Avestan period

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The Avestan period (c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE)[note 1] is the period in the history of the Iranians when the Avesta was produced.[1] It saw important contributions to both the religious sphere, as well as to Iranian mythology and its epic tradition.[2]

Scholars can reliably distinguish between two different linguistic strata in the Avesta; Old Avestan and Young Avestan, which are interpreted as belonging to two different stages in the development of the Avestan language and society.[3] The Old Avestan society is the one to which Zarathustra himself and his immediate followers belonged. The Young Avestan society is less clearly delineated and reflects a larger time span.[4]

There is a varying level of agreement on the chronological and geographical boundaries of the Avestan period. Regarding the geographical extent of the Avesta, modern scholarship agrees that it reflects the eastern portion of Greater Iran.[5] Regarding the chronological extent, scholarship initially focused on a late chronology, that places Zarathustra in the 6th century BCE. More recently an early chronology, that places him several centuries earlier, has become widely accepted.[6][7] This early chronology would largely place the Avestan period before the Achaemenid period, making it the earliest period of Iranian history for which literary sources are available.[8]


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  1. ^ Boyce 2011, p. 62: "The term Avestan people is used here to include both Zoroaster's own tribe, with that of his patron, Kavi Vištāspa, and those peoples settled in Eastern Iran who, though not all "Avestan" speaking, were "of the Avesta" in that they shared in transmitting, and in part composing, the holy texts.".
  2. ^ Daniel 2012, p. 51: "In addition to their religious thought, the Avestan people also contributed to another enduring aspect of Iranian culture, the epic tradition.".
  3. ^ Schmitt 2000, p. 25: "Die Sprachform der avestischen Texte insgesamt ist nicht einheitlich; es lassen sich zwei Hauptgruppen unterscheiden, die nicht nur chronologisch, sondern in einzelnen Punkten auch dialektologisch voneinander zu trennen sind[.]".
  4. ^ Skjaervø 1995, pp. 160-161: "There is therefore no reason to believe that the texts contained in the younger Avesta belong to even the same century".
  5. ^ Witzel 2000, p. 10: "Since the evidence of Young Avestan place names so clearly points to a more eastern location, the Avesta is again understood, nowadays, as an East Iranian text, whose area of composition comprised -- at least -- Sīstån/Arachosia, Herat, Merw and Bactria.".
  6. ^ Bryant 2001, p. 130: "Previously, a sixth century B.C.E. date based on Greek sources was accepted by many scholars, but this has now been completely discarded by present-day specialists in the field.".
  7. ^ Malandra 2009, "Controversy over Zaraθuštra's date has been an embarrassment of long standing to Zoroastrian studies. If anything approaching a consensus exists, it is that he lived ca. 1000 BCE give or take a century or so [...]".
  8. ^ Skjaervø 1995, p. 158 "In view of the dearth of historical sources it is of paramount importance that one should evaluate the evidence of the Avesta, the holy book of the Zoroastrians, parts at least of which antedate the Old Persian inscriptions by several centuries.".