The web site Historical past dates the origins of Zoroastrianism to about 4,000 years in the past, and the British Library 3,500 years in the past. Such numbers use written, historic information, although, and don’t take into account the lengthy, lengthy oral custom that ultimately resulted in people writing their beliefs down. On that word, the Theosophical Society of America says that the traditional Greeks dated the lifetime of Zoroastrianism’s central determine, the god-protected prophet Zarathustra, to six,350 B.C.E. And if the identify Zarathustra rings a bell, sure, late Nineteenth-century übermensch-loving German thinker Friedrich Nietzsche named certainly one of his most widely-regarded works after the prophet, “Thus Spake Zarathustra.” German composer Richard Strauss, impressed by Nietzche’s e book, then wrote an ultra-famous tone poem, “Additionally Sprach Zarathustra.” Belief us, you’ve heard it — particularly in the event you’ve seen Stanley Kubrick‘s “2001: A House Odyssey.”
Just like the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, Zoroastrianism’s holy texts comprise an assortment of writings from varied sources over an extended span of time. Out of those, the Avesta is essentially the most essential. Essentially the most vital a part of the Avesta, as talked about, is the Yesna, a 72-hymn set of songs interwoven with non secular rituals. The Yesna describes pouring libations to Ahura Mazda, animal sacrifices, fights with a Dragon (capital D) “belching forth his poison,” supplications for cover, quotes from Zarathustra, and speak of stars and fireplace. It’s extra of an expressive poetic textual content than a stringent doctrinal textual content. And as Historical past says, fireplace is essential. Ahura Mazda is related to the solar, and fireplace purity.