SOURCE: “The Prophet” in The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1961, pp. 33-61.

In the essay that follows, Zaehner offers an overview of Zoroaster's life and his spiritual doctrines, as outlined in the Gathas.

His Place and Date

The traditional date the Zoroastrians assign to their Prophet is ‘258 years before Alexander’, and for the Persian or Iranian the name ‘Alexander’ can only have meant the sack of Persepolis, the extinction of the Achaemenian Empire, and the death of the last of the kings of kings, Darius III. This occurred in 330 bc, and Zoroaster's date would then be 588 bc, and this date we may take to refer to the initial success of his prophetic mission which consisted in the conversion of King Vishtāspa when Zoroaster was forty years old.¹ Since he is traditionally said to have lived seventy-seven years, we will not be far wrong...