Editing Zoroaster (section)

==Place==
{{See also|Airyanem Vaejah}}
The birthplace of Zoroaster is also unknown, and the language of the Gathas is not similar to the proposed north-western and north-eastern regional dialects of Persia. It is also suggested that he was born in one of the two areas and later lived in the other area.<ref name="NigosianPlace">{{harvnb|Nigosian|1993|pp=17–18}}</ref>

{{transliteration|ae|Yasna}} 9 and 17 cite the Ditya River in [[Airyanem Vaejah|Airyanem Vaējah]] (Middle Persian {{transliteration|pal|Ērān Wēj}}) as Zoroaster's home and the scene of his first appearance. The [[Avesta]] (both Old and Younger portions) does not mention the Achaemenids or of any West Iranian tribes such as the [[Medes]], [[Persian people|Persians]], or even [[Parthia]]ns. The {{transliteration|ae|[[Fravashi|Farvardin Yasht]]}} refers to some Iranian peoples that are unknown in the Greek and Achaemenid sources about the 6th and 5th century BC Eastern Iran. The {{transliteration|ae|[[Vendidad]]}} contain [[Avestan geography|17 regional names]], most of which are located in north-eastern and eastern Iran.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1996|pp=190–191}}</ref>

However, in {{transliteration|ae|Yasna}} 59.18, the {{transliteration|ae|zaraθuštrotema}}, or supreme head of the Zoroastrian priesthood, is said to reside in 'Ragha' ([[Badakhshan]]).<ref name="West Birthplace-Surname"/> In the 9th- to 12th-century Middle Persian texts of Zoroastrian tradition, this 'Ragha' and with many other places appear as locations in Western Iran. While the land of Media does not figure at all in the Avesta (the westernmost location noted in scripture is [[Arachosia]]), the {{transliteration|ae|[[Bundahishn|Būndahišn]]}}, or "Primordial Creation", (20.32 and 24.15) puts Ragha in [[Medes|Media]] (medieval [[Ray, Iran|Rai]]). However, in Avestan, Ragha is simply a toponym meaning 'plain, hillside.'<ref name="Gershevitch_1964_36_37">{{harvnb|Gershevitch|1964|pp=36–37}}.</ref>

Apart from these indications in Middle Persian sources that are open to interpretations, there are a number of other sources. The Greek and Latin sources are divided on the birthplace of Zoroaster. There are many Greek accounts of Zoroaster, referred usually as Persian or Perso-Median Zoroaster; [[Ctesias]] located him in [[Bactria]], [[Diodorus Siculus]] placed him among Ariaspai (in [[Sistan]]),<ref name="West Birthplace-Surname"/> [[Cephalion (historian)|Cephalion]] and [[Justin (historian)|Justin]] suggest east of greater Iran whereas [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] and [[Origen]] suggest west of Iran as his birthplace.<ref name="NigosianPlace"/> Moreover, they have the suggestion that there has been more than one Zoroaster.<ref>{{cite book |author1=William Enfield |author2=Johann Jakob Brucker |author3=Knud Haakonssen |title=The History of Philosophy from the Earliest Periods: Drawn Up from Brucker's Historia Critica Philosophia |publisher=Thoemmes |year=2001 |isbn=1-85506-828-1 |pages=18, 22}}</ref>

On the other hand, in post-Islamic sources [[Al-Shahrastani|Shahrastani]] (1086–1153), an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] writer originally from Shahristān, in present-day [[Turkmenistan]], proposed that Zoroaster's father was from [[Atropatene]] (also in Medea) and his mother was from [[Rey, Iran|Rey]]. Coming from a reputed scholar of religions, this was a serious blow to the various regions which all claimed that Zoroaster originated from {{em|their}} homelands, some of which then decided that Zoroaster must then have then been buried in their regions or composed his Gathas there or preached there.<ref name="cf_Boyce_1975_2_26">''cf.'' {{harvnb|Boyce|1996|pp=2–26}}.</ref><ref name="cf_Gronke_1993_59_60">''cf.'' {{harvnb|Gronke|1993|pp=59–60}}.</ref> Arabic sources of the same period and the same region of historical Persia also consider [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]] as the birthplace of Zarathustra.<ref name="NigosianPlace"/>

By the late 20th century, most scholars had settled on an origin in eastern Greater Iran. Gnoli proposed [[Sistan]], [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Baluchistan]] (though in a much wider scope than the present-day province) as the homeland of Zoroastrianism; Frye voted for Bactria and [[Chorasmia]];<ref name="Frye_1992_8">{{harvnb|Frye|1992|p=8}}.</ref> Khlopin suggests the Tedzen Delta in present-day [[Turkmenistan]].<ref name="Khlopin_1992_107_110">{{harvnb|Khlopin|1992|pp=107–110}}.</ref> Sarianidi considered the [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex]] region as "the native land of the Zoroastrians and, probably, of Zoroaster himself."<ref name="Sarianidi_1987_54">{{harvnb|Sarianidi|1987|p=54}}.</ref> Boyce includes the [[steppe]]s to the west from the [[Volga River|Volga]].<ref name="Boyce_1975_1">{{harvnb|Boyce|1996|p=1}}.</ref> The medieval "from Media" hypothesis is no longer taken seriously, and Zaehner has even suggested that this was a Magi-mediated issue to garner legitimacy, but this has been likewise rejected by Gershevitch and others.

The 2005 ''[[Encyclopedia Iranica]]'' article on the history of Zoroastrianism summarizes the issue with "while there is general agreement that he did not live in western Iran, attempts to locate him in specific regions of eastern Iran, including Central Asia, remain tentative".<ref name="Malandra_2005">{{harvnb|Malandra|2005}}</ref>