Zoroastrianism was the dominant world religion during the Persian empires (559 BC to 651 AC), and was thus the most powerful world religion at the time of Jesus. Created by Prophet Zarathushtra, known to the Greeks as Zoroaster, it had a major influence on other religions. Although no longer a major religion, today it is still practiced world-wide, especially in Iran and India.

Chronological timeline:

628 BC: Zoroaster was born.
598 BC: Zoroaster had a religious vision and started to practice and teach Zoroastrianism.
588 BC: Zoroaster converted Vishtaspa, a king of Chorasmia
511 BC: Zoroaster dies.
224 AD: Zoroastrianism became the official religion. Its hierarchy possessed considerable political power, and other religions (Christianity, Manichaeism, and Buddhism) were persecuted.

8th - 10th centuries: Religious persecution and forced conversion to Islam led some of the remaining Zoroastrians to leave Iran and settle in India, most of them eventually in the region of Bombay.

19th century: Zoroastrians in India, called Parsees, renewed contact with the only remaining Zoroastrians in Iran, the Gabars. These two groups and their emigrants to other countries are today the only surviving practitioners of the religion of Zoroaster.

Fast facts:
• The God: Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord.
Zoroaster rejected the cults of all the gods except one ahura, Ahura Mazda, the "Wise Lord." He claimed that he was enlightened directly by Mazda. It is not certain that Zoroaster was the first to proclaim Ahura Mazda. This deity appears as the great god of Darius 1 (522-486 BC), and it is not known whether Darius heard of him through Zoroaster's disciples or independently.

The Monotheistic aspects of Zoroastrian in its early days was opposed by the older Iranian religion, which was polytheistic.

• Dualism. The good god and the bad god:
The wise Lord Ahura Mazda is opposed by Anghra Mainyu (Phl. Ahriman), meaning "Destructive Spirit," the embodiment of evil and creator of all evil things. Another version of this is that the twin sons of Ahura Mazda entered into an eternal rivalry : One, Spenta Mainyu (Bounteous Spirit), chose good, thus acquiring the attributes of truth, justice, and life. The other, Angra Mainyu (Destructive Spirit), chose evil and its attendant forces of destruction, injustice, and death.

• The world¡¯s Past, Present, and Future :
Zoroastrian cosmology conceives the history of the world as a vast drama divided into four periods of 3,000 years each:

In Infinite Time there existed Ormazd (modern term for Ahura Mazda), who dwelt in the light, and Ahriman, who dwelt below him in the darkness. At the end of the first 3,000 years Ahriman crossed the Void that separated them and attacked Ormazd, who, perceiving that their struggle would last forever unless realized in finite terms, made a pact with Ahriman limiting the duration of their struggle. Ormazd then recited the Ahuna Vairya, the most sacred prayer of the Zoroastrians, which is believed to contain the germ of their whole religion.

Ahriman, aghast, fell back into the abyss where he lay for another 3,000 years. During this time Ormazd called creation into being, first the spiritual creation including the Beneficent Immortals, then a corresponding material creation--sky, water, earth, plants, the Primeval Ox, and Primeval Man (Gayomart). Next, to the fravashis (preexistent souls) of men Ormazd offered a choice between staying forever in their embryonic state and becoming incarnate in the physical world in order to secure his triumph over Ahriman; they chose birth and combat. This is pretty much like the movie Matrix, when Neo chose to be incarnated into the real world instead of remaining to be a human battery of the machine world. Meanwhile Ahriman generated six demons and an opposing material creation.

At the end of the second period of 3,000 years Ahriman, instigated by Primeval Woman, the Whore, burst through the sky and corrupted the creation of Ormazd. He killed Gayomart, from whose body mankind and the metals were generated, and the Ox, from which arose animals and plants. In the third period Ahriman triumphed in the material world but was unable to escape from it; trapped by Ormazd, he was doomed to generate his own destruction.

The beginning of the last period witnesses the coming of religion on earth, namely the birth of Zoroaster. The end of each of its millennia is to be marked by the coming of a new saviour, successor and posthumous son of Zoroaster. The third and last saviour, Saoshyans, will bring about the final judgment, dispense the drink of immortality, and usher in the new world. Thus, Finite Time, which had come forth from Infinite Time, merges with it again after the interval of 12,000 years.

If the birth of Zoroaster is indeed 628BC, and the last judgement is 3000 years later, it means that the end of earth as we know it happens in Year 2372.

• The Freedom of Choice:
Every person has the freedom to choose the good deity or the bad deity, and bear the consequences. Once you¡¯ve made your choice there is no turning back. (Again, this is like the movie Matrix: red pill or the blue pill, you choose) So think carefully!

• The Death and Afterlife:

According to Zoroaster the world was soon to be consumed in a mighty conflagration from which only the followers of the good would rise to share in a new creation. Until this came to pass, the souls of those who died would cross the Bridge of the Requiter from whence the good would be led to wait in heaven, the wicked in hell.

Hell is a temporary place of suffering for sinners after death. When evil is finally defeated (at Frashegird), the souls of sinners will be released from hell, and will be purified by the ordeal of molten metal. They will then join the congregation of God and the saints. I like this feature a lot: it means that even souls in hell will eventually be forgiven and their sufferings are not infinite.

• Sacred Texts:
The literature of Zoroastrianism falls into two distinct parts: the Avesta, the original scriptural work, composed in a form of the ancient Iranian language called Avestan; and the much later texts written in Pahlavi, a dialect of Middle Persian, or in Persian. The most sacred sections of the Avesta are the Gathas or Hymns of Zarathushtra.

• Fire:
Fire, as a symbol of "Asha" and the "original light of God," holds a special place of esteem in the religion. Prayer is often done in front of a fire, and consecrated fires are kept perpetually burning in the major temples. This is why this religion is also called ¡°fire worshipping¡± in China.

• Calendar:
The Zoroastrian new year starts on Mar. 21.

• The Treatment of the Body of the Deceased:
Dakhma-nashini is the only method of corpse-destruction for a Zarathushtri, as enjoined in the Vendidad: this is the destruction of the dead body in the stone-enclosed Dakhma, by the flesh-eating bird or the rays of the Sun, the most spiritually powerful method as commanded by Ahura Mazda to Zarathushtra. Dakhma-nashini is also very hygienic and ecologically-sound, because it prevents the world from being spiritually or materially polluted by decaying dead matter. I wonder if it has any connection with Tibet¡¯s religion because Tibetans have the same method of disposing the dead body. It is very possible that Tibetans are influenced by Parsis in India.

Cause/Effect:

Zoroastrianism influenced the other major Western religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

According to Mary Boyce, the modern religion scholar: "Zoroaster was thus the first to teach the doctrines of an individual judgment, Heaven and Hell, the future resurrection of the body, the general Last Judgment, and life everlasting for the reunited soul and body. These doctrines were to become familiar articles of faith to much of mankind, through borrowings by Judaism, Christianity and Islam; yet it is in Zoroastrianism itself that they have their fullest logical coherence....¡±

After Zoroaster's death his religion slowly spread southward, through what is now Afghanistan, and westward into the territory of the Medes and Persians. As it did so, it did not remain immune from mixing with the ancient religion, whose gods and goddesses were again worshiped.

Today:
Believers are around 140,000. The largest populations are in India and Iran. J Hinnells¡¯ booklet Zoroastrianism and the Parsis (p.8) has 17,000 in Iran and 92,000 in India (although only 0.02% in India¡¯s population, they are very rich and influential people). North American Zoroastrians are reported to be around 5,000.

Traditional believers believe that each faith in the world leads ultimately to God, therefore the Zarathushtris do not convert other people, but they rely on marriage within and increase childbirth to increase their numbers.

Sources :
Temple of Zoroaster: http://sangha.net/messengers/zoroaster.htm Avesta -- Zoroastrian Archives : http://www.avesta.org/ Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979
Stanford University Zoroastrian Group: http://www.stanford.edu/group/zoroastrians/ World of Traditional Zoroastrianism: http://www.zoroastrianism.com/