Ancient Greek and Roman historians ventured very few absolute dates in recounting events of great age, and yet several of them – Pliny, Eudoxus, Xanthus, Plutarch – specifically gave dates ranging from 6500 to 6200 BC for the time of Zarathustra (Greek Zoroaster), the legendary Iranian prophet whose missionary-borne message was said to have reached far beyond his native land.
Until recently these ancient, almost mythic claims could neither be proved nor disproved, but advances in archaeological techniques now clearly reveal the presence of a transformative cultural impulse sweeping across Iran, Iraq, and into southeast Europe in the last half of the seventh millennium BC.
A thorough comparison of the archaeology of this period with texts from the Zoroastrian tradition – texts that emphasize the essential role of farming in the religious life (“He who cultivates grain, cultivates righteousness”) – suggests that the moving force behind this sudden and irrevocable diffusion of the agricultural way of life was indeed the prophet Zarathustra, living at precisely the time in which he was placed by the Greek and Roman historians of antiquity.
“. . . a path-breaking, stupendous work.” — Naddir M. Patel
“Armed with new information made possible by advanced archaeological techniques, Settegast makes a compelling case for linking one of the great puzzles of Neolithic archaeology – the ‘sudden and irrevocable diffusion of the agricultural way of life’ – with the simultaneous spread of Zarathustra’s religious imperative which emphasized the role of farming in the religious life. … A fascinating read.”
— Jeff Fuller