PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: Zoroastrianism

Zarathushtra ; Traditional dates: 628–551 bce) was an Iranian religious reformer and prophet, traditionally regarded as the founder of Zoroastrianism. A major figure in the history of world religions,...

R.C. Zaehner was a British historian of religion who investigated the evolution of ethical systems and forms of mysticism, particularly in Eastern religions. The son of Swiss parents who had immigrated...

Eugène Burnouf was a French Orientalist who acquainted Europe with the religious tenets and Old Iranian language of the Avesta, the ancient sacred scripture of Zoroastrianism. Burnouf’s father, Jean-Louis...

Al-Muqannaʿ was a religious leader, originally a fuller (cloth processor) from Merv, in Khorāsān, who led a revolt in that province against the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Mahdī. Preaching a doctrine combining...