Editing Avesta (section)

===Zoroastrian tradition===
The Zoroastrian history of the Avesta, lies in the realm of legend and myth. The oldest surviving versions of these tales are found in the ninth to 11th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition (i.e. in the so-called "[[Pahlavi books]]"). The legends run as follows: The twenty-one ''nask''s ("books") of the Avesta were created by Ahura Mazda and brought by [[Zoroaster]] to his patron [[Vishtaspa]] (''[[Denkard]]'' 4A, 3A).{{sfn|Humbach|1991|pp=50–51}} Supposedly, Vishtaspa (''Dk'' 3A) or another [[Kayanian dynasty|Kayanian]], [[Kai Darab|Daray]] (''Dk'' 4B), then had two copies made, one of which was stored in the treasury and the other in the royal archives (''Dk'' 4B, 5).{{sfn|Humbach|1991|pp=51–52}} Following Alexander's conquest, the Avesta was then supposedly destroyed or dispersed by the Greeks, after they had translated any scientific passages of which they could make use (''AVN'' 7–9, ''Dk'' 3B, 8).{{sfn|Humbach|1991|pp=52–53}} Several centuries later, one of the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] emperors named Valaksh (one of the [[Vologases (disambiguation)|Vologases]]) supposedly then had the fragments collected, not only of those that had previously been written down, but also of those that had only been orally transmitted (''Dk'' 4C).{{sfn|Humbach|1991|pp=52–53}}

The ''Denkard'' also records another legend related to the transmission of the Avesta. In this story, credit for collation and recension is given to the early Sasanian-era priest Tansar ([[mobad|high priest]] under [[Ardashir I]], ''r.'' 224–242 CE, and [[Shapur I]], 240/242–272 CE), who had the scattered works collected – of which he approved only a part as authoritative (''Dk'' 3C, 4D, 4E).{{sfn|Humbach|1991|pp=53–54}} Tansar's work was then supposedly completed by Adurbad Mahraspandan (high priest of [[Shapur II]], ''r.'' 309–379 CE) who made a general revision of the canon and continued to ensure its orthodoxy (''Dk'' 4F, ''AVN'' 1.12–1.16).{{sfn|Humbach|1991|p=54}} A final revision was supposedly undertaken in the 6th century CE under [[Khosrow I]] (''Dk'' 4G).{{sfn|Humbach|1991|p=55}}