Zarathustra (Avestan Zaraθuštra; Greek Zoroastres; Middle Persian Zardusht)
c. 1200-1000 BC (disputed; proposals range c. 1750 BC to c. 600 BC) · Ancient Near East · Prominent
Zarathustra was an Iranian priest and poet who composed the seventeen Old Avestan hymns called the Gathas, the only texts anyone can credit to him. His date is unsettled by centuries. Ahura Mazda fixed the paths of sun and stars and created asha, truth, against which stands the Lie. Two spirits chose at the beginning, one better and one worse, and every person has to make that same choice and answer for it at the Bridge. The matched war of Ohrmazd against Ahriman came later.
Signature
The position Zarathustra is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Truth
- strongly leans Objective
- Agency
- Libertarian Free Will
Positions on the 4 axes the sources answer
- The Divine
- strongly leans Describable (6 on a 0–100 scale from Describable to Indescribable)
- Meaning
- strongly leans Inherent (96 on a 0–100 scale from Constructed to Inherent)
- Truth
- strongly leans Objective (95 on a 0–100 scale from Subjective to Objective)
- War
- mildly leans Militarism (63 on a 0–100 scale from Pacifism to Militarism)
16 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Zarathustra refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Theology
- Non-Trinitarian Monotheism
What is your position on the existence and nature of God or gods? - Good and Evil
- Cosmic Dualism
What is the fundamental nature of good and evil? - End of Things
- Division of Good and Evil
What is the ultimate end of all things? - Knowledge
- Grounded in God
What is the ultimate foundation of knowledge? - Agency
- Libertarian Free Will
What is the nature of human agency and freedom? - Time
- Eschatological
What is the fundamental shape of time? - Authority
- Divine Revelation
What is the legitimate source of authority? - Law
- Divine Law
What is the ultimate source of legitimate law? - Death
- Judgement
What happens at death? - Primary Bond
- The Divine
What is your primary bond and loyalty?