Zoroaster
Zoroaster was an ancient Iranian religious teacher whose teachings form the basis of Zoroastrianism. The date and place of his life remain uncertain.
Zoroastrianism: An Iranian religion centered on the teachings associated with Zoroaster and the worship of Ahura Mazda. The religion takes its name and foundational teachings from Zoroaster.
Avestan language: An ancient Iranian language preserved chiefly in Zoroastrian sacred texts. Its archaic form helps situate the Gathas within early Iranian linguistic history.
Zoroastrian priesthood: The hereditary religious specialists who preserve Zoroastrian rituals, texts, and traditions. Priests transmitted teachings attributed to Zoroaster across generations.
Zoroastrian eschatology: Zoroastrian teachings about the end of the world, final judgment, and renewal of creation. The Gathas and later tradition connect Zoroaster’s message with the triumph of truth and renewal.
Avesta: The collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, preserved in the Avestan language. Its oldest hymns, the Gathas, are traditionally attributed to Zoroaster.
Proto-Indo-Iranian religion: The reconstructed religious traditions shared by the ancestors of Indo-Aryan and Iranian peoples. Zoroaster’s teachings developed from an Iranian religious world with older Indo-Iranian roots.
Sasanian Empire: A Persian empire that ruled from 224 to 651 CE and supported Zoroastrian institutions. Its rulers and priests helped establish authoritative forms of Zoroastrian tradition long after Zoroaster.
Frashokereti: The final renovation of the world in Zoroastrian belief, when evil is defeated and creation is perfected. Later Zoroastrian thought develops a cosmic conclusion to the moral struggle central to his teachings.
Gathas: Seventeen hymns in the Avesta, composed in an archaic form of the Avestan language. They are the texts most directly associated with Zoroaster’s own voice and teachings.
Bactria: An ancient Central Asian region centered on the upper Amu Darya, in parts of modern Afghanistan and neighboring countries. Some proposed locations for Zoroaster’s life place him in or near this eastern Iranian region.