Zoroaster is recorded as the son of Pourushaspa of the Spitaman or Spitamids family and Dugdow, and his great-grandfather was Haecataspa. According to the tradition, he had four brothers, two older and two younger.
His training for priesthood began very early in his life, at seven-years-old. He was approximately fifteen when he became a priest and he gained knowledge from other teachers and personal experience from traveling when he left his parents at twenty years old. Then, at the age of thirty, he experienced a revelation when he was at river bank during a spring festival. A shining being known as Vohu Manah appeared to him and imparted to him the knowledge of Ahura Mazda, the all-good father of the universe, and five other radiant figures. Zoroaster then became aware of two primal spirits, the second being Angra Mainyu, who is All the World’s Evils, and the opposing concepts of asha (truth) and druj (lie).
Thus, he resolved to spend his life teaching other people to seek asha. He later received other revelations and saw a vision of the seven Amesha Spenta, with his teachings being recorded in the Gathas and the Avesta.
He taught about free will and opposed the use of the hallucinogenic Haoma plant in rituals, polytheism, over-ritualizing religious ceremonies and animal sacrifices, as well an oppressive class system in Persia which earned him strong opposition among local authorities. Eventually, at the age of about forty-two, he received the patronage of queen Hutaosa and a ruler named Vishtaspa, an early adherent of Zoroastrianism. Zoroaster's teaching about individual judgment, Heaven and Hell, the resurrection of the body, the Last Judgment, and everlasting life for the reunited soul and body, among other things, became borrowings in the Abrahamic religions, but they lost the context of the original teaching.
According to the tradition, he lived for many years after the Vishtaspa conversion, managed to establish a faithful community, and married three times. His first two wives bore him three sons and three daughters. His third wife, Hvōvi, was childless. Zoroaster died when he was 77 years and 40 days old.
Originally Posted by RoydGolden
