Persian hagiography This material formed the basis for the surviving hagiographical material of Zarathustra, which is found in Middle Persian or Pahlavi texts including the "Dēnkard" and the "Wizidagiha", and in New Persian texts including the "Zaratosht-nama" and the "Shahnameh". Using and developing the historiographical methods of the "muḥaddithūn" (scholars of the sayings and history of the Prophet), Persian scholars drew on oral tradition and their own observations to write about holy figures. However, many hagiographies also drew on earlier written sources, often adapting those sources to reflect the writers' own view of sainthood. For example, in the twelfth century CE, Muḥammad
Zoroaster name derive from the Middle Iranian variants of "Zarϑošt", which, in turn, all reflect Avestan's fricative "-ϑ-". In Middle Persian, the name is 𐭦𐭫𐭲𐭥𐭱𐭲 "Zardu(x)št", in Parthian "Zarhušt", in Manichaean Middle Persian "Zrdrwšt", in Early New Persian "Zardušt", and in modern (New Persian), the name is زرتشت "Zartosht". There is no consensus on the dating of Zoroaster, the Avesta gives no direct information about it, while historical sources are conflicting. Some scholars base their date reconstruction on the Proto-Indo-Iranian language and Proto-Indo-Iranian religion, and thus it is considered to have been some place in northeastern Iran and some time between