ABSTRACT
Arda Wiraz Namag 1 or The Book of the Righteous Wiraz is one of the most popular Zoroastrian books. It describes Heaven and Hell as seen by Wiraz and is an outstanding example of the well-preserved genre of Iranian apocalyptic literature. 2 This book has been widely translated, e.g. into Persian, Sanskrit, Pazand and GujaratL The first English translation appeared in Europe in 1813 and has been followed by several other editions. 3
At a time when religious beliefs were fading away, the high-priests assembled to find a way to create unity and restore faith in the Zoroastrian religion. As it appears from the preface of the book Zoroastrianism was under great pressure from hostile foreign forces. In our text Alexander the Great, to whom such epithets as accursed, sinful and heretic are attached, is held responsible for the chaos and confusion which were causing damage to the religion.
