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The remainder of the Avesta, dating from the fifth through the third centuries B.C. The Avesta consists of the core work of the Gathas and a body of later texts and is the primary book of Zoroastrianism. The Siroza is a section that enumerates the deities presiding over the 30 days of the months. |
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Middle Persian commentaries, based upon information available during, and after, the third century B.C. |
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The Shah Nameh, a Persian epic by Firdausi from the 10th century A.D. |
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The name Zoroaster is the Greek rendering of the Old Persian name Zara-ushtra. The Avestan sources use the name Zarathushtra (Camel Driver), which has been translated into Greek as Zathraustes. |
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The figure of Zoroaster is generally claimed to be Persian, but this ascription seems to date from the fourth century B.C., when the Greeks first came into contact with this religion via the magi of Western Iran, who claimed Zoroaster to be one of their own. Zoroaster, to the contrary, lived ''among the Ariani", and the Avesta repeatedly refers to the country of Aryana Vaejah, which is an area in the border lands among modern Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan. This area lost its independence when Cyrus the Great incorporated the areas of eastern Iran into the Persian Empire (559529 B.C.). |
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9.8.1.1.2.3
The Old Iranian Calendar |
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The original calendar used in the time of Zoroaster is unknown. Zarathushtra is known primarily from 17 gathas or great hymns supposed to have been composed by him. According to some sources, the poetic utterance is ancient and traceable through Norse parallels to Indo-European times. In this view, the bulk of the evidence points to a date for the composition of the material in the early Bronze Age, circa 1700 B.C. |
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The actual first calendar known evolved during the late Achaemenian period, which started with Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C. The early Zoroastrians used some variant of a traditional Old Iranian calendar a calendar using a vague solar year of 360 days, composed of 12 months of 30 days. Months were named for various festivals of the pastoral year. |
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The scribes of this time knew and used the Babylonian calendar but translated month names into Old Persian equivalents. This calendar would require intercalations of a 13th month about every six years if it were kept in step with the solar year. |
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9.8.1.1.2.4
A First Zoroastrian Calendar |
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The Persians eventually created a Zoroastrian calendar, in which each day and each month was dedicated to a yazata (divinity). The holy year started in the spring, so it is likely that the Persians celebrated the Babylonian New Year Day. |
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