Table of Contents

  • ZOROASTER ii. GENERAL SURVEY

    W. W. Malandra

    “Zoroaster” is the name generally known in the West for the prophet of ancient Iran, whose transformation of his inherited religion inaugurated a movement that eventually became the dominant religion in Iran up until the triumph of Islam.

  • ZOROASTER iii. ZOROASTER IN THE AVESTA

    Manfred Hutter

    Zaraθuštra is considered the founder of the Mazdayasnian religion who lived in Eastern Iran during the end of the second millenium BCE.

  • ZOROASTER iv. In the Pahlavi Books

    A. V. Williams

    Although Pahlavi was spoken as long ago as the 3rd century BCE, most of the written works that survive were compiled from older Zoroastrian material in the period after the Muslim conquest up to the 10th century CE.

  • ZOROASTER v. AS PERCEIVED BY THE GREEKS

    Roger Beck

    The Greek constructions of Zoroaster relate to the historical Zoroaster and to the Zoroaster of the Zoroastrian faith in one respect only. The Greeks knew that Zoroaster was the “prophet,” in the sense of the human founder, of the national Persian religion of their times.

  • ZOROASTER vi. AS PERCEIVED IN WESTERN EUROPE

    Michael Stausberg

    There is a continuous tradition of reports about Zoroaster among early and later medieval Christian historians, chroniclers, and annalists. In slightly modified form, this tradition continues through the early modern periods stretching from Humanism to Enlightenment.

  • ZOROASTER vii. AS PERCEIVED BY LATER ZOROASTRIANS

    Jenny Rose

    This entry treats the development of the concept and image of Zoroaster among the Zoroastrians of Persia and India after the Islamic conquest (10th century onwards).

    This Article Has Images/Tables.

  • ZOROASTRIAN RITUALS

    Michael Stausberg

    Ritual has been variously theorized in recent decades.  While the category remains elusive, the formative social importance of ritual is by now generally acknowledged even in Zoroastrian studies.

  • ZOROASTRIANISM

    Multiple Authors

    Historical reviews

  • ZOROASTRIANISM i. HISTORICAL REVIEW UP TO THE ARAB CONQUEST

    William W. Malandra

    This article presents an overview of the history of Zoroastrianism from its beginnings through the 9th and 10th centuries CE. Details of different periods and specific issues relating to Zoroastrianism are discussed in the relevant separate entries.

  • ZOROASTRIANISM ii. Historical Review: from the Arab Conquest to Modern Times

    Jamsheed K. Choksy

    As Zoroastrians in the seventh century began slowly but steadily adopting Islam, the magi attempted to preserve their religion’s beliefs, traditions, and lore by writing them down.

    This Article Has Images/Tables.

  • ZOROASTRIANS IN IRAN

    Multiple Authors

    The subject of the history and status of the Zoroastrian communities of Iran.

  • ZOROASTRIANS IN IRAN iv. Between the Constitutional and the Islamic Revolutions

    Janet Kestenberg Amighi

    A group of Zoroastrians emigrated to Tehran and thrived in business and culture through historical events, after escaping the Qajari persecution in Yazd and Kerman.

  • ZOROASTRIANS OF 19TH-CENTURY YAZD AND KERMAN

    Janet Kestenberg Amighi

    The main focus of this entry is on the nature of pressures exerted on the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kerman to convert away from their religion, and the Zoroastrian responses of both conversion and persistence during the 19th century. It will cover four themes: Muslim treatment of Zoroastrians and pressures to convert, Zoroastrian modes of resistance and submission, the Parsi contribution to Zoroastrian revivalism, and a comparison of Zoroastrian responses to Muslim pressures to convert versus responses to Bahai forms of proselytization.

  • ZOROASTRIANS OF IRAN vi. Linguistic Documentation

    Saloumeh Gholami

    This article focuses on the importance of documenting the Zoroastrian dialects of Yazd and Kerman, also known as Zoroastrian Dari (a term not to be confused with classical Persian Dari or Dari in Afghanistan).

    This Article Has Images/Tables.

  • ZRANKA

    Cross-Reference

    territory around Lake Hāmun and the Helmand river in modern Sistan. See DRANGIANA.

  • ZUR-ḴĀNA

    Houchang E. Chehabi

    (lit. “house of strength”), the traditional gymnasium of urban Persia and adjacent lands.

  • ZURVAN

    Albert de Jong

    ancient Zoroastrian deity of Time.  Although the etymology of the Avestan word causes difficulty, there is consensus over its basic meaning,  “period (of time).”

  • ZURVANISM

    Albert de Jong

    a hypothetical religious movement in the history of Zoroastrianism. The myth of Zurvan is fairly well known from Armenian, Syriac, Greek, and Arabic sources, but it is not to be found in any Zoroastrian source.

  • ZURWĀNDĀD

    Touraj Daryaee

    the eldest son of the grand vizier (wuzurg framādār) Mehr Narseh, who appointed him to the high religious office of chief hērbed.

  • Zār Songs: Vorāra, Yo mama

    music sample