Zarathustra (Zoroaster)

Zarathustra, known to the Greeks as Zoroaster, is the founder of Zoroastrianism. His dates are uncertain: scholarly estimates range from about 1500 to 500 BCE, with many favoring around 1000 BCE, and a later Zoroastrian tradition placing him 258 years before Alexander is usually considered too late. Language evidence in his hymns points to eastern Greater Iran.

The Gathas, seventeen hymns in Old Avestan preserved within the Yasna liturgy, are attributed to him. They praise Ahura Mazda, the 'Wise Lord', and present life as a choice between truth (asha) and deception (druj). Yasna 30 describes two primal spirits who chose good and evil at the beginning; later tradition named the destructive one Angra Mainyu, or Ahriman.

Much of the legend about his life, including his death, comes from Pahlavi books written over a thousand years later. Whether and how much Zoroastrian ideas influenced Judaism and Christianity is debated.