Editing Ahura Mazda (section)

== Before Zoroastrianism ==
{{original research|section|date=May 2025|reason=See the discussion at [[Talk:Mazdaism]].}}
{{Importance section|talk=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Mazdaism|date=May 2025}}{{See also|Mazdaism}}
Mazdaism is a religion that arose in [[Western Iran]], modern-day Afghanistan, and [[Central Asia]] beginning in the early centuries of the first millennium.<ref>Маздаизм // Азәрбајҹан Совет Енсиклопедијасы: [10 ҹилддә]. VI ҹилд: Куба—Мисир. Бакы: Азәрбајҹан Совет Енсиклопедијасынын Баш Редаксијасы. Баш редактор: Ҹ. Б. Гулијев. 1982. С. 302.</ref> Unlike in [[Zoroastrianism]], in Mazdaism Ahura Mazda is one of the gods, equal to [[Mithra]].<ref>''Бойс, Мэри.'' Зороастрийцы. Верования и обычаи. — <abbr>СПб.</abbr>: Петербургское востоковедение, 2003. — 352 с. — ISBN 5-352-00486-4, 5-85803-234-6.</ref>

The worship of Ahura Mazda, as some Zoroastrian historians believe, was not originated by Zoroaster, but existed before the prophet's message. According to Robert Zahner, the pre-Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda was undoubtedly associated with the concept of truth or the idea of some kind of "universal order," as well as with water, light, or the sun.<ref>''[[Robert Charles Zaehner]].'' The dawn and twilight of Zoroastrianism 1961. — 371 p.</ref>

[[Émile Benveniste|Emile Benveniste]] points out that Ahura Mazda is an ancient deity and that the Zoroastrians used this name to refer to the Zoroastrian god. Even the central role assigned to this god in Mazdaism is not a Zoroastrian innovation. The title Mazdaism (worshipper of Mazda) found in Aramaic papyri from the Achaemenid period cannot be evidence that the Achaemenids were Zoroastrian, and the mention of the name Ahura Mazda in stone inscriptions is not evidence of this either. In the Achaemenid inscriptions, not only is Zoroastrianism not mentioned, but nothing else is mentioned that could give these inscriptions a Zoroastrian signal.<ref>بنونیست، امیل. دین ایرانی <bdi>36-31</bdi>. بر پایهٔ متن‌های مهم یونانی. ترجمهٔ بهمن سرکاراتی. تهران: انتشارات بنیاد فرهنگ ایران.</ref>