Zoroaster prophecy that saw a return of Sassanid emperor Bahram: Shoghi Effendi also stated that Zoroaster lived roughly 1000 years before Jesus. The Greeks—in the Hellenistic sense of the term—had an understanding of Zoroaster as expressed by Plutarch, Diogenes Laertius, and Agathias that saw him, at the core, to be the "prophet and founder of the religion of the Iranian peoples," Beck notes that "the rest was mostly fantasy". Zoroaster was set in the ancient past, six to seven millennia before the Common Era, and was described as a king of Bactria or a Babylonian (or teacher of Babylonians), and with
Zarathustra (horse) Michael Hurley. Unusually for a future champion stayer, Zarathustra demonstrated precocious speed, winning three times as a two-year-old over the minimum distance of five furlongs. The most important of these was the Blake Plate at Phoenix Park. In 1954 he was one of the best horses in Ireland, winning the Irish Derby and the Irish St. Leger as well as the Desmond Plate at the Curragh. Following his win in the Irish Derby, Gray reportedly turned down an offer of £20,000 for the horse. As a four-year-old Zarathustra won the Royal Whip Stakes. After one unsuccessful run in early 1956