---
node: zoroaster
type: person
slug: zoroaster
title: "Zoroaster"
lead: "Zoroaster (Zarathushtra) was the prophet whose teaching became Zoroastrianism, and when he lived is genuinely unknown. Tradition places him in the 6th century BC, while many scholars argue from the archaic language of his hymns for c. 1500–1000 BC."
published: 2026-07-10
updated: 2026-08-27
change: "Rewrote the opening body section so that it no longer restates the page's own lead."
previous_hash: "c467a4911d2dbbb3c57c193ea7f4051b59890b1761580b4a78a77f1ba3a997b4"
requester: internal
reason: "The section repeated the lead, so the first thing under the first heading was text the reader had already read in the search result."
---

## Who they were

He probably lived in eastern Iran or Central Asia, among herding peoples who had not yet reached the Iranian plateau: the world of the hymns has cattle, chariots and rival priests in it, and no cities, no Persia and no writing. Almost nothing certain is known of his life. The biography of the miraculous birth, the persecution and the conversion of king Vishtaspa comes from tradition many centuries later, and the seventeen hymns called the Gathas are the only text anyone argues is his own.

## What they did

The Gathas — seventeen hymns in Old Avestan attributed to him — form the core of the Avesta, Zoroastrian scripture. His teaching centered on one supreme creator god, Ahura Mazda, on the cosmic struggle between truth (asha) and the lie (druj), and on individual moral choice. These ideas are often cited as influential on later religious thought, though the extent of that influence is debated.

## Legacy

Zoroastrianism became the dominant religion of pre-Islamic Iran across three empires. The Greeks knew Zoroaster as a legendary sage, and his name returned to European culture much later, notably in the form Zarathustra.

**This page was corrected.** Rewrote the opening body section so that it no longer restates the page's own lead.

**Why.** The section repeated the lead, so the first thing under the first heading was text the reader had already read in the search result.

**Who asked.** The Media Division itself.