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Full Idea
The Gathas, the liturgical hymns that make up the 'Avesta', the Zoroastrian canon, are very similar in language to the oldest Sanskrit of Hinduism, so they are not much younger than 1200 BCE.
Gist of Idea
The Gathas (hymns) of Zoroastrianism date from about 1000 BCE
Source
Peter Watson (Ideas [2005], Ch.05)
Book Ref
Watson,Peter: 'Ideas: from fire to Freud' [Phoenix 2006], p.152
A Reaction
This implies a big expansion of religion before the well-known expansion of the sixth century BCE.
| 7472 | Zarathustra was the first to present a god who is an abstract concept [Zoroaster] |
| 20672 | Zoroastrianism saw the world as a battle between good evil gods [Zoroaster, by Harari] |
| 7347 | Zoroastrians believed in one eternal beneficent being, Creator through the holy spirit [Johnson,P] |
| 7471 | The Gathas (hymns) of Zoroastrianism date from about 1000 BCE [Watson] |
| 7473 | Zoroaster conceived the afterlife, judgement, heaven and hell, and the devil [Watson] |