's Essay""). The ""Oxford English Dictionary"" records use of the term ""Zoroastrianism"" in 1874 in Archibald Sayce's ""Principles of Comparative Philology"". Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, supreme god, Ahura Mazda, or the ""Wise Lord"". (""Ahura"" means ""Being"" and ""Mazda"" means ""Mind"" in a sacred Old Iranian language called Avestan). Zoroaster keeps the two attributes separate as two different concepts in"
"and make the soul of the prophet happy. I woke up a little bit afraid, and sleep did not come to me and in the morning I approached the priest and told him to recount the story. He recounted the story, and after I heard it from him, I proceeded in versifying it."" The Zaratusht-nama thus is based on old Zoroastrian literature and is uniquely written from a Zoroastrian perspective about the life and times of Zoroaster and his deeds. The Zaratusht-nama is an important literary work which contains approximately 90% pure Persian words. The book starts with the praise"
"of Zoroastrianism and prophet Zarathushtra, covering a period of 3500 years of the Zoroastrians and the Parsees of India. The story begins with the conductor Zubin Mehta, the film's pivotal figure, a westernised Parsi who visits his homeland to discover his roots, and in the process learns about the history of his people. The filming took place in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The film has generated controversy within Parsi community in India. Zoroastrians today hold different opinions concerning the person of Zarathustra: some view him as an enlightened philosopher and scholar, but a mortal being; others embrace a more mystical concept"
"modern-day descendant of Middle Persian is New Persian. The changes between late Middle and Early New Persian were very gradual, and in the 10th-11th centuries, Middle Persian texts were still intelligible to speakers of Early New Persian. However, there are definite differences that had taken place already by the 10th century: ""Pahlavi Middle Persian"" is the language of quite a large body of literature which details the traditions and prescriptions of Zoroastrianism, which was the state religion of Sasanian Iran (224 to c. 650) before the Muslim conquest of Persia. The earliest texts in Zoroastrian Middle Persian were probably written"
"of Persia and Zarathustra in history. Following Hegel in 19th-century Germany, Nietzsche wrote his magnum opus, ""Thus Spoke Zarathustra"" that similarly touched upon this key figure of the Persian imagination. Nietzsche's book offers a radical critique, almost a total debunking, of the whole Western tradition of philosophy. It is no mere accident that Nietzsche chose to articulate his critical views in the name of Zarathustra. The end of the 19th century was not the only or the last time Zarathustra played a prominent role in shaping Western consciousness and philosophic discourse. In 1990s Persian influences on the millennial fever, and"
"is Akal Purakh (which means ""the true immortal"") or Waheguru, the Primal Being. Zoroastrianism combines cosmogonic dualism and eschatological monotheism which makes it unique among the religions of the world. Zoroastrianism proclaims an evolution through time from dualism to monotheism. Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion, although Zoroastrianism is often regarded as dualistic, duotheistic or bitheistic, for its belief in the hypostatis of the ultimately good Ahura Mazda ""(creative spirit)"" and the ultimately evil Angra Mainyu ""(destructive spirit)"". Zorastrianism was once one of the largest religions on Earth, as the official religion of the Persian Empire. By some scholars, the Zoroastrians"