Z
Zakhalias of Babylo ̄n (ca 120 – 63 BCE?)
Babylonian physician, possibly Jewish. P (37.169) cites his views about the medicinal
and magical qualities of precious stones, noting that his books were dedicated to “King
Mithradates” (probably M VI). Our Zakhalias may be identical to the other-
wise unattested “Zalakhthes” in the summary of A’ comments on amulets for
epilepsy preserved by A T (1.567 Puschm.); “Zalakhthes” is there
credited with knowledge of the properties of jasper.
Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Alterthumswissenschaft, ed. A.F. von Pauly, v. 6.2 (1839) 2813, C. Cless; RE
9A.2 (1967) 2210, K. Ziegler; EJ2 13.720–729 at 723, S. Muntner; Stern 1 (1974) 467; M.W. Dickie,
“The learned magician and the collection and transmission of magical lore,” in D.R. Jordan et al.,
edd., World of Ancient Magic (1999) 163–193 at 176.
Annette Yoshiko Reed
Zarathusˇtra (before ca 600 BCE?)
It is problematic if not impossible to construct an historical biography of the founder
of Zoroastrianism. Zarathusˇtra’s homeland and dates are deeply debated: traditionally
Zarathusˇtra is dated ca late 7th c. BCE. Some scholars, mainly on linguistic grounds, date him
to the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. Classical authors called him Zoroástre ̄s and considered
him a magician and expert in astral sciences. According to the scholia to P’s Alcibiades
(I.222a), the name should be interpreted as astrothúte ̄s “sacrificer to the stars”; Dino ̄n,
H S (D L, pr.), and pseudo-Clement (Recogni-
tiones, 4.27–29) considered Zoroaster an astrologer. Contrarily, Avestan sources do not confirm
that early Zoroastrians were directly involved in astrology, per se, but refer only to astral con-
ceptions and mythological speculations. During the Sasanian period (3rd–6th cc. CE) and after
the Arab invasion of Iran, some astrological treatises were attributed to -Z.
C. Clemen, Fontes Historiae Religionis Persicae (1920) 96; Bidez and Cumont (1938) 2.23–24, 66–67;
J. Duchesne-Guillemin, The Western Response to Zoroaster (1958); KP 5.1561–2, W. Röllig; Antonio
Panaino, Tisˇtrya (1995); OCD3 1639 – 1640, H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg; Gh. Gnoli, Zoroaster in History
(2001).
Antonio Panaino
Ze ̄markhos of Kilikia (565 – 575 CE)
Native of Kilikia, magister militum per Orientem. In early August 569, Justin II (565–578) sent
him on an embassy to Dizabulos, the khan of the Turks and ruler of Sogdia, accompanying