Where and When the Great Zoroastrian Prophet Zarathustra Lived

Zarathustra Spitama, the Zoroastrian faith's prophet, is one of the world's most progressive philosophers and most ancient religious thinkers. Despite his preeminence as a spiritual sage and the great influence he has exerted on subsequent worldviews and philosophers, very little is known about Zarathustra, particularly his time and place. There is no question that Zoroastrianism and Zarathustra himself are both very ancient, having come well before the time of Christ. But in trying to piece together the enigma that is Zarathustra's life, scholars are presented with numerous difficulties, namely a multitude of disparate accounts and a lack of adequate and reliable sources.
LINGUISTICS AND TEXTUAL SOURCES
The Avesta is the primary textual source for Zarathustra's teachings, and it is the first seventeen chapters, the Gathas, which provide us with the actual voice of Zarathustra. …