Zoroaster lower right corner. The prophet is holding a star-studded globe. Zoroaster Zoroaster (, ; "Zōroastrēs"), (Persian: زرتشت pronounced as Zartusht) also known as Zarathustra (, ; "Zaraθuštra"), Zarathushtra Spitama, or Ashu Zarathushtra, was an ancient Persian prophet, spiritual leader and ethical philosopher who taught a spiritual philosophy of self-realization and realization of the Divine. His teachings challenged the existing traditions of the Indo-Iranian religion and later developed into the religion of Mazdayasna or Zoroastrianism. He inaugurated a movement that eventually became the dominant religion in Ancient Persia. He was a native speaker of Old Avestan and lived in the eastern
Zoroastrianism progress towards perfection". Its basic maxims include: The name "Zoroaster" is a Greek rendering of the name "Zarathustra". He is known as "Zartosht" and "Zardosht" in Persian and "Zaratosht" in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is "Mazdayasna", which combines "Mazda-" with the Avestan language word "yasna", meaning "worship, devotion". In English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is "Behdin", meaning "The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh (good) + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā". In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is