ABSTRACT

Zaraθuštra is known as the author of Gāθās and the founder of the ancient Iranian religion. However, his historicity, time and homeland have been matters of controversy amongst scholars throughout the ages. It is argued that the socio-cultural and archeological evidence in conjunction with available texts enables us to delimit the relatively large time span estimated for the time of the Old Avestan texts from linguistic analysis, which contextualises the Gāθās in the period of Indo-Iranian acculturation of southern Central Asia in the second quarter of the second millennium BCE. Furthermore, the evident social crisis in the Gāθās is seen as a likely reflection of the encroachment of Rig Vedic Proto-Indo-Aryan Andronovo nomads into southern Central Asia and the probable ideological motive for the Old Avestan innovations. In particular, it is argued that the peaceful sedentary lifestyle that the Gāθās envision became the impetus to attract indigenous Greater Iranians and ushered the Iranian acculturation of Greater Iran, leading to the formation of an ancient Iranian Identity, later disseminated into the Iranian plateau.

摘要

Zaraθuštra 被称为 Gāθās 的作者和古代伊朗宗教的创始人。然而，他的历史性、时代性和故土性一直是历代学者争论的焦点。有人认为，社会文化和考古证据与现有文本相结合，使我们能够从语言分析中划定对古阿维斯坦文本时间估计的相对较大的时间跨度，这将 Gāθās 置于印度-伊朗文化适应时期公元前二千年第二季度的中亚南部。此外，Gāθās 明显的社会危机被视为可能反映了 Rig Vedic Proto-Indo-Aryan Andronovo 游牧民族对中亚南部的侵占以及旧 Avestan 创新的可能意识形态动机。尤其是，