Editing Dating creation (section)

==Zoroastrianism==
[[Zoroastrianism]] involves a 12,000-year [[cosmogony]] and chronology, often divided into four ages as outlined in the ''[[Bundahishn]]''.{{sfn|Hastings|2003|pp=200—208}}{{sfn|Boyce|1996|p=286}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Zoroastrianism: an introduction to an ancient faith|author=Peter Clark|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|year=1998|page=52|isbn=9781898723783}}</ref> The first age lasted for 3,000 years and included the ''spiritual'' creation by [[Ahura Mazda]], followed by the ''physical'' creation of 3,000 years when evil entered the world (see [[Angra Mainyu]]). During the 6,000th year, [[Zoroaster]]'s [[Fravashi]] was created, followed by the prophet [[Zoroaster]] himself at the end of the 9th millennium. The 9,000th year marked the start of the fourth and last age.{{sfn|Boyce|1996|p=287}} Modern Zoroastrians believe they are living currently in the final age.{{sfn|Boyce|1996|pp=288—289}} Since evil first entered the physical creation after the spiritual creation was complete, Zoroastrians maintain that for 9,000 years the world continues to be a battlefield between [[Ahura Mazda]] and [[Angra Mainyu]], which will end during the 12,000th year, when the [[Saoshyant]]s brings about the final renovation of the world to defeat evil.{{sfn|Boyce|1996|p=287}}{{sfn|Hastings|2003|pp=200—208}}

Dating precisely the beginning of the start of the 12,000th year cosmogony rests solely on the date [[Zoroaster]] is estimated to have been born.{{sfn|Jackson|1896|pp=1—22}} Since Zoroaster was born himself at the end of the 9th millennium (just before the 9,000th year), the date of creation can be calculated by counting back 8,900–9,000 years. The Persian Zoroastrian tradition places Zoroaster around the 7th or 6th century BC, since the ''[[Bundahishn]]'' (34. 1-9) and the ''[[Book of Arda Viraf]]'' dates Zoroaster 258 years before the era of [[Alexander the Great]] (356-323 BC) which dates Zoroaster from 614-581 BC.<ref>The "Era of Zoroaster", S. H. Taqizadeh, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 1 (Apr., 1947), pp. 33-40.</ref>{{sfn|Jackson|1896|p=6}} The 11th century Persian Muslim scholar [[Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī]] also dated Zoroaster 258 years before the era of Alexander (''[[The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries]]'', p.&nbsp;17, l. 10, transl. Sachau).{{sfn|Jackson|1896|p=9}} This date is also found in the historical account ''[[The Meadows of Gold]]'' (iv.107) written by the 9th-century Arab historian [[Al-Masudi]].{{sfn|Jackson|1896|p=10}} Other Arabic, Persian and Muslim sources place Zoroaster around the same date (600 BC).{{sfn|Jackson|1896|pp=11—13}}<ref>The Persian chronicler [[Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari]] dated Zoroaster to 626 BC (''Zotenberg Chronique de Tabari'', i. 491-508, Paris, 1867.</ref> Therefore, if 8,900-9,000 years are added to about 600 BC the date of creation comes to 9600 - 9500 BC. A 12,000 year chronology places the end date at around 2400-2500 AD, which is why modern Zoroastrians believe they are living in the end few hundred years of the final era.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} Other dates for Zoroaster, however, differ and dates proposed for [[Zoroaster]]'s birth range from 1750 to 500 BC.