A brief Introduction to Zoroastrianism and Zarathustra/Zoroaster-part 1.

A brief introduction to Zoroastrianism, and who Zarathustra is, necessarily requires we go back several thousand years, to possibly 4000 years from the present, to examine the religious, cultural and linguistic scenario from which this religion was to eventually emerge. Then, a vast disparate group of peoples, known as the Indo-European groups, who were sharing the developing Indo-European languages that were to spread across much of Europe and Asia, were the inhabitants of the Asian steppes and eastern Europe.
For a brief introduction to Indo-European language family tree see here

The above link tells us the Indo-European group of languages is basically divided into the Satem and Centum groups, the former spread across much of Asia and the latter over Europe, and are famously identified from the similarity of words and numbers-Satem and Centum both stand for the number 100. so, interestingly, are some of the earliest words formed by man to speak and communicate; Mother, for example, is variously, Maa, Mader, (Maa-in Sanskrit and Hindi and in most Indian languages, and in Old Persian-Mader); and Muter, Mama etc etc in German, Italian/Spanish. (Father-pader (OP) and pitar(Vedic) , pater, pedro, etc all phonetically similar; and the list of such early words is pretty large!( King is Kai in old Persian, sun, surya in the Vedic, etc. )

If people share the same language roots, by close proximity, in regions across the European and Asian steppes, the Caucasoid Mountains and East Europe, then it's possible they shared similar religious beliefs.

*Dyēus Ph₂tēr (literally "sky father") is the god of the day-lit sky and the chief god of the Indo-European pantheon. The name survives in Greek Zeus with a vocative form Zeu pater; Latin Jūpiter (from the archaic Latin Iovis pater; Diēspiter), Sanskrit Dyáus Pitā, and Illyrian Dei-pátrous.

This Wiki link on proto-Indo European religious beliefs would be good for further reading.

In all Indo-European language speakers, there is a general belief in gods, a pantheon of gods, usually led by a principal god; Deus Pitar in Europe, the Deva concept in Asia-India.

I am reproducing here the summarized concluding para, in the above link, that explains the unique religious connections and similarities:

"The various Indo-European daughter-cultures continued elements of PIE religion, syncretizing it with innovations and foreign elements, notably Ancient Near Eastern and Dravidian elements, the reforms of Zoroaster and Buddha, and the spread of Christianity and Islam.
Anatolian: see Hittite mythology
Indo-Iranian:
Indo-Aryan: see Vedic religion and mythology, Indian religions (Hinduism and Hindu mythology, Buddhism and Buddhist mythology, Jainism, Sikhism)
Iranian: see Zoroastrianism, Persian mythology
Greek: see Greek polytheism and mythology, Hellenistic religion, Decline of Hellenistic polytheism, Greek Orthodox Church
Italic: see Roman polytheism and mythology, Roman Catholic Church
Celtic: see Celtic polytheism and mythology, Celtic Christianity
Germanic: see Germanic mythology (Continental, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian traditions), Germanic Christianity
Baltic: see Latvian mythology, Lithuanian mythology
Slavic: see Slavic mythology, Christianization of the Slavs
Tocharian: little evidence, see Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
Armenian: limited evidence, see Armenian mythology, Armenian Orthodox Church
Prehistoric Balkans: see Paleo-Balkanic mythology."

further links for more reading are available in the link above.

During the period 5000 B.C and 1000 B.C. these disparate groups forming the Indo-European peoples began moving further from one another as, supposedly, the needs for growing population and need of more grazing grounds for their livestock, and the urge to push and plunder their way into more places, sent them into different directions.

Here is a brilliant essay that summarizes the migrations of these peoples across Europe and Asia.

http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/art111e.pdf 

and this equally brilliant essay:

http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp239_indo_european_languages.pdf   and this

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/AryanHome.pdf

(In the above link, the author very aptly traces the migration of the Indo-Iranians, with archaeology digs where the methods of burial correspond exactly with Rig Vedic texts, this in the Siberian regions east of the Ural mountains (a singular burial where a horse's head is positioned on the severed head of the skeleton, as exactly described in the Rig Vedic texts.). The author goes on to trace the home of the Aryans "Airyana Vaejha" in the central highlands of Afghanistan.........the whole essay is indeed a revealing document.)      


Those groups that moved west were to become the ancestors of the present European peoples who speak Indo-European daughter languages, Norse, German, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch,English, Belgic, Lithuanian, Russian etc. (as opposed to the speakers of the Finno-Ugraian groups like Finnish and Hungarian.) Early groups also arrived in present day Turkey-Syria, known as the Hittites who were rivals to the middle Egyptians, and the Mittani. The Hittites and the Mittani display names of gods still found today in the Hindu pantheon.

The group with which we are particularly concerned, the Indo-European Indo-Iranian group, ancestors of the Iranians and Indians, move south and south west to India and Iran.

But these ancestors of Iranians and Indians, were a sort of composite family group, living as neighbors, for a thousand years( 3500 B.C.-2500 B.C.)-in the present regions of north-west India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and further north-west, sharing a common heritage, identifying themselves as Aryans-the Upright Peoples.

Their religious beliefs and myths and legends ran parallel. The principal gods were Mitra-Indian and Mithra(Iranian), Lord of contracts and wide pastures, Indra-Vrittra (Indian) and Verethregna (Iranian,) Lord of war and victory, Varuna (Indian)  and Apam-Napat (Iranian), Lord of the heavens; Vayu, Lord of winds, and so on. Both peoples collectively called this pantheon, the Asuras. When the Indian Aryans went their separate way they began calling their gods the Devas, the Iranians continued the term Asuras-Ahuras, whilst Devas become opposing forces in Iranian belief.

There are parallel legends and myths including Yama (Indian) and Yima (Iranian), the early kings, the slaying of a demonic serpent by the Iranian hero Kersaspa, in Indian lore known as Nairyosangha.

Of course, as with all other Indo-Europeans, rituals form the core of all religious and tribal activities of the Aryans, the veneration of fire and other elements of nature, especially water, and the cow is considered very sacred.

The best reading material on Zoroastrianism is available in the book by Prof Mary Boyce see link



In these still pre-historic times, somewhere in the regions north east of present day Iran, the family of Zarathustra lived as settled folk; these good settled folk are opposed by marauding tribes who loot their cattle and steal their few belongings; this forms the basis of the belief of a conflict between good and evil, which becomes one of the basic beliefs in Zoroastrianism.