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ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA.
the father of Darius. This king was evidently the patron and friend of the great religious teacher; and his influence greatly contributed to Zoroaster's success. Two brothers, Frashaoshtra and Jamaspa, the latter a minister of the king, were among Zoroaster's prominent supporters; indeed he married their sister Hvovi. Like some other religious leaders, Zoroaster derived much aid from his relatives and their followers; and he appears to have had a family of sons and daughters. The Avesta does not speak of his death; but in the late Shah-Nama, or book of Turanian kings (13th century), it is related that he was murdered at the altar in the storming of Balk by the Turanian conquerors. Almost the only means that we have of indicating Zoroaster's date is the fact that when Cyrus reigned, in the 6th century B.C., the Magian religion was firmly established in Western Iran. Various conjectures assign him dates between 1000 and 1400 B.C.
His date.
ments.
Turning now to the view of Zoroaster given by the later parts of the Avesta, it is easy to see that he became invested with marvellous powers, nothing less than superMythical natural, and was in fact made part of the develop- Magian mythology. He is described as smiting fiends chiefly with his prayers, driving away Ahriman the evil spirit with huge stones which he had received from Ormuzd, the supreme and good god. At his birth the floods and trees rejoiced. Ormuzd is even represented as sacrificing to a spring, and praying that Zoroaster may be brought to think and speak and do according to his law. Zoroaster in fact becomes the supporter of Ormuzd, and drives away Ahriman and the fiends that try to kill him. He is a godlike champion, who kills the powers of evil with the word of truth or the sacred spell. At some far-off period a posthumous son will be born to him who will come from the region of the dawn to free the world from death and decay, and under his rule the dead will rise and immortality
commence.
Still later, in the Bundahish we have more details and marvels about Zoroaster, and from it a legendary
