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Zoroastrianism: Its Antiquity and Constant
Vigour
Mary Boyce
Zoroaster, the great Iranian prophet, is the founder of the world’s oldest creedal
religion. This volume’s opening chapters consider when and where he lived, about 1200
B.C. in a pastoral community on the inner Asian steppes. He was a priest, and his
teachings grew in part out of ancient beliefs of his forbears. They contain accordingly
some immensely archaic elements. But he also evolved some wholly original doctrines,
conceiving of God, to him Ahura Mazda, Lord of Wisdom, as being opposed by a self-existent
spirit of evil, Ahura Mainyu.
When in the 7th century A.D. the Arabs conquered Persia, and established
Islam as the state religion, many Zoroastrians held out sturdily. But very gradually they
were reduced to a small minority, numbers having died for their faith. Their beliefs and
observances were well documented during these harsh centuries, and their loyalty to their
prophet's teachings can thus be established in adversity also. The innate strength of
those teachings, and their vigor, have enabled this ancient religion to be still living in
the 20th century.
Specifications:
1992:xiv + 204 pages, bibl., index.
Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies, No. 7
ISBN:0-939214-90-3(paper): $16.95
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Al-Tanqihat fi Sharh al-Talwihat
Bist-o-seh Sal
Colossal Elephant
Essay on Zarathurstra and Zoroastrianism
The Mirror of Meaning
On Islam and Shi`ism
Rumi and the Sufi Tradition
Secrets Of God's Mystical Oneness
Twenty Three Years
When You Hear Hoofbeats
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrian Tradition
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