Zoroaster

http://www.azargoshnasp.net/~iran/Din/traditionaldateofzoroaster.pdf [4]. In 2005, Duchscherer was chosen as the Athletics sole representative at the All Star Game, but he did not play. London. He also was among 24 players selected to compete for the United States in the 2004 Athens Games; however, since the Americans eventually failed to qualify, he did not actually play in Athens. 1. His most productive season came in 2004, when he posted career-highs in wins (7), ERA (3.27), strikeouts (59) and innings (127.1). “The Traditional Date of Zoroaster Explained”, BSOAS, Vol 40, No. A good control pitcher, Duchscherer has a career 2.17 strikeout-to-walk ratio (85-to-39).

Shapur Shahbazi, Ali Reza. Drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 8th round of the 1996 amateur draft, Duchscherer was traded to the Rangers for catcher Doug Mirabelli in 2001. The Gathas of Zarathushtra, Heidelburg, 1991. In a three-season career, Duchscherer has compiled a 9-8 record with 86 strikeouts and a 4.31 ERA in 127.1 innings pitched. http://www.transoxiana.com.ar/Eran/Articles/gnoli.html [3] Humbach, Helmut. Previously, he played with the Texas Rangers (2001). "Agathias and the Date of Zoroaster," Eran ud Aneran, Festrschrift Marshak, 2003. Justin Craig Duchscherer [DUKE-shur] (born November 19, 1977 in Aberdeen, South Dakota) is a right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who plays for the Oakland Athletics (since 2003).

Gnoli, Gherardo. Zoroaster in History, Biennial Yarshater Lecture Series 2, Bibliotheca Persica 2000. Gnoli, Gherado. Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism, University of Chicago Press, 1984.

Boyce, Mary. 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. Richard Strauss's Opus 30, inspired by Nietzsche's book, is also called Also sprach Zarathustra. It was this act that Nietzsche proposed to invert.

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. 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. In the nineteenth century, the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche used the name of Zarathustra in his seminal book Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra). With the translation of the Avesta by Abraham Anquetil-Duperron, Western scholarship of Zoroastrianism began.

Enlightenment writers such as Voltaire promoted research into Zoroastrianism in the belief that it was a form of rational Deism, preferable to Christianity. 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". 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. 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.

Other prominent immortals are Geush Urvan, defender of animals, and Sraōša, Pahlavi Srōš "Obedience".. what builder created light and darkness? Through whom does exist dawn, noon and night?" (Yasna 44, 4-6). who feeds and waters the plants? .. Zoroaster describes Ahura Mazdā in a series of rhetorical questions, "Who established the course of the sun and stars? ..

In the yasnas, Zoroaster refers to these forces as "the Better and the Bad.". The two opposing forces in this battle are Ahura Mazdā (Ohrmazd) (God) and Ahriman (The Devil). This may also be conceptualized as a battle between Darkness and Light. This is often related to a struggle between good and evil in a Western paradigm.

A cosmic struggle between Aša "The Truth" (Pahlavi Ahlāyīh) and Druj "The Lie" (Pahlavi Druz) is presented as the foundation of our existence. 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). The teachings of Zoroaster are presented in seventeen liturgical, texts, or "hymns", the yasna which is divided into groups called Gāthās. 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.

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. This would stand sharply apart from the view of a Zoroaster living in the court of an Achaemenid satrap such as Wištaspa. 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. 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.

These similarities suggest that Old Avestan and Vedic were very close in time, probably putting Old Avestan at about one century after Vedic. 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”). On the other hand, Old Avestan is very close to the language of the Rig Veda (known as Vedic Sanskrit). 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”.

As we know, Zoroaster himself composed the eighteen poems that make up the oldest parts of the Avesta, known as “the Gathas”. 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. 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”. Henning and continued by Gnoli among others, is what is known as “the Traditional Date of Zoroaster”.

B. A point of view held by many 19th century scholars, among them Taghizadeh and W. Here we shall look at the most prominent of these arguments. Accordingly, any date from the 6th century BC to 6000 BC has been suggested, although some with more merit than others.

Different sources ranging from linguistic evidence to textual sources and traditional dates have been used by various scholars to determine the date of Zoroaster. 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. Zoroastrianism then seems to have acquired a solid footing in eastern Iran, where it continues to survive in dwindling numbers. 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.

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). Assyrian inscriptions relegate him to a more ancient period. According to the Arda Wiraf, Zoroaster taught an estimated 300 years before the invasion of Alexander the Great. The matriarchal name is the only link to the Achaemenidian lineage.

Hutaōsa is the same name as Atossa, who apparently was queen consort to Cambyses II, Smerdis and Darius I. Antiquated sources suggest Vištaspa was Hystaspes, father of Darius I. Placing the date of King Vištaspa is difficult. 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.

His sons and daughters are repeatedly mentioned. 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. Apart from this connection, the new prophet relies especially upon his own kindred (hvaētuš). The actual role of intermediary was played by the pious queen Hutaōsa.

Zoroaster was closely related to both: his wife, Hvōvi, was the daughter of Frashaōštra, and the husband of his daughter, Pourucista, was Jamaspa. The court of Vištaspa included two brothers, Frašaōštra and Jamaspa; both were, according to the later legend, viziers of Vištaspa. In the Gāthās he appears as a historical personage. Eventually he met Vištaspa, king of Bactria.

Yasnas 53 & 9 suggest that he ventured to Rai and was unwelcome. He then appears to have left his native district. According to Yasnas 5 & 105, he prayed for the conversion of King Vištaspa. 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.

According to Yasna 59, 18, the zaraθuštrotema, or supreme head of the Zoroastrian priesthood, had his residence in Ragha at a later (Sassanian) time. This same text identifies Ērān Wēj with the district of Arran on the river Aras (Araxes) close by the northwestern frontier of the Medes. 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. 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.

Textual evidence regarding the birthplace of Zoroaster is conflicting. They are the last surviving account of his doctrinal discourses presented at the court of King Vištaspa. The Vendidad also gives accounts of the dialogues between Ahura Mazda and Zoroaster. The Gāthās within the Avesta make claim to be the ipsissima verba of the prophet.

The historical Zoroaster, however, eludes categorization as a legendary character. (Yasht, 17,19). 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. It is important to note the differences between the Zoroaster of the later Avesta and the Zoroaster of the Gāthās.

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). However, they seem to contain allusions to personal events, overcoming obstacles in life imposed by competing priests and the ruling class. The Gāthās are poetic admonitions and prophecies, cast in the form of dialogues with God and the Aməa Spəntas "Immortals" (Pahlavi Amahraspandān). These human qualities support a historical Zoroaster, despite a lack of historical detail.

He faces outward opposition and unbelief and inward doubt. Here he is a mortal, empowered by trust in his God and the protection of his allies. Plutarch, drawing partly on Theopompus, speaks of Zoroastrianism in Isis and Osiris. Dio Chrysostom relates Zoroaster's Ahura Mazdā to Zeus.

Plutarch compares him with Lycurgus and Numa Pompilius (Numa, 4). He seems to have enjoyed exploring the wilderness from a young age. According to tradition and Pliny's Natural History, Zoroaster laughed on the day of his birth and lived in the wilderness. The Greek writers recount a few points regarding the childhood of Zoroaster and his hermit lifestyle.

His first converts were his wife and children and a cousin named Maidhyoimangha. His illumination from Ahura Mazda came at age 30. His mother was Dughdova; his father was Pourushaspa Spitāma, son of Haecadaspa Spitāma. His wife was named Hvōvi, and they had three daughters, Freni, Friti and Pourucista, and three sons, Isat Vastar, Uruvat-Nara and Hvare Ciθra.

The Greeks refer to him as a Bactrian (coming from present day Afghanistan), a Median or a Persian about 3-5,000 years ago. It is fair to say that Zoroaster lived in the northeastern area of ancient Iranian territory. The biographies in the seventh book of the Dēnkard (9th century) and the Šahnāma are mythic. The 13th section of the Avesta, the Spena Nask, the description of Zoroaster's life, has perished over the centuries.

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. Estimates for the lifetime of Zoroaster vary widely depending on the sources used. 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.". 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".

The first part of the name was formerly commonly translated as "yellow" or "golden", from the Avestan zaray, giving the meaning "[having] yellow camels". 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". . 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.

Scholarly estimates are usually roughly near 1000 BC. Zoroaster is generally accepted as a historical figure, but efforts to date Zoroaster vary widely. In Modern Persian the name takes the form of Zartošt or Zardošt (زرتشت). 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.

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. 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.