Editing Zoroastrianism (section)

=== Early history ===
{{See also|Avestan period|Airyanem Vaejah}}
[[File:Young avestan geography.png|thumb|Geographical horizon of the Avestan people during the Young Avestan period. Sources for the different localizations are in the file description.]]
The roots of Zoroastrianism are thought to lie in a common prehistoric [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian]] religious system dating back to the early 2nd millennium BCE.{{sfn|Foltz|2013|pp=10–18}} The prophet Zoroaster himself, though traditionally dated to the 6th century BCE,<ref>{{cite web |title=Zarathustra – Iranian prophet |url=http://www.britannica.com/biography/Zoroaster-Iranian-prophet |access-date=9 June 2017 |archive-date=11 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011224918/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Zoroaster-Iranian-prophet |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Schmitt-2002"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=ZOROASTRIANISM i. HISTORY TO THE ARAB CONQUEST – Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroastrianism-i-historical-review |access-date=13 July 2019 |website=Encyclopædia Iranica |archive-date=5 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205062939/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroastrianism-i-historical-review |url-status=live }}</ref> is thought by many modern historians to have been a reformer of the polytheistic Iranian religion who lived much earlier during the second half of the second millennium BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last=Malandra |first=William W. |title=Encyclopædia Iranica |publisher=Iranica Foundation |year=2009 |chapter=Zoroaster ii. general survey |quote=Controversy over Zaraθuštra's date has been an embarrassment of long standing to Zoroastrian studies. If anything approaching a consensus exists, it is that he lived ca. 1000 BCE give or take a century or so, though reputable scholars have proposed dates as widely apart as ca.1750 BCE and "258 years before Alexander. |chapter-url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroaster-ii-general-survey |access-date=6 May 2023 |archive-date=17 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517174232/https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroaster-ii-general-survey |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Boyce |first=Mary |title=A History Of Zoroastrianism: The Early Period |publisher=Brill |year=1996 |pages=3 |author-link=Mary Boyce}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Daniel |first=Elton L. |title=The History of Iran |publisher=Greenwood |year=2012 |isbn=978-0313375095 |pages=47 |quote=Recent research, however, has cast considerable doubt on this dating and geographical setting. [...] The similarity of the language and metrical system of the Gathas to those of the Vedas, the simplicity of the society depicted throughout the Avesta, and the lack of awareness of great cities, historical rulers, or empires all suggest a different time frame. [...] All in all, it seems likely that Zoroaster and the Avestan people flourished in eastern Iran at a much earlier date (anywhere from 1500 to 900 B.C.) than once thought.}}</ref><ref name="Atlas">Patrick Karl O'Brien, ed. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&dq= ''Atlas&pg=PA45 of World History''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321163438/https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&dq= |date=21 March 2023 }}, concise edn. (NY: Oxford UP, 2002), 45.</ref> Zoroastrian tradition names [[Airyanem Vaejah]] as the home of Zarathustra and the birthplace of the religion. No consensus exists as to the localization of Airyanem Vaejah, but the region of [[Khwarezm]] has been considered by modern scholars as a candidate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vogelsang |first=Willhelm |date=2000 |title=The sixteen lands of Videvdat – Airyanem Vaejah and the homeland of the Iranians |journal=Persica |volume=16 |pages=9 |doi=10.2143/PERS.16.0.511 |quote=The land of Airyanem Vaejah, which is described in the text as a land of extreme cold, has often been identified with ancient Choresmia.}}</ref> Zoroastrianism as a religion was not firmly established until centuries later during the [[Avestan period|Young Avestan period]]. At this time, the Zoroastrian community was concentrated in the eastern portion of [[Greater Iran]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Witzel |first=Michael |url=http://michaelwitzel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/AryanHome1.pdf |title=Festschrift für Johanna Narten zum 70. Geburtstag |publisher=J. H. Roell |year=2000 |editor-last1=Hinze |editor-first1=A. |pages=283–338 |chapter=The Home of the Aryans |doi=10.11588/xarep.00000114 |quote=Since the evidence of Young Avestan place names so clearly points to a more eastern location, the Avesta is again understood, nowadays, as an East Iranian text, whose area of composition comprised -- at least -- Sīstån/Arachosia, Herat, Merw and Bactria. |author-link=Michael Witzel |editor-last2=Tichy |editor-first2=E. |access-date=6 May 2023 |archive-date=13 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013194630/http://michaelwitzel.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/AryanHome1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Although no consensus exists on the chronology of the Avestan period, the lack of any discernable [[Achaemenid empire|Persian]] and [[Median empire|Median]] influence in the [[Avesta]] makes a time frame in the first half of the first millennium BCE likely.<ref>{{cite book |last=Skjaervø |first=P. Oktor |title=The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia |publisher=De Gruyter |year=1995 |isbn=9783110144475 |editor-last=Erdosy |editor-first=George |pages=166 |chapter=The Avesta as source for the early history of the Iranians |quote=The fact that the oldest Young Avestan texts apparently contain no reference to western Iran, including Media, would seem to indicate that they were composed in eastern Iran before the Median domination reached the area. |author-link=Prods Oktor Skjaervo}}</ref>