Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/130

 94 Outlines of European History His gods Judgment hereafter Prominence of fire Zoroaster preaches his new religion Success of the new rehgion The Avesia, the Persian Bible whom he called Mazda, or Ahuramazda, and whom he regarded as God. Ahuramazda was surrounded by a group of helpers much like angels, of whom one of the greatest was the Light, called " Mithras." Opposed to Ahuramazda and his helpers was the evil group, among whom the Spirit of Evil and another of Darkness were prominent. Thus the faith of Zoroaster grew up out of the struggle of life itself, and became a great power in life. It called upon every man to stand on one side or the other ; to fill his soul with the Good and the Light, or to dwell in the Evil and the Dark- ness. Whatever course a man pursued he must expect a judg- ment hereafter. As a visible symbol of the Good and the Light, Zoroaster maintained the old Aryan veneration of fire (Fig. 50), and he preserved the ancient fire-kindling priests. Zoroaster went about among the Iranian people preaching his new religion, and probably for many years found but sluggish response to his efforts. We can discern his hopes and fears alike in the little group of hymns he has left, probably the only words of the great prophet which have survived. It is charac- teristic of the horse-loving Iranians that Zoroaster is said to have finally converted one of their great kings by miraculously healing the king's crippled horse. The new faith had gained a firm footing before the prophet's death, however, and before 700 B.C. it was the leading religion among the Medes in the mountains along the fertile crescent. Thus Zoroaster became the first great founder of a religious faith. As in the case of Mohammed, it is probable that Zoroaster could neither read nor write, for the Iranians seem to have possessed no system of writing in his day (see p. 91). With the exception of the hymns mentioned above, we possess none of his original words ; but his teaching has descended to us in certain fragments of older writings put together in the early Christian centuries, over one thousand years after the prophet's death. They form a book known as the Avesta. This we may call the Bible of the Persians, in whose tongue the book is written.