THE ZARATHUSTRA SERIES

The Man Who Invented Morality (And Had It Stolen 3,700 Years Later)

The Greatest Story Never Told

4.3 billion people practice his ideas.

Almost none of them know his name.

Who Was Zarathustra?

Born laughing in 1700 BCE, Zarathustra Spitama was:

• The first philosopher in human history
• The founder of monotheism (1,000 years before Moses)
• The inventor of free will and moral choice
• The original source of heaven, hell, Satan, resurrection, and final judgment

Every major religion that came after—Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Greek philosophy—would adopt his revolutionary concepts and claim them as their own.

This is the systematic theft of credit for the most important ideas humanity ever received.

The Revolutionary Vision

Before Zarathustra (Pre-1700 BCE):

• ❌ Multiple gods demanding blood sacrifice
• ❌ Humans as puppets of fate
• ❌ No personal responsibility
• ❌ No heaven or hell
• ❌ No moral choice
• ❌ Cyclical time with no purpose

After Zarathustra (1700 BCE):

• ✅ One God – Ahura Mazda (The Wise Lord)
• ✅ Free Will – You choose between good and evil
• ✅ Personal Responsibility – Your choices determine your fate
• ✅ Heaven and Hell – Eternal reward or punishment
• ✅ Satan – Angra Mainyu, the first “devil” in history
• ✅ Resurrection – The dead will rise for final judgment
• ✅ Linear Time – History moves toward the triumph of good (Frashokereti)
• ✅ Ethical Living – “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds”

Sound familiar?

It should. Because every religion you know copied these concepts from Zarathustra.

The Timeline of Theft

1700 BCE: Zarathustra Creates the Concepts

The vision. The revelation. The birth of ethical monotheism.

586-539 BCE: Judaism Adopts Them

70 years of Babylonian Exile under Persian rule. Suddenly:

• Heaven and hell appear in Jewish texts
• Satan becomes an adversary
• Resurrection and final judgment emerge
• Angels receive names
• The Messiah concept is born

Before the Exile? None of these concepts existed in Judaism.

30 CE: Christianity Inherits Them

Jesus teaches Zoroastrian concepts without knowing their source. The Magi (Zoroastrian priests) recognize him at birth. Christianity spreads Persian theology as “Christian” doctrine.

610 CE: Islam Receives Them

Five daily prayers, heaven and hell, final judgment, Satan, resurrection—all inherited through the Judeo-Christian tradition, all traceable to Zarathustra.

600-300 BCE: Greek Philosophy Claims Them

Pythagoras taught by Zoroastrian Magi. Heraclitus and Plato learn from Persian wisdom. “Greek philosophy” = rebranded Persian knowledge.

Present Day: The Source Is Forgotten

• 2.4 billion Christians practice Zarathustra’s beliefs
• 1.9 billion Muslims follow his framework
• 15 million Jews inherited his concepts
• Western ethics built on his principles
• Total: 4.3+ billion people
• Zoroastrians remaining: 100,000-200,000

Iran is sanctioned as “evil.” The man who gave humanity morality is unknown. The theft is complete.

THE SERIES: 10 Episodes Through His Life

Walk through the extraordinary life of the man who changed human consciousness forever—then watch as his ideas were systematically stolen and rebranded by later civilizations.

EPISODE 1: The Birth of Light

The Miraculous Arrival (c. 1700 BCE)

Every prophet cried at birth. Zarathustra laughed.

His mother radiated divine light. Demons tried to prevent his arrival. When he emerged, his laughter shook the entire neighborhood. This wasn’t just a birth—it was an announcement: a revolutionary had arrived.

Read Episode 1 →

EPISODE 2: The Priest Who Questioned Everything

Childhood & Early Training (Birth – Age 20)

He was trained to perform blood sacrifices. He refused.

Born into the priestly Spitama family, young Zarathustra watched the old religion’s cruelty: gods demanding animal slaughter, priests exploiting fear, humans treated as slaves to capricious deities. At age 7, assassins tried to kill him. He survived and began asking the questions no one dared ask: Why must gods demand suffering? What if there’s a better way?

Read Episode 2 →

EPISODE 3: The Ten-Year Search

The Wilderness Years (Age 20-30)

For 10 years, one man asked the question that would split history: “Why does evil exist?”

At age 20, Zarathustra left everything—family, comfort, security—and wandered the mountains and deserts of eastern Iran. Living in caves, contemplating the stars, observing the sacred fire. He was searching for the one truth that could explain the universe. For an entire decade, he found nothing but silence. Then came the vision.

Read Episode 3 →

EPISODE 4: The Vision That Changed Everything

The Divine Revelation (Age 30)

One morning by a river, Zarathustra received the idea that would become Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Western ethics.

Fetching water at dawn, he encountered Vohu Mana (“Good Mind”), who opened a portal to Ahura Mazda’s presence. In that moment, Zarathustra received seven revolutionary truths:

1. There is ONE God
2. Good and Evil are separate forces
3. You are FREE to choose
4. Your choices determine your fate
5. Heaven and Hell are real
6. There will be a Final Judgment
7. Good will ultimately triumph

No one had ever said “you choose” before. This was the birth of free will, personal responsibility, and ethical philosophy.

Read Episode 4 →

EPISODE 5: Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds

The Teaching Begins (Age 30-42)

Three words that would build civilization: Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.

Zarathustra returned from the wilderness with the most dangerous message in history: You don’t need priests. You don’t need sacrifices. You need ethics.

The teaching was simple:

• Think good (Humata)
• Speak good (Hukhta)
• Do good (Hvarshta)

For 12 years, he preached this revolutionary doctrine. For 12 years, the world tried to kill him for it.

Read Episode 5 →

EPISODE 6: The Exile

Rejection & Persecution (Age 30-42)

For 12 years, Zarathustra preached the most important idea in human history. His own family wanted him dead.

The priests of the old religion saw the threat immediately. If people could reach God through ethics rather than ritual sacrifice, priests would lose power—and profit. They tried to assassinate him. His family abandoned him. He wandered homeless, hunted, alone.

In the Gathas (his own words), he cries out:

“To what land to turn? Whither shall I go?
Kinsman and friend turn from me; none is found to conciliate, to give to me.
This I know, Ahuramazda, why I am powerless:
Because my flocks are diminished and my followers are few.
Therefore I cry to Thee: Lord, look upon it.”

Every revolutionary walks this path. Zarathustra walked it for 12 years.

Read Episode 6 →

EPISODE 7: The King’s Conversion

Finding Refuge at Last (Age 42)

For 12 years, Zarathustra had no power. Then one king believed. Within a decade, an empire followed.

At age 42, nearly broken, Zarathustra arrived at the court of King Vishtaspa in Bactria. The court priests immediately attacked his teaching. A great theological debate began—33 questions designed to destroy him. Zarathustra answered every one. Then came the miracle: the king’s paralyzed horse, instantly healed.

King Vishtaspa converted. Queen Hutaōsa converted. The royal court followed. Zoroastrianism became the state religion. Within a generation, it would become the faith of the Persian Empire—the largest empire the world had ever seen.

One king’s belief changed everything.

Read Episode 7 →

EPISODE 8: The Prophet at Court

Teaching & Legacy Building (Age 42-77)

Zarathustra spent 12 years being rejected and 35 years building the structures that would preserve his vision for millennia.

For 35 years at King Vishtaspa’s court, Zarathustra:

• Composed the Gathas (his direct teachings in verse)
• Established the five daily prayers (Gah system)
• Built fire temples across the kingdom
• Trained the Magi (Zoroastrian priests)
• Created initiation ceremonies
• Married, had children, lived as both prophet and family man

He understood something crucial: revolutionary ideas need institutions to survive. Without structure, truth dies with the teacher. With structure, it outlives empires.

And it did. His ideas are practiced by 4.3 billion people today.

Read Episode 8 →

EPISODE 9: The Sacred Fire & The Assassin

The Final Day (Age 77)

Whether Zarathustra died by sword or by age, his death changed nothing. His ideas were already immortal.

The traditional account: At age 77, while tending the sacred fire in the temple at Balkh, a Turanian warrior named Turbaratus burst in during an invasion and murdered Zarathustra at the altar. As he died, his prayer rosary miraculously killed the assassin.

The mystery: His death is never mentioned in the Avesta (Zoroastrian scripture). Where was he buried? Who performed his funeral rites? Some say he died peacefully. Others claim he ascended, leaving only his seed preserved in a sacred lake—to be born again as three future saviors who will oversee the final triumph of good.

The truth? It doesn’t matter.

By age 77, Zarathustra’s ideas had spread across an empire. The fire he lit would burn for millennia. You can kill a prophet, but you cannot kill an idea whose time has come.

Read Episode 9 →

EPISODE 10: The Theft of Light

How Zarathustra’s Ideas Were Stolen & Rebranded (539 BCE – Present)

The greatest theft in history isn’t material. It’s the theft of credit for the most important ideas humanity ever received.

Watch the systematic appropriation unfold:

Phase 1: Judaism adopts Zarathustra’s concepts during the Babylonian Exile (586-539 BCE) but hides the source

Phase 2: Christianity inherits these concepts, believing they’re “Jewish” in origin, never knowing they’re Persian

Phase 3: Islam receives them through Judeo-Christian tradition, unaware of the original source

Phase 4: Greek philosophy learns from Zoroastrian Magi, then gets credited with “inventing” Western thought

Phase 5: Western scholarship erases Persia entirely, giving credit to Greeks and Jews

Phase 6: Modern world sanctions Iran as “evil” while practicing Iranian wisdom

The Evidence:

• Timeline: Concepts appear AFTER Persian contact, not before
• Linguistics: Terms borrowed from Avestan/Persian
• Rituals: Five daily prayers, initiation rites, sacred meals—all Zoroastrian first
• Theology: Point-by-point matches between Zarathustra’s teaching and later religions

The Result:

• 4.3 billion people practice his beliefs
• 100,000-200,000 Zoroastrians remain
• The source is forgotten
• Iran is demonized
• The theft is complete

But the fire never went out.

Read Episode 10 →

THE EVIDENCE IS UNDENIABLE

What Appeared in Judaism ONLY After Persian Contact (539 BCE):

Every. Single. Concept. = Zoroastrian.

Timing? After 70 years under Persian rule.

Coincidence? Impossible.

THE MODERN IRONY

They Practice His Wisdom While Demonizing His Homeland

Christians pray five times daily? No—but Muslims do. Zarathustra invented the five daily prayers (Gah system) in 1700 BCE.

Christians believe in heaven and hell? Yes. Zarathustra invented them in 1700 BCE.

Christians believe Satan is real? Yes. Zarathustra created Angra Mainyu (the first devil) in 1700 BCE.

Christians believe in resurrection and final judgment? Yes. Zarathustra taught this in 1700 BCE.

And yet:

• Iran is sanctioned
• Zoroastrians are nearly extinct
• Western textbooks credit Moses, Jesus, Socrates, Plato
• The source is erased

WHY IT MATTERS

Because Truth Deserves Acknowledgment

Imagine if:

• Every church mentioned Zarathustra before reading scripture
• Every philosophy class started with “The Persians invented this”
• Every history book said “Modern ethics began in Iran in 1700 BCE”
• Every person who believes in heaven and hell knew they were honoring a Persian prophet

That’s not a fantasy. That’s historical fact.

The only reason it doesn’t happen? Systematic erasure.

THE INVITATION

Know the Name. Honor the Source.

This 10-part series walks through the life of the man who gave humanity:

• The concept of moral choice
• The idea of one God
• The belief in heaven and hell
• The hope for final justice
• The principle of personal responsibility

Every time you choose between good and evil → That’s Zarathustra

Every time you believe in heaven or hell → That’s Zarathustra

Every time you hope for justice in the end → That’s Zarathustra

Every time you value individual freedom → That’s Zarathustra

Every time you light a candle in prayer → That’s Zarathustra

START THE SERIES

EPISODE 1: The Birth of Light →

The man who laughed at birth gave you the ideas you live by.

The least you can do is know his name.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

This is part of eFireTemple.com’s mission to document the systematic theft of Persian contributions to human civilization.

Other series available:

• The Theological Thefts – How Christianity and Islam copied Zoroastrian practices
• The Scientific Erasure – How Persian achievements were credited to Greeks
• The Cyrus Cylinder – The first human rights declaration (1,700 years before Magna Carta)
• The Book of Esther – Anti-Persian propaganda disguised as scripture
• The Mazda Legacy – When the West honored Ahura Mazda (then forgot him)

The fire never went out.

They just stopped saying who lit it.

BEGIN: EPISODE 1 – THE BIRTH OF LIGHT →

“Zarathustra was the first to see in the struggle of good and evil the true driving-wheel in the machinery of things… Zarathustra created the disastrous error that is morality.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche

Even while rejecting it, Nietzsche knew who invented ethics.

Do you?