Rome and the East
with this silence the long list of ancient papyri with texts, fragmentary or
extensive, of Greek (and some Latin) literary works, or the striking series of
dated Syriac manuscripts, beginning with one written in Edessa in..,
now in the British Museum.^47 From Iran there is nothing comparable.
Out of this silence emerges the most remarkable case of the construction,
or representation, of an ‘‘oriental’’ religious system by Greek, and later also
Roman, writers: Zoroastrianism. It is not claimed here that we canknowthat
the conventional account of Zoroaster, of his teaching, and of its diffusion
in Iran is a fiction; only that, so far as evidence from antiquity is concerned,
our (supposed) knowledge of Zoroastrianism depends entirely, and with-
out exception, on Graeco-Roman representations. However, this view is not
conceded in the standard works of reference. P. V. Skjaervo, speaking of the
central text of medieval and modern Zoroastrianism, theAvesta, remarks:
‘‘The oldest Avestan texts are approximately contemporary with theRigveda
(second millennium...), while the younger texts date from the first mil-
lennium...; they were transmitted orally and written down only in the
mid-Sasanian period, the fifth–sixth centuries..(though the oldest manu-
scripts date only from the th century).’’^48
The history of Zoroaster is, in fact, derived solely from claims made within
the Zoroastrian texts themselves; the earliest references to Zoroaster con-
tained in texts in Iranian languages are found in Manichaean writings dis-
covered in central Asia. It is exceedingly difficult to date these manuscripts,
or the works which they contain, but none can be earlier than the lifetime of
Mani himself, the third century.., and most must be much later.^49 The spe-
cifically Zoroastrian texts comprise a set of religious writings of the Islamic
period which project the figure of Zoroaster, and the story of theAvestaas
a text, back into the remote past.
Theancientevidence for Zoroaster, his date, and his teachings is all, with-
out exception, Graeco-Roman. It begins with Xanthos the Lydian in the late
fifth century.., who claimed that Zoroaster lived six thousand years be-
fore Xerxes invaded Greece, and continues throughout the classical period.^50
. See the splendid collection by W. H. P. Hatch,Album of Dated Syriac Manuscripts
(), which could now be substantially updated.
. Skjaervo (n. ), .
. For these texts in English translation, see H. J. Klimkeit,Gnosis on the Silk Road:
GnosticTextsfromCentralAsia(). Note, e.g., the ‘‘Zarathustra Fragment’’ (p. ), and the
allusion to Zarathustra in a poem in Parthian on p. . No date is suggested for either text
or either manuscript.
. The texts are conveniently collected and discussed by J. Bidez and F. Cumont,Les