Zoroaster facts for kids

Zoroaster, or Zarathushtra, was an ancient prophet who lived in Persia. He founded a religion named Zoroastrianism. This religion has a long history. It was the national religion of Sassanid Empire of ancient Iran. In Persian language, the name takes the form of Zartosht.

Most of the scholars agree that Zoroaster was a real person who lived long back. No one is certain about the time when he lived. Estimates tell that he lived about 3200 years before, around 1200 BC. Some other estimates tell that Zarathushtra may have lived anywhere between the 18th century BC and the 6th century BC.

Images for kids

• 

  Painted clay and alabaster head of a Zoroastrian priest wearing a distinctive Bactrian-style headdress, Takhti-Sangin, Tajikistan, Greco-Bactrian kingdom, 3rd–2nd century BC

• 

  The rings of the Fravashi'.

• 

  Disciples of Zoroaster centered in Nineveh.

• 

  An 8th-century Tang dynasty Chinese clay figurine of a Sogdian man (an Eastern Iranian person) wearing a distinctive cap and face veil, possibly a camel rider or even a Zoroastrian priest engaging in a ritual at a fire temple, since face veils were used to avoid contaminating the holy fire with breath or saliva; Museum of Oriental Art (Turin), Italy.

• 

  Zoroastrian devotional art depicts the religion's founder with white clothing and a long beard

• 

  Detail of The School of Athens by Raphael, 1509, showing Zoroaster (left, with star-studded globe).