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Avesta

File:Videvdad_Sadah_(Zoroastrian_religious_code),_opened_to_first_chapter,_unknown_copyist,_Yazd,_Iran,_1647_AD_-_British_Library,_London_-_DSC00550.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Avesta

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Also known as Avestā, Zend-Avesta

The Avesta is the text corpus of religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. It represents the largest literature of the Old Iranian period and contains the oldest texts in any Iranian language.

AI overview

The Avesta is a collection of sacred texts written in the Avestan language that form the foundation of Zoroastrianism, one of the world's major religions. It is historically significant as the oldest and most extensive body of literature surviving from ancient Iran, making it invaluable for understanding early Iranian civilization and language.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Religious text.image
Videvdad Sadah (Zoroastrian religious code), opened to first chapter, unknown copyist, Yazd, Iran, 1647 AD - British Library, London - DSC00550.jpg
Religious text.caption
Illuminated Iranian Vendidad Sade manuscript (MS 4060/RSPA 230) from Yazd, dated to 15 Ēsfand 1016 AY (1647)
Religious text.religion
Zoroastrianism
Religious text.language
Avestan
Religious text.period
Avestan period –900 BCE (Gathas, Yasna Haptanghaiti), –400 BCE (Vendidad, Visperad, Yashts)
Religious text.background
990955
Religious text.wikisource
Avesta

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
religious text
Religion
Zoroastrianism
Author
Zoroaster
Narrative location
Persian Empire
Image
Avesta, translated by Ignacy Pietraszewski.jpg
Show 7 more facts
described by source
Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
language of work or name
Avestan
topic's main category
Category:Avesta
on focus list of Wikimedia project
Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
Commons category
Avesta
time period
Sasanian Empire
place of publication
Sasanian Empire
Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

~27 min read

Encyclopedic overview

25 sections
Contents
  • Name
  • History
  • Zoroastrian tradition
  • Modern scholarship
  • Time and place of composition
  • Oral transmission
  • ''Written transmission''
  • Avestan studies
  • Manuscripts
  • Editions
  • Structure and content
  • The Sasanian Avesta
  • The extant Avesta
  • Yasna
  • Visperad
  • Khordeh Avesta
  • ''Vendidad''
  • Fragments
  • Translations
  • See also
  • References
  • Notes
  • Citations
  • Works cited
  • External links

The Avesta is the text corpus of religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. It represents the largest literature of the Old Iranian period and contains the oldest texts in any Iranian language.

The individual texts of the Avesta were originally oral compositions. They were composed over a long period of several centuries during the Avestan period (possibly ranging from the 15th century BCE to the 4th century BCE). The written transmission began much later during the Sasanian era (224 to 651 CE), with the creation of the Avestan alphabet. The resulting texts were then compiled into the multi-volume edition of the Sasanian Avesta. This edition was lost after the Islamic conquest of Iran, and only a small portion of it has survived, scattered across a number of individual manuscript traditions. The oldest surviving fragment of such a manuscript dates to 1323 CE.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Avesta” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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