1905. For more than three thousand years the name of Zoroaster was known around the world. Zoroastrian philosophy, which was the main religious belief system of ancient Iranians and for about several hundred years was the basis of the Iranian culture and their life style, now is almost forgotten. The name is the corrupt Greek form of the old Iranian Zarathustra. This is a study of Zoroaster by the scholar Whitney.

1925. Besant, Founder/President of the Theosophical Society on the differences that are continually arising between occult knowledge and the oriental science on the question of the age of the great religions. See other works by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. Due to the age and scarcity of the original we reproduced, some pages may be spotty, faded or difficult to read.

1907. The author_s principal objective in publishing these essays was to present all the materials for impartial judgment of the scriptures and religion of the Parsis. Contents: Essay I. History of the Researches into the Sacred Writings and Religion of the Parsis; Essay II. Languages of the Parsi Scriptures; Essay III. The Zend-Avesta, or the Scripture of the Parsis; and Essay IV. The Zoroastrian Religion as to its Origin and Development. A biographical memoir of Dr. Haug by Professor E.P. Evans is also included in this volume.

They begged of her a boon, saying: "Grant us this, O good, most beneficent Ardvi Sura Anahita! that we may overcome the assemblers of the Turanian Danus, Kara Asabana, and Vara Asabana, and the most mighty Duraekaeta, in the battles of this world.

Long before the first Hebrew temple, before the birth of Christ or the mission of Muhammad, there lived in Persia a prophet to whom we owe the ideas of a single god, the cosmic struggle between good and evil, and the Apocalypse. His name was Zarathustra, and his teachings eventually held sway from the Indus to the Nile and spread as far as Britain.
Following Zarathustra' s elusive trail back through time and across the Islamic, Christian, and Jewish worlds, Paul Kriwaczek uncovers his legacy at a wedding ceremony in present-day Central Asia, in the Cathar heresy of medieval France, and among the mystery cults of the Roman empire. He explores pre-Muslim Iran and Central Asia, ultimately bringing us face to face with the prophet himself, a teacher whose radical humility shocked and challenged his age, and whose teachings have had an enduring effect on Western thought. The result is a tour de force of travel and historical inquiry by an adventurer in the classic tradition.

This volume of studies represents researches spread over a period of many years. Part I: Iranian Religion: introduction; periods in the development of the religion of Iran; Zoroaster, prophet of ancient Iran; Zoroastrianism as a faith; host of heaven; legions of hell; universe and man; moral and ethical teachings of the ancient Zoroastrian religion; eschatology, the ancient Persian doctrine of a future life; religion of the Achaemenian kings; religion after Alexander's invasion, the Parthian dominion; worship, rites and ceremonies, religious observances; relation to other religions; Part II: Zoroastrian doctrine of the freedom of the will; Part III: miscellaneous Zoroastrian studies.

The author attempts to give an outline picture of Zoroastriansm, and then of Judaism when it came to be somewhat a fixed system in the post-exilic times, in order to give the leading religious, social, and moral conceptions in each faith. Contents: Zarathustra and the Zeit-Geist; Judaism; the idea of deity; the host of heaven; naturalistic traits; the expectation of a redeemer; civil, social, and ceremonial regulations; morals and ethics; the future life.

The source material of the book is translated from the only existent Sasanian law text and two Rivayats from the first half of the ninth and the first half of the tenth century, at which time the Zoroastrians survived only in minority communities. The original text is presented in photocopy with a transcription. The analysis is concerned with four institutions in the sphere of family law: Guardianship, marriage of levirate, marriage of a woman in order to provide her father or brother with an heir and marriage between close relatives (incest taboo did not exist). The issue of the research is to show how the social conditions and internal family economy with its power balance is reflected in the rules of the Sasanian law, and that the differences apparent in the later texts are not accidental, but form a pattern caused by the changing social conditions, and that the law was changed in order to help preserve the Zoroastrian minority in adversity under Arab rule.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Zoroaster preaching Mazdeism; Crusade against Idol Worshippers; Fall of the Persian Empire; Birth of Zoroaster; Soul of Nature; Definition of Ahura-Mazda (God); Evil; Hygienic Laws; Status of Women; God and his Angels; Prayer of repentance; Prohibition of fasting from food; Teachings of Zoroaster; plus more!

The first known teacher of the Aryan Race, Zoroaster, the "Ancient Sage"; The Zend-Avesta, or Persian Holy Scripture; The Gathas; The Vendidad; The Empire of Cyrus; The Later Religious Books; The Rock-Inscription of the Persian Conquerors; The Bundahish; The Zoroastrian Account of Creation; The Book of Arda Viraf (a Dantesque Vision of Heaven and Hell); The Pahlavi Historical Romances; The Memoirs of Zarir (the oldest account of the Zoroastrian Religious Wars); The Records of Artakshir (the heroic founding of the Second Persian Empire); The Final Tradition of the Past; The Epic of Kings.

This text explores the consequences of the meeting in medieval Iran of two important religious communities - Zoroastrians and Muslims. It examines patterns of communal behaviour during the seventh to thirteenth centuries AD and suggest how both groups were radically transformed, ultimately reshaping the culture and society of the Middle East and central Asia. The spread of Islam, and the success of Muslim institutions, and the gradual decline of Zoroastrianism are viewed in the light of politics, religion and economics.

Contents: Zoroaster and the Parsis; The Teaching of Zarathushtra; The Religion of the Later Avesta; The Parsis; The Priesthood; Ceremonial Life; Fire Temples and Towers of Silence; Orthodoxy and Reform; Parsi Piety; The Parsis and Christian Propaganda; The Crown of Zoroastrianism; Index.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

"Boyce is a, perhaps the, world authority on Zoroastrianism. . . . Prefaced by a 27-page introduction, this anthology contains selections which offer a complete picture of Zoroastrian belief, worship and practice. There are historical texts from the sixth century B.C. onwards, and extracts from modern Zoroastrian writings representing traditionalism, occultism and reformist opinion. Anyone wishing to know more about this 'least well known of the world religions' should sample these selections."--"The Methodist Church"
"Wide-ranging. . . . An indispensable one-volume collection of primary materials."--William R. Darrow, "Religious Studies Review"

For many centuries, from the birth of the religion late in the second millennium BC to its influence on the Achaemenids and later adoption in the third century AD as the state religion of the Sasanian Empire, it enjoyed imperial patronage and profoundly shaped the culture of antiquity. The Magi of the New Testament most probably were Zoroastrian priests from the Iranian world, while the enigmatic figure of Zarathushtra (or Zoroaster) himself has exerted continual fascination in the West, influencing creative artists as diverse as Voltaire, Nietzsche, Mozart and Yeats. This authoritative volume brings together internationally recognised scholars to explore Zoroastrianism in all its rich complexity. Examining key themes such as history and modernity, tradition and scripture, art and architecture and minority status and religious identity, it places the modern Zoroastrians of Iran, and the Parsis of India, in their proper contexts. The book extends and complements the coverage of its companion volume, The Everlasting Flame.