Zoroaster mythology

The mythology Zoroaster Where Zoroastrianism is a religion that takes its name from its prophet and founder named Zoroaster or Zarathustra born in northeastern Iran during the II^e millennium av. J.-C. or the first half of the I^er millennium av. J.-C.. The Persian name of Zarathustra was transcribed in Zoroaster by the Greeks (Ζωροάστρης, Zôroástrês). His disciples are called Zoroastrians or, in French from XVIII^e century of gèbrees. Zoroastrianism is also commonly referred to as Mazdaism, named after its main deity, Ahura Mazda.

The main effect of the religious reform is to center the Mazdean religion on the god Ahura Mazdâ (pehlevi: Ohrmazd), surrounded by a number of entities. Ahura Mazda is solely responsible for the sequencing of the initial chaos, the creator of heaven and earth. Every human being is endowed with an eternal soul and free will. After death, souls incur judgment and go to heaven or purgatory.

The religious texts of Zoroastrianism are contained in theAvesta, which has two parts: the Gathas, poems attributed to Zoroaster, and the Yasna which constitute the liturgical texts as such.

Zoroastrianism was the official religion of the Persian Empire on three occasions: under King Hystaspes, under the Achaemenids, and under the Sassanids until 651, date of the assassination of the last Zoroastrian king. With the arrival of Islam and the persecutions that ensued, those who refused to convert took refuge in Gujarat, India, where they formed the Parsi community and erected temples, while pledging not to do so. proselytizing.

Zoroastrians honor fire as a symbol of the divine and maintain it in fire temples. The faithful should have "Good thoughts, good words and doing good deeds ". Zoroaster preached a dualistic religion, which is based on the fight between Good and Evil, Light and Dark. The principle of Zoroaster is that there is a holy spirit (Spenta Mainyu), son of Ahura Mazdā, and an evil spirit (Angra Mainyu) (pehlevi Ahriman), his twin, both opposite because they represent day and night, life and death. These two spirits coexist in each of the living beings. However, only Ahura Mazda retains the celestial preeminence and will triumph over evil at the end of time..

At first, the doctrine of Zoroaster was transmitted orally. All the sacred texts that constitute theAvesta was put in writing after the adoption of the script in Persia. But, from the initial text, only a quarter has come down to us: the manuscripts were lost or destroyed a first time during the invasion of Alexander the Great and a second time during the Arab invasion in VII^e century. Despite everything, the equivalent of a thousand pages have survived until our time. Of these seventeen Gathas or “sacred hymns” are attributed to Zoroaster himself, and testify to his personality. They are written in the oldest and most difficult to interpret language.