threatened by the great prophet, form a favourite subject of the traditional reports and legends. He was the concentration of all wisdom and truth, and the master and head of the whole living creation (see p. 211). The only source whence we may derive some very scanty historical facts is the older Yasna. In this part of the scriptures only, he appears before our eyes as a real man, acting a great and prominent part in the history of his country, and even in the history of the whole human race in general. He was a member of the Spitama family, which name is given to the Haechaḍaspas also (Yas. xlvi. 15), who seem, therefore, to have been his nearest relations. His father's name was Pourushaspa, according to the later Yasna and Vendidad. Of his children only his daughter Paouruchista (Yas. liii. 3) is mentioned by the two names Haechadaspand Spitâmî, which can be interpreted only as "belonging to the Spitama family of the Haêchadaspa lineage." He was distinguished by the surname Zarathushtra, which the Greeks corrupted to Zarastrades or Zoroastres, and the Romans to Zoroaster, by which name alone he is known to Europeans, while the Persians and Parsis changed it to Zardosht. Although the original meaning of this name is uncertain,' yet it can hardly be doubted that it was not merely the proper name of the founder of the Parsi religion, but denoted a certain high dignity, that of the high-priest of the country. This follows clearly from Yas. xix. (see p. 188), where the Zarathushtra is mentioned as the fifth chief, in those countries where there are four others of an inferior order, and as the fourth, where there are only three others below him; and it is also evident from the title Zarathushtrôtemô. This title must mean, according to grammar (tema being the superlative suffix), "the greatest or highest Zarathushtra," which denomination can be understood only if we assume the existence of several contemporaneous Zarathushtras, at whose head he was placed. The name "Zarathushtra must, therefore, have conveyed in ancient times nearly the same meaning as the word "Dastur" does nowadays: it must have meant the spiritual guide and head of a whole district, or even province. The Zarathushtrôtemô is, therefore, to be compared with the Dastur-i-Dasturân or chief high-priest. Even according to the notions of the modern Parsis, a Dastur occupies a very high rank among them; he is a ratu or chief in the living creation, and in his praise and honour even ceremonies may be performed. A clear proof that the word "Zarathushtra" itself was not alone deemed sufficient to distinguish the prophet from other men, is that his family name "Spitama" is generally prefixed1 when he is spoken of. This circumstance implies distinctly that there were other Zarathushtras besides the one who was distinguished by the name "Spitama," and who alone was regarded as the real founder of the Mazdayasnian religion. His home seems to have been in Bactria, which is called Berckhdha ârmaiti in the Gâthas, and Bâkhdhi (a corruption of the former) in the Vendidad. In his own works he calls himself a mathran, “reciter of mantras," a dûta, 'messenger," sent by Ahuramazda, a speaker (maretan); he listens to the oracles given by the spirit of nature (geush urvd), and sacred words are revealed to him by Ahuramazda through the flames. His doings are best learned from the Gâthas, extracts from which have been given above (see pp. 149-170), so we 1 In a similar manner each of the present Dasturs introduces the title, Dastur, between his own name and that of his father, so that his own name is prefixed to the title, as, for instance, Peshotan Dastur Behramji Sanjana (see the title-page of that learned Dastur's edition of the Din kard). may here confine ourselves to a few remarks as to the probable age in which he lived, 4. THE AGE WHEN SPITAMA ZARATHUSHTra Lived. The accounts given of the time when he is said to have flourished, differ so widely from one another, that it is impossible to fix exactly the era when he was living. The Greeks and Romans make him very ancient. Xanthos of Lydia. (B.C. 470), the earliest Greek writer who mentions Zoroaster, says that he lived about 600 years before the Trojan war (about B.C. 1800). Aristotle and Eudoxus place his era as much as 6000 years before Plato, others say 5000 years before the Trojan war (see Pliny, Historia Naturalis, xxx. 1-3). Berosos, the Babylonian historian, makes him a King of the Babylonians, and the founder of a dynasty, which reigned over Babylon between B.C. 2200 and B.C. 2000. The Parsis believe that their prophet lived at the time of Darius's father, Hystaspes, whom they identify with the Kava Vishtâspa of the Zend-Avesta, or Kaî Gushtâsp of the Shâhnâmah, and place his era accordingly about B.C. 550. But the groundlessness of this supposition may be seen on comparing the names of the predecessors of Hystaspes with those of the ancestors of Vishtâspa. The lineage of Vishtâspa or Hystaspes, according to the Bisutûn cuneiform inscription of Darius, and the statements of Herodotus, is as follows:-Hakhâmanish (Achæmenes), Chaishpish (Teispes), Ariyârâmna (Ariaramnes), Arshâma (Arsames), Vishtâspa (Hystaspes), Dârayavush (Dareios). But the lineage of Vishtâspa or Gushtâsp, according to the Avesta and Shâhnâmah, is as follows:-Kavi Kavâta (Kaî-Kabâd), Kava Usa (Kaî-Kâûs), Kava Husrava (Kaî Khusro), Aurvaḍaspa (Lahurâsp), Kava Vishtáspa (Kaî Gushtâsp). From these genealogies it will be seen that the names of the ancestors of the Vishtâspa mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions (called Hystaspes by the Greeks), are totally different from those of the ancestors of the Vishtâspa celebrated in Zoroastrian tradition (the Gushtâsp of the Shâhnâmah). We must, therefore, conclude that the Vishtâspa of Iranian tradition was a totally distinct person from the Hystaspes of the Greeks, the father of Darius. That the Persians themselves, in the time of the Sasanians, were quite uncertain as to when the former Vishtâspa lived, appears clearly from the testimony of the historian Agathias, quoted in p. 11. On comparing the accounts of the Greeks about the early era of Zoroaster, with the researches into the original texts of the Parsi scriptures, we must believe their concurrent testimony to be much more trustworthy and reliable than the opinions held by the modern Parsis. There can be no doubt whatever that Spitama Zarathushtra, the founder of the Parsi religion, lived at a very early period, because the great religious movement, of which he was the chief leader, is even alluded to in the earlier portions of the Vedas. Of his high antiquity at least two significant traces may be discovered in the present ZendAvesta. Firstly, as we have seen in the fifteenth section of the third Essay, his writings stand at the head of the extensive Avesta literature, which required centuries for its growth, and which was already complete about B.C. 400. Secondly, he is expressly called "the famous in Airyana vaêjó" (Yas. ix. 14), which means, "the famous in the Aryan home," whence the Iranians and Indians emigrated in times immemorial. This title would certainly not have been given to him had his followers not believed him to have been living at that early time. Under no circumstances can we assign him a later date than B.C. 1000, and one may even find reasons for placing his era much earlier and making him a contemporary of Moses. Pliny, who compares both Moses and Zoroaster, whom he calls inventors of two different kinds of magic rites, goes much further in stating that Zoroaster lived several thousand years before Moses (Historia Naturalis, XXX. 2). The confusion of opinions regarding his age was, no doubt, mainly caused by his appellation " Zarathushtra" or high-priest, which was afterwards taken as the proper name of the prophet. The assertion that he was born at Ragha (Rai near Teheran) is owing to the circumstance that, according to Yasna xix. (see p. 188), this large town seems to have been governed by the Zarathushtras themselves; it was, therefore, pre-eminently the Zoroastrian country. III.—SPITAMA ZARATHUSHTRA'S THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY, AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE Having shown in the preceding section the historical origin of the Zoroastrian religion, we may proceed next to consider the new ideas, theological and philosophical, which Spitama Zarathushtra introduced into the world, and in consequence of which he may be said to have become the founder of a new religion, and to have exercised a lasting influence on the history of the human mind. His real doctrines, untouched by the speculations of later ages, can be learned only from the older Yasna, chiefly from the Gâthas. The leading idea of his theology was Monotheism, i.e., that there are not many gods, but only one; and the principle of his speculative philosophy was Dualism, ie., the supposition of two primeval causes of the real world and of the intellectual; while his moral philosophy was moving in the Triad of thought, word, and deed. Having regard to the early period at which he must have lived, long before the Greeks were acquainted with anything like philosophical speculation, we cannot expect him to have established a complete and developed system of philosophical thoughts, which cannot even be said of Plato; but the few philosophical ideas which may be discovered in his sayings, show that he was a great and deep thinker, who stood far above his contemporaries, and even above the most enlightened men of many subsequent |