The Prophet Zoroaster is known as a founder of the world’s oldest religion, called Zoroastrianism. Born in the age of immoral religious rituals, animal sacrifices and manipulation of people, he introduced a radically new vision, which denied all of the above; later this vision became the basis of other famous world religions, for example, Christianity. The Background Information The Prophet Zoroaster is a figure of many names and faces. Even now, no one can tell for sure when and where he lived. According to many sources, the prophet was born in the territory of Iran or Afghanistan, probably in the seventh century BC, although many scientists claim that he lived between 1500 and 1100 BC (Traver 408). Even the Gathas, the part of the Avesta, which contains the hymns of the liturgy, do not mention Zoroaster’s place of living. However, those texts still give a clue, and many other sources assume that the prophet lived in the territory Eastern Persia. In different countries and languages, Zoroaster is known by various names: Zarathustra in Persian, Zoroaster in Greek, and so on. (“Zoroaster” par. 4). Although the Avesta does not tell where the prophet was born or lived, it still gives some background information. The man worked as a priest and was “a noble Persian” (Violatti par. 8). He had a large family that consisted of him, his wife Dughdova, and six children – three sons and three daughters (“Zoroaster” par. 5). According to several other sources, he had three wives (Katz 39). At the age of thirty, the prophet began to see unusual visions, which were sent to him directly from God (Violatti par. 9). He was trying to preach those, but they were too contrary to the understanding of the religion of that time, and not too many people listened to him. Because of his efforts to preach, Zoroaster made several influential enemies and finally had to leave his homeland. Among those enemies were the karpans and the kawis (Violatti par. 10). The karpans were the priests who performed immoral religious rituals, and the kawis were the representatives of the upper class who manipulated the ordinary people (Violatti par. 10). While Zoroaster was travelling around Persia, he managed to convert one of the local rulers, called Vishtaspa, to his new religion. As some of the legends told, Zoroaster earned the trust and support of the ruler after he healed his favorite horse (Hopfe and Woodward 237). That is why he not only decided to be converted to the new religion but also allowed Zoroaster to preach the concepts of this religion in his territories. Zoroaster remained very influential in ancient Persia until the seventh century CE when Islam spread in these areas and took the first place (Violatti par. 1). Zoroaster’s Major Contributions to Religion Zoroaster was born in times when people believed in dozens of gods and performed standard rituals that included animal sacrifice. Zoroastrianism, on the contrary, implied worshiping animals, nature, the earth, the sun, ancestors, and all living things. And that is the first essential contribution to religion made by Zoroaster. Zoroastrianism believes in one supreme God, Ahura Mazda, who is the creator of the world and the source of all goo