Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

RELIGION OF MEDES & PERSIANS 109
Hystaspes,
father of Darius. At this ruler's Court he first
converted the two sons of the Vizier and then the Queen.
There was a formal disputation between the Prophet and
the wise men, during the course of which they tried to
overcome him by their magic ; but Zoroaster triumphed
and gained
the King himself as a fervid convert to the new
To quote from the Farvadin Tasht :
religion.
He it was who became the arm and the support of the Religion
of Zarathushtra, of Ahura ; He, who dragged from her chains the
Religion that was bound in fetters and unable to stir.
The conversion of Gustasp and his Court was followed by
invasions of the Turanian tribes of Central Asia, perhaps
provoked by crusades of the converts. These " Holy
Wars,'' as they may be considered, were waged mainly in
Khorasan, and, if the legend can be trusted, the deciding
battle was fought to the west of the modern town of
Sabzawar.^ Zoroaster, full of years and honours, was
slain at Balkh when the Turanians made their second
invasion. The tradition runs that he died at the altar,
surrounded by his disciples.
The Bate of Zoroaster s Birth and Death.—To sum- .
marize, Zoroaster was an inhabitant of Azerbaijan and
this is doubtful. He was
perhaps a Magian, although
born about 660 B.C. or perhaps a few generations earlier.
Like Mohamed, whose religion was also destined to
prevail in Persia in later times, he saw visions and endured
many years of bitter failure before success was gained.
He converted Gustasp, King of Eastern Persia, and
remained at his Court, teaching and preaching, until his
death about 583 b.c.^
The Avesta,—In the eyes of a Moslem, the inhabitants
of the world are divided into those nations which have
revealed scriptures and those which have not. The
Zoroastrians can certainly claim to belong to the former
class, as they possess the Avesta, which, or part of which,
was revealed to Zoroaster. This sacred work, -written in
1 I visited this interesting site in 1908. Vide Journal R.G.S. for January and
February, 19 11.
2 Moulton pleads strongly for " a few more generations," and it would be unsound to
be dogmatic on this very difficult question. Personally, I am inclined to follow Moulton,
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