This paper examines the controversial subject of where and when the great Zoroastrian prophet Zarathustra lived.

INTRODUCTION

Zarathustra Spitama, the Zoroastrian faiths prophet, is one of the worlds most progressive philosophers and most antique religious thinkers. Despite his preeminence as a spiritual sage and the great influence he has exerted on incidental worldviews and philosophers, in truth little is known about Zarathustra, particularly his measure and place. There is no question that Zoroastrianism and Zarathustra himself are both very ancient, having come well before the time of Christ. But in trying to piece together the enigma that is Zarathustras life, scholars are presented with many difficulties, namely a multitude of disparate accounts and a pretermit of adequate and reliable ascendents.

LINGUISTICS AND TEXTUAL SOURCES

The Avesta is the primary textual source for Zarathustras teachings, and it is the first seventeen chapters, the Gathas, which provide us with the actual parting of Zarathustra. The Avesta is in two distinct forms of Avestan: Gathic Avestan, which in its forms is habituated to the language of the Indian Rigveda (which is generally assigned to the second millenary B.C.); and Younger Avestan. The Gathas are the Avestas oldest portion, and the rest of its post-Gathic composition consists of texts passed orally for generations until they were finally compose down by the Sasanians. The early Iranians lacked written script and they attached a certain stigma to it.



Thus, legends and religious texts were passed down orally. Examining parallels among the Avesta and the Rigveda (written in Vedic) certainly aid in trying to make grow a rough estimate of the Gathas date of composition.

It seems that Old Avestan and Vedic were in use at roughly the kindred time. The two languages do share a fairly immense inheritance of ancient words, although there are marked differences in the delineation (or lack thereof in the Rigveda) of social classes and opposite aspects of the texts.

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