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Zoroaster

c.-628–-551 · Persia (legendary)
Zoroaster

Description

Zarathushtra Spitama, more commonly known as Zoroaster, was an Iranian religious reformer who challenged the tenets of the contemporary Ancient Iranian religion, becoming the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. In the oldest Zoroastrian scriptures, the Gathas, which he is traditionally believed to have authored, he is described as a preacher and a poet-prophet. Some have claimed, with much scholarly controversy, to find his influence in Heraclitus, Plato, Pythagoras, and, perhaps less controversially, in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, particularly through concepts of cosmic dualism and personal morality.

Facts

BornUnknown, traditionally c. 624–599 BC, Possibly Bactra (Balkh, modern-day Afghanistan)
DiedUnknown, traditionally c. 547–522 BC (age 77)
SpouseTwo unnamed wivesHvōvi
ChildrenIsat VâstraUrvatat NaraHvare ChithraFreniThritiPouruchista
ParentsPourushaspaDugdōw
Known forSpiritual founder and prophet of ZoroastrianismComposer of the GathasProphet in the Bahá'í Faith, Ahmadiyya, and the Ahmadi Religion

Life & work in brief

Summarised by section — one row per topic, for fast reading.

Work / contributionSignificance
Name and etymologyZoroaster's name in his native language, Avestan, was probably Zaraθuštra.
DateThere is no consensus on the dating of Zoroaster.
PlaceThe birthplace of Zoroaster is also unknown, and the language of the Gathas is not similar to the proposed north-western and north-eastern regional dialects of Persia.
LifeZoroaster is recorded as the son of Pourushaspa of the Spitama family, and Dugdōw, while his great-grandfather was Haēčataspa.
InfluencesAthanasius Kircher identified Zoroaster with Ham.
PhilosophyIn the Gathas, Zoroaster sees the human condition as the mental struggle between aša and druj.
IconographyBeginning in the nineteenth century, Zoroaster was visually depicted with physical attributes borrowed from other faith traditions.
Western references to Zoroaster and ZoroastrianismThe Greeks—in the Hellenistic sense of the term—had an understanding of Zoroaster as expressed by Plutarch, Diogenes Laertius, and Agathias that saw him, at the core, to be the "prophet and founder of the religion of the Iranian peoples," Beck notes that "the rest was mostly fantasy".
Notable influence on modern Western cultureA sculpture of Zoroaster by Edward Clark Potter, representing ancient Persian judicial wisdom and dating to 1896, towers over the Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State at East 25th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan.