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INTRODUCTION, IX.
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post-Alexandrian Diaskeuasts, one thing is certain; there is not one page of that older Avesta that is literally reproduced in the newer Avesta. Those theogonies which the Magi in the time of Herodotos sang at the sacrifice have nothing to do with our Gåthas, since our Gathas contain elements which did not enter the Iranian mind till Iran was overwhelmed by the Greek conquest. Neither were they like our Yasts, because the composition of our Yasts was directed by an historical and chronological principle, of biblical origin. Only the laws of the Vendidåd, which, most of them, are as old as the older Zoroastrianism, may be supposed to be a partial reproduction of an Achaemenian Avesta ; but even they are presented in a form that implies the new evolution. A Magus of the old days was as energetic as an Avesta Åthravan in protecting the purity of the earth against any defilement; but he would not have spoken of the earth as Spenta Årmaiti.
CHAPTER IX.
CONCLUSIONS. $ 1. Zoroastrianism is an historical religion, that is to say, one that has changed in course of time, not only by an inner evolution, but also under the reaction of foreign schools and political events.
$ 2. In the remotest period, the Median priests, the Magi, elaborated on a naturalistic basis, not different from what is found in Indian, Greek, and Italian paganisms, an original system, not free from Semitic elements. Its characteristics are: dualism, the limited duration of the world, the resurrection, the worship of pure elements, and the ethics of labour. That system spread from Media to Persia, and was dominant under the Achaemenians. It is Zoroastrianism proper; no direct documents of it are left; but it is known indirectly through the inscriptions, through the testimony of the classics, and through the documents of the neo-Zoroastrianism, which received its dogmas and gave them a new form.
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