Zoroaster

, a king of Bactria, supposed to have lived in the age of Ninus king of As syria, some time before the Trojan war. According to Justin, he first invented magic, or the doctrines of the Magi, and rendered himself known by his deep and acute researches in philosophy, the origin of the world, and the study of astronomy. He was respected by his subjects and contemporaries for his abilities as a monarch, a lawgiver, and a philosopher, and though many of his doctrines are puerile and ridiculous, yet his followers are still found in numbers in the wilds of Persia, and the extensive provinces of India. Like Pythagoras, Zoroaster admitted no visible object of devotion except fire, which he considered as the most proper emblem of a supreme being; which doctrines seem to have been preserved by Numa, in the worship and ceremonies which he instituted in honour of Vesta. According to some of the moderns, the doctrines, the laws, and regulations of this celebrated Bactrian are still extant, and they have been lately introduced in Europe in a French translation by Marcus Anquetil. The age of Zoroaster is so little known that many speak of two, three, four, and even six lawgivers of that name. Some authors, who support that two persons only of this name flourished, describe the first as an astronomer living in Babylon, 2459 years B.C., whilst the era of the other, who is supposed to have been a native of Persia, and the restorer of the religion of the Magi, is fixed 589, and by some 519 years B.C. Justin , bk. 1 , ch. 1 .— Augustine , City of God , bk. 21 , ch. 14 .— Orosius , bk. 1 .— Pliny , bk. 7 , ch. 10 ; bk. 30 , ch. 1 .