Life
Zarathustra (Greek: Zoroaster) is the prophetic figure to whom the Old Avestan Gathas are attributed. Dating and biography are heavily debated; what ORDL can map is the literary tradition of Ahura Mazda, dual moral struggle and fire symbolism as it enters world religious history—and later Western reception (including Renaissance art). The portrait used on ORDL is Raphael’s School of Athens figure conventionally identified as Zoroaster: an artistic reception, not a likeness. Living Parsi and Iranian practice belongs with communities.
The system
- Gathic hymn literature as ethical dualism
- Later Avestan and Pahlavi expansions
- ORDL boundary: textual and reception history—not parish substitute
Key works
- The Gathas (Old Avestan hymns)
- Later Avestan corpus in tradition
- Modern translations and introductions (various scholars)
Where to start
- Start with a modern Gathas translation and a critical introduction to dating debates
- Separate Nietzsche’s “Zarathustra” literary figure from Avestan studies
Ask Orin
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What remains of “Zarathustra” when biography is uncertain but the Gathas’ moral cosmology is not?Ask Orin this question