Table of Contents

  • ZOROASTER i. THE NAME

    Rüdiger Schmitt

    The authentic form of Zoroaster’s name is that attested in his own songs, the Gathas: Old Av. Zaraθuštra-, on which are based regular derivatives like zaraθuštri- “descending from Zoroaster."

  • 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. 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 v. 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 vi. 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.

  • ZOROASTRIANISM i. HISTORICAL REVIEW

    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.

  • 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.

  • 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.