Caesar Augustus

His memory was enshrined in the political ethos of the Imperial age as a paradigm of the good emperor; although every emperor adopted his name, Caesar Augustus, only a handful earned genuine comparison with him (Fagan). http://www.azargoshnasp.net/~iran/Din/traditionaldateofzoroaster.pdf [4]. Augustus's ultimate legacy, however, was the peace and prosperity the empire was to enjoy for the next two centuries under the system he initiated. London. He directed the future of the empire down many lasting paths, from the existence of a standing professional army stationed at or near the frontiers, to the dynastic principle so often employed in the imperial succession, to the embellishment of the capital at the emperor's expense. 1. Augustus's own experience, his patience, his tact, and his great political acumen also played their part. “The Traditional Date of Zoroaster Explained”, BSOAS, Vol 40, No.

The attrition of the civil wars on the old Republican oligarchy and the longevity of Augustus, therefore, must be seen as major contributing factors in the transformation of the Roman state into a monarchy in these years. Shapur Shahbazi, Ali Reza. Had Augustus died earlier (in 23 BC, for instance), matters may have turned out very differently. The Gathas of Zarathushtra, Heidelburg, 1991. People had been born and reached middle age without knowing any form of government other than the Principate. http://www.transoxiana.com.ar/Eran/Articles/gnoli.html [3] Humbach, Helmut. In looking back on the reign of Augustus and its legacy to the Roman world, its longevity ought not to be overlooked as a key factor in its success. "Agathias and the Date of Zoroaster," Eran ud Aneran, Festrschrift Marshak, 2003.

The month of August (Latin Augustus) is named after Augustus; until his time it was called Sextilis. Gnoli, Gherardo. Nevertheless, his legacy has proved more enduring. Zoroaster in History, Biennial Yarshater Lecture Series 2, Bibliotheca Persica 2000. He was handsome, intelligent, decisive, and a very shrewd politician, but he was not perhaps as charismatic as the earlier Caesar or his rival Antony; as a result, Augustus is not as renowned as either man, and is often confused with Julius Caesar. Gnoli, Gherado. Many consider Augustus as Rome's greatest emperor; his policies certainly extended the empire's life span and initiated the celebrated "Pax Romana" or "Pax Augusta". Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism, University of Chicago Press, 1984.

Augustus' mausoleum also originally contained bronze pillars inscribed with a record of his life, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti. Boyce, Mary. Consequently we have many excellent statues and busts of the first, and in some ways the greatest, of the Emperors. Its opening fanfare (corresponding to the book's prologue) was memorably used to score the opening sequence of Stanley Kubrick's movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. The cult of the Divine Augustus continued until Constantine the Great converted the State Religion of the Empire to Christianity in the 4th century. Richard Strauss's Opus 30, inspired by Nietzsche's book, is also called Also sprach Zarathustra. Augustus was deified soon after his death, and both his borrowed surname, Caesar, and his title, Augustus, became the permanent titles of the rulers of Rome for the next 400 years, and were still in use at Constantinople fourteen centuries after his death, (and the derived titles "Kaiser" and "Tsar" would be used until the early part of the 20th century). It was this act that Nietzsche proposed to invert.

Who ordered his death is unknown, but the way was clear for Tiberius to assume the same powers that his stepfather had. Nietzsche asserted that he had chosen to put his ideas into the mouth of Zarathustra because the historical prophet had been the first to proclaim the opposition between "good" and "evil", by rejecting the Daeva (representing natural forces) in favor of a moral order represented by the Ahuras. However, Postumus had been banished, and was put to death around the same time. Nietzsche fictionalizes and dramatizes Zarathustra toward his own literary and philosophical aims, presenting him as a returning visionary who repudiates the designation of good and evil and thus marks the observation of the death of God. Postumus Agrippa and Tiberius had been named co-heirs. In the nineteenth century, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche used the name of Zarathustra in his seminal book Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra). On August 19, AD 14, Augustus died. With the translation of the Avesta by Abraham Anquetil-Duperron, Western scholarship of Zoroastrianism began.

After the early deaths of both Gaius and Lucius in AD 4 and AD 2 respectively, and the earlier death of his brother Drusus (9 BC), Tiberius was recalled to Rome, where he was adopted by Augustus. Enlightenment writers such as Voltaire promoted research into Zoroastrianism in the belief that it was a form of rational Deism, preferable to Christianity. Tiberius shared in Augustus' tribune powers, but shortly thereafter went into retirement. He appears in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute under the variant name "Sarastro", who represents moral order in opposition to the "Queen of the Night". After Agrippa died in 12 BC, Livia's son Tiberius divorced his own wife and married Agrippa's widow. By this time his name was associated with lost ancient wisdom and was appropriated by Freemasons and other groups who claimed access to such knowledge. Augustus also showed favor to his stepsons, Livia's children from her first marriage, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus and Tiberius Claudius, after they had conquered a large portion of Germany. Zoroaster was known as a sage, magician and miracle-worker in post-Classical Western culture, though almost nothing was known of his ideas until the late eighteenth century.

Augustus' intent to make the first two children his heirs was apparent when he adopted them as his own children. Other prominent immortals are Geush Urvan, defender of animals, and Sraōša, Pahlavi Srōš "Obedience".. This union produced five children, three sons and two daughters: Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, Vipsania Julia, Agrippina the Elder, and Postumus Agrippa, so named because he was born after Marcus Agrippa died. what builder created light and darkness? Through whom does exist dawn, noon and night?" (Yasna 44, 4-6). After the death of Marcellus, Augustus married his daughter to his right hand man, Marcus Agrippa. who feeds and waters the plants? .. Reports of later historians that this poisoning, and other later deaths, were caused by Augustus' wife Livia Drusilla are inconclusive at best. Zoroaster describes Ahura Mazdā in a series of rhetorical questions, "Who established the course of the sun and stars? ..

However, Marcellus died of food poisoning in 23 BC. In the yasnas, Zoroaster refers to these forces as "the Better and the Bad.". At first, indications pointed toward his sister's son Marcellus, who had been married to Augustus' daughter Julia Caesaris. The two opposing forces in this battle are Ahura Mazdā (Ohrmazd) (God) and Ahriman (The Devil). Augustus' control of power throughout the Empire was so absolute that it allowed him to name his successor, a custom that had been abandoned and derided in Rome since the foundation of the Republic. This may also be conceptualized as a battle between Darkness and Light. The only question was who would succeed him as sole ruler. This is often related to a struggle between good and evil in a Western paradigm.

However, by the time Augustus died, it was impossible to imagine a return to the old system. A cosmic struggle between Aša "The Truth" (Pahlavi Ahlāyīh) and Druj "The Lie" (Pahlavi Druz) is presented as the foundation of our existence. His use of games and special events to celebrate himself and his family cemented his popularity. If basic precepts of Zoroastrianism are to be distilled into a single maxim, the maxim is Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta (Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds). (Ovid was banished from Rome for violating Augustus's morality codes.) He eventually won over most of the Roman intellectual class, although many still pined in private for the Republic. The teachings of Zoroaster are presented in seventeen liturgical, texts, or "hymns", the yasna which is divided into groups called Gāthās. Horace, Livy, Ovid, and Vergil flourished under his protection, but in return, they had to pay due tribute to his genius and adhere to his standards. It is possible that Zoroaster lived sometime in the 13th century BC to the 11th century BC, prior to the settlement of Iranian tribes in the central and west of the Iranian Plateau.

A patron of the arts, Augustus showered favors on poets, artists, sculptors, and architects, and his reign is considered the Golden Age of Roman literature. Also, the absence of any mention of Achaemenids or even any West Iranian tribes such as Medes and Persians, or even Parthians, in the Gathas makes it unlikely that historical Zoroaster ever lived in the court of a 6th century satrap. It was largely unsuccessful (indeed, his own daughter was banished and subsequently perished due to it). This would stand sharply apart from the view of a Zoroaster living in the court of an Achaemenid satrap such as Wištaspa. Augustus also launched a morality crusade, promoting marriage, family, and childbirth while discouraging luxury, "interbreeding", unrestrained sex (including prostitution and homosexuality), and adultery. Furthermore, a look at the Gathas and their composition shows us that the society in which they were composed was a nomadic society that lived at a time prior to settlement in large urban areas and depended greatly on pastoralism. He sponsored Vergil's Aeneid in the hopes that it would increase pride in Roman heritage. Since the date of the composition of the Rig Veda has been put at somewhere between the 15th century BC to the 12th century BC, we can also assume that the Gathas were composed close to that time, at sometime before 1000 BC.

Augustus also strongly supported worship of Roman gods, especially Apollo, and depicted Roman defeat of Egypt as Roman gods defeating Egypt's. These similarities suggest that Old Avestan and Vedic were very close in time, probably putting Old Avestan at about one century after Vedic. Augustus settled retired soldiers on the land in an effort to revive agriculture, but the capital remained dependent on grain imports from Egypt. The closeness in composition of Old Avestan and Vedic is so much that some parts of the Gathas can be transliterated to Vedic only by following the rules of sound change (such as the development of Indo-Iranian “s” to Avestan “h”). The reign of Augustus is thus seen in some ways as the high point of Rome's power and prosperity. On the other hand, Old Avestan is very close to the language of the Rig Veda (known as Vedic Sanskrit). Once the Empire stopped expanding, and had no more loot coming in from conquests, its economy began to stagnate and eventually decline. The language of the Gathas, as well as the text known as “Yasna Haptanghaiti” (the Seven Chapter Sermon), is called “Old Avestan” and is significantly different and more archaic than the language of the other parts of the Avesta, “Young Avestan”.

Like all the Emperors, he over-taxed agriculture and spent the revenue on armies, temples, and games. As we know, Zoroaster himself composed the eighteen poems that make up the oldest parts of the Avesta, known as “the Gathas”. Roman rulers understood little about economics, and Augustus was no exception. However, from an early time, scholars such as Bartholomea and Christensen noticed the problems with the “Traditional Date”, namely the linguistic difficulties that it presents. Augustus also founded the world's first fire brigade, and created a regular police force for Rome. This date, which was suggested in the Sassanian commentaries on the Avesta (Bundahišn), gives the date of Zoroaster's life as “258 years before Alexander the Great”. He founded a ministry of transport, which built an extensive network of roads - enabling improved communication, trade, and mail. Henning and continued by Gnoli among others, is what is known as “the Traditional Date of Zoroaster”.

It is recorded that he built both the Capitoline Temple and the Theater of Pompey without putting his name on them. B. He also built a shrine near the Circus Maximus. A point of view held by many 19th century scholars, among them Taghizadeh and W. He built the Senate a new home, the Curia, and built temples to Apollo and to the Divine Julius. Here we shall look at the most prominent of these arguments. He famously boasted that he "found Rome brick and left it marble". Accordingly, any date from the 6th century BC to 6000 BC has been suggested, although some with more merit than others.

In domestic matters, Augustus channeled the enormous wealth brought in from the Empire to keeping the army happy with generous payments, and keeping the Romans happy by beautifying the capital and staging magnificent games. Different sources ranging from linguistic evidence to textual sources and traditional dates have been used by various scholars to determine the date of Zoroaster. He left the Parthian Empire alone. One of the most important, and dividing, of all issues regarding the Iranian history is “the date of Zoroaster”, that is the date when he lived and composed his Gathas. In the east, he satisfied himself with establishing Roman control over Armenia and the Transcaucasus. Zoroastrianism then seems to have acquired a solid footing in eastern Iran, where it continues to survive in dwindling numbers. Thereafter he accepted the Rhine as the Empire's permanent border. Zoroaster may have emanated from the old school of Median Magi and appeared first among the Medes as the prophet of a new faith, but met with sacerdotal opposition and turned eastward.

Further west, an attempt to advance into Germany ended in defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. Eduard Meyer maintains that the Zoroastrian religion must have been predominant among the Medes, therefore, estimates the date of Zoroaster at 1000 BC, in agreement with Duncker (Geschichte des Altertums, 44, 78). Rome's borders were advanced to the natural frontier of the Danube, and the province of Galatia was occupied. Assyrian inscriptions relegate him to a more ancient period. After Gallic raids, the Alpine territories were conquered. According to the Arda Wiraf, Zoroaster taught an estimated 300 years before the invasion of Alexander the Great. A war in the mountains of northern Spain from 26 BC to 19 BC finally resulted in that territory's conquest. The matriarchal name is the only link to the Achaemenidian lineage.

Augustus waged no major wars. Hutaōsa is the same name as Atossa, who apparently was queen consort to Cambyses II, Smerdis and Darius I. He also reformed Rome's finance and tax systems. Antiquated sources suggest Vištaspa was Hystaspes, father of Darius I. A special unit, the Praetorian Guard, garrisoned Rome and protected the Emperor's person. Placing the date of King Vištaspa is difficult. He created Rome's first permanent army and navy and stationed the legions along the Empire's borders, where they could not meddle in politics. His death is not mentioned in the Avesta; in the Šahnāma, he is said to have been murdered at the altar by the Turanians in the storming of Balkh.

In exchange for near absolute power, he gave Rome 40 years of civic peace and increasing prosperity, celebrated in history as the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace. His sons and daughters are repeatedly mentioned. Having gained power by means of great audacity, Augustus ruled with great prudence. His first disciple, Maidhyoimaōngha, was his cousin; his father was, according to the later Avesta, Pourušaspa, his mother Dughdova, his great-grandfather Haēcataspa, and the ancestor of the whole family Spitama, for which reason Zoroaster usually bears this surname. After the death of Lepidus in 13 BC he added the title of pontifex maximus. Apart from this connection, the new prophet relies especially upon his own kindred (hvaētuš). He more typically used a civilian title, however, Princeps, or "First Citizen". The actual role of intermediary was played by the pious queen Hutaōsa.

23 BC is the date on which Augustus is usually said to have assumed the mantle of Emperor of Rome. Zoroaster was closely related to both: his wife, Hvōvi, was the daughter of Frashaōštra, and the husband of his daughter, Pourucista, was Jamaspa. Second, he received new authority in the form of an "Imperial" power (imperium proconsulare maius, or power greater than any governor), which gave him supreme authority in all matters pertaining to territorial governance. The court of Vištaspa included two brothers, Frašaōštra and Jamaspa; both were, according to the later legend, viziers of Vištaspa. Since the tribuneship was an office traditionally associated with the common people, this consolidated his power further. In the Gāthās he appears as a historical personage. First, he was granted the power of a tribune (tribunicia potestas), which allowed him to convene the Senate at will and lay business before it. Eventually he met Vištaspa, king of Bactria.

In 23 BC, he renounced this office in favor of two other powers. Yasnas 53 & 9 suggest that he ventured to Rai and was unwelcome. Augustus knew that the power he needed to rule absolutely could not be derived from his Consulship, however. He then appears to have left his native district. How free a hand the Senate had in these transactions, and what backroom deals were made, remain unknown. According to Yasnas 5 & 105, he prayed for the conversion of King Vištaspa. Both Antony and Octavian had purged the Senate of suspect elements and planted it with their loyal partisans. The Iranian Muslim writer Shahrastani endeavours to solve the conflict by arguing that his father was a man of Atropatene, while the mother was from Rai.

These actions were highly abnormal from the Roman Senate, but this was not the same body of patricians that had murdered Caesar. According to Yasna 59, 18, the zaraθuštrotema, or supreme head of the Zoroastrian priesthood, had his residence in Ragha at a later (Sassanian) time. Additionally, the harsh methods employed in consolidating his control meant that the change in name would also serve to separate his benign reign as emperor from his reign of terror as Octavian. This same text identifies Ērān Wēj with the district of Arran on the river Aras (Araxes) close by the northwestern frontier of the Medes. In the mindset of contemporary religious beliefs, it would have cleverly symbolized a stamp of authority over humanity that went beyond any constitutional definition of his status. The Būndahišn or Creation (20, 32 and 24, 15) says the Dhraja River in Ērān Wēj was his birthplace and the home of his father. The title was associated with a religious ring in antiquity and is believed to be derived from auctoritas and the practises of augurs. Yasnas 9 & 17 cite Airyanem Vaējah, "Homeland of the Aryans" (Pahlavi Ērān Wēj), on the Ditya River, as the home of Zoroaster, and the scene of his first appearance.

Shortly thereafter, the Senate gave him the name "Augustus". Textual evidence regarding the birthplace of Zoroaster is conflicting. Not only did the Senate turn him down, he was also given control of Hispania, Gaul, and Syria – the provinces with the greatest number of troops. They are the last surviving account of his doctrinal discourses presented at the court of King Vištaspa. In 27 BC, he officially returned power to the Senate of Rome, and offered to relinquish his own military supremacy and hegemony over Egypt. The Vendidad also gives accounts of the dialogues between Ahura Mazda and Zoroaster. Octavian was chosen for the powerful position of consul, the highest executive office of the Republic. The Gāthās within the Avesta make claim to be the ipsissima verba of the prophet.

First, he disbanded his armies, and held elections. The historical Zoroaster, however, eludes categorization as a legendary character. Octavian was clever. (Yasht, 17,19). Moreover, Rome was not prepared to accept the control of a despot. In the later Avesta, he is depicted wrestling with the Daēva or "evil immortals" (Pahlavi Dēwān), and, in remarkable prescience of Jesus in the New Testament, is tempted by Ahriman to renounce his faith. After Actium, Octavian had his work cut out for him; years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near-lawlessness. It is important to note the differences between the Zoroaster of the later Avesta and the Zoroaster of the Gāthās.

Cleopatra also commited suicide after her coming role in Octavian's triumph was "carefully explained to her" and Caesarion, the son of Julius Ceasar by Cleopatra, was "butchered without compunction".^[3]. He had difficulty spreading his teachings, and was even treated with ill-will in his mother's hometown (an exceptional insult in his culture and time). He pursued them there, and after another defeat, Antony commited suicide. However, they seem to contain allusions to personal events, overcoming obstacles in life imposed by competing priests and the ruling class. Octavian defeated his rivals, who then fled to Egypt. The Gāthās are poetic admonitions and prophecies, cast in the form of dialogues with God and the Aməa Spəntas "Immortals" (Pahlavi Amahraspandān). It was quickly decided: in the bay of Actium on the western coast of Greece, the fleets met in a great battle in which many ships burned and thousands on both sides lost their lives. These human qualities support a historical Zoroaster, despite a lack of historical detail.

The situation grew more and more tense, and finally, in 32 BC, Octavian declared war. He faces outward opposition and unbelief and inward doubt. Antony occupied himself with military campaigns in the east and a romantic affair with Cleopatra; Octavian built a network of allies in Rome, consolidated his power, and spread propaganda implying that Antony was becoming less than Roman because of his preoccupation with Egyptian affairs and traditions. Here he is a mortal, empowered by trust in his God and the protection of his allies. The Roman dominions were then divided between Octavian in the west and Antony in the east. Plutarch, drawing partly on Theopompus, speaks of Zoroastrianism in Isis and Osiris. Octavian then returned to Rome, while Antony went to Egypt, where he allied himself with Queen Cleopatra, the ex-lover of Julius Caesar and mother of Caesar's infant son Caesarion. Dio Chrysostom relates Zoroaster's Ahura Mazdā to Zeus.

At Philippi in Macedonia the Caesarian army was victorious and Brutus and Cassius committed suicide (42 BC). Plutarch compares him with Lycurgus and Numa Pompilius (Numa, 4). Antony and Octavian then marched against Brutus and Cassius, who had fled to the east. He seems to have enjoyed exploring the wilderness from a young age. This went beyond a simply purge of those allied with the assassins and so the main motive was probably to raise money to pay their troops.^[2]. According to tradition and Pliny's Natural History, Zoroaster laughed on the day of his birth and lived in the wilderness. The three formed a junta called the Second Triumvirate which unlike the First Triumvate was a grant of special powers lasting five years and backed by a law.^[1] They then set in motion the proscriptions in which 300 senators and 2000 Equites were deprived of their property and, for those who failed to escape, their lives. The Greek writers recount a few points regarding the childhood of Zoroaster and his hermit lifestyle.

After a tense standoff, he formed an uneasy alliance with Marcus Antonius and Marcus Lepidus, Caesar's principal colleagues. His first converts were his wife and children and a cousin named Maidhyoimangha. At Rome, he found Caesar's republican assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius, in control. His illumination from Ahura Mazda came at age 30. He crossed over to Italy and recruited an army from among Caesar's veterans. His mother was Dughdova; his father was Pourushaspa Spitāma, son of Haecadaspa Spitāma. However, he culled support by emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar and took the name Gaius Julius Caesar (probably omitting the customary Octavianus; he is called "Octavian" by historians nonetheless). His wife was named Hvōvi, and they had three daughters, Freni, Friti and Pourucista, and three sons, Isat Vastar, Uruvat-Nara and Hvare Ciθra.

At the time, he was only eighteen years old, and was consistently underestimated by his rivals for power. The Greeks refer to him as a Bactrian (coming from present day Afghanistan), a Median or a Persian about 3-5,000 years ago. When Caesar was assassinated in March 44 BC, his young heir was with the army at Apollonia, in what is now Albania. It is fair to say that Zoroaster lived in the northeastern area of ancient Iranian territory. Julius Caesar Octavianus (hereafter "Octavian"). The biographies in the seventh book of the Dēnkard (9th century) and the Šahnāma are mythic. By virtue of his adoption, following Roman custom, Octavius then assumed the name C. The 13th section of the Avesta, the Spena Nask, the description of Zoroaster's life, has perished over the centuries.

The Roman historian Suetonius described Antony's accusation of an affair with Octavianus as political slander. What we know of the life of Zoroaster is from the Avesta, the Gāthās, the Greek texts, oral history (which is a significant method of teaching in the tradition), and what can be inferred from archaeological evidence. Mark Antony charged that Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favors. Estimates for the lifetime of Zoroaster vary widely depending on the sources used. In 46 BC Caesar, who had no legitimate children, took his grand-nephew soldiering in Hispania, and adopted him by testament as his heir (see also adoption in Rome). This last translation seems to have derived from a desire to give a more fitting meaning to the prophet's name than "owner of feeble camels.". More importantly, his mother Atia was the niece of Rome's greatest general and de facto ruler, Julius Caesar. A more romantic, but inaccurate, translation of the name in the past has been "[bringer of the] golden dawn", based on the mistaken assumption that the second part of the name is a variant of the Vedic word Ushas meaning "dawn".

His father, also Gaius Octavius, came from a respectable but undistinguished family of the equestrian order and was governor of Macedonia before his death in 58 BC. The first part of the name was formerly commonly translated as "yellow" or "golden", from the Avestan zaray, giving the meaning "[having] yellow camels". Augustus was born at Rome with the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus. The name zaraθ-uštra is a Bahuvrihi compound in the Avestan language, of zarəta- "feeble, old" and uštra "camel", translating to "having old camels, the one who owns old camels". . . He is generally known to historians by the title "Augustus" (revered one), which he acquired in 27 BC and as "Octavian" before then. Others, however, give earlier estimates, making him a candidate as the founder of the earliest religion based on revealed scripture, while still others place him in the 6th century BC, which would make him contemporary to the rise of the Achaemenids.

He ended a century of civil wars and gave Rome an era of peace, prosperity, and imperial greatness. Scholarly estimates are usually roughly near 1000 BC. Although he preserved the outward form of the Roman Republic, he ruled as an autocrat for more than 40 years. Zoroaster is generally accepted as a historical figure, but efforts to date Zoroaster vary widely. Caesar Augustus (Latin: IMP·CAESAR·DIVI·F·AVGVSTVS)¹ (23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), known earlier in his life as Gaius Octavius or Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, was the first Roman Emperor and is traditionally considered the greatest. In Modern Persian the name takes the form of Zartošt or Zardošt (زرتشت). ^  Alexander to Actium: Peter Green pp 697. Zoroaster was probably born in the northeastern part of Iran, though there is also a tradition that he came from Balkh in modern day Afghanistan.

^  From the Gracchi to Nero: HH Scullard p164. Zarathushtra (Zaraθuštra), usually known in English as Zoroaster after the Greek version of the name, Ζωροάστρης, was an Iranian prophet and the founder of Zoroastrianism, which was the national religion of the Persian Empire from the time of the Achaemenidae to the close of the Sassanid period. ^  From the Gracchi to Nero: HH Scullard p163. Amərətatāt, Pahlavi Amurdād: "Immortality", the guardian of food and plants. Haurvatat: "Perfection". Spɚnta- Ārmatay-, Pahlavi Spandarmad, "Holy Thought": the female immortal of the earth.

Xšaθra- Vairya-, Pahlavi Šahrewar: "Best Rule", the power and kingdom of Ahura Mazdā and guardian of metals. Ašəm, afterwards Ašəm Vahištəm, Pahlavi Ardwahišt: "Right": truth and the embodiment of all that is true, good and right, upright law and rule (ideas practically identical for Zoroaster). Vohu Manu, Pahlavi Wahman, "Good Mind": the principle of the good. Nyberg in Die Religionen des Alten Iran (1938).

Darmesteter reports 100 BC; before 458 BC is cited by H.S. Other scholars have been arguing even later dates, now widely rejected. The Būndahišn or Creation, an important text within the religion, cites the time of Zoroaster as 258 years before Alexander's conquest of Persia, i.e., 588 BC. 1000 BC.

Gherardo Gnoli gives a date near ca. Since the Gathas are very cryptic, and open to much interpretation, such a method can also only yield very rough estimates. The historical approach compares social customs described in the Gāthās to what is known of the time and region through other historical studies. 1400 BC–1000 BC is cited by Mary Boyce in her A History of Zoroastrianism (1989).

Linguistic analysis of the Gāthās, the only texts directly connected with Zoroaster, and comparison with other known Indo-Iranian languages, especially Sanskrit, can only give rough estimates, generally dating Zoroaster to around or after 1000 BC. Indo-Iranian religion is generally accepted to have its roots in the 3rd millennium BC, but Zoroaster himself did already look back on a long religious tradition. 2000 BC based on excavations in Uzbekistan (Asgarov, 1984). However, a Russian archaeologist links Zoroaster to ca.

Archaeological evidence is usually inconclusive for questions of religion. These are the dates to which Parsis subscribe.[1] [2]. Ancient Greek estimates are dependent on Persian mythology and give dates as early as the 7th millennium BC. His name is cited by Xanthus, and in the Alcibiades of Plato as well as by Plutarch, Pliny the Elder and Diogenes Laertius.

Zoroaster was famous in classical antiquity as the founder of the religion of the Magi. Manly Palmer Hall in his book, Twelve World Teachers, arrives at a rough estimate ranging from 10000 BC to 1000 BC. Persian mythology, mainly the Šahnāma of Ferdowsi, and oral tradition place Zoroaster quite early.