ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the historical origins of Zoroastrianism, the place and time of the composition of its oldest attested texts, the Gathas and the Yasna Haptanghaiti, the meaning of the name Ahura Mazda and its earliest possible attestation in an Assyrian cuneiform tablet, Ahura Mazda and the ‘lords’ in the Gathas, the demonisation of the old gods, the Daevas, the dichotomy of Mazda- and Daeva-worshippers and their priesthoods, and three types of mutual dependences in the Yasna Haptanghaiti.
