252 
5. Iranian Sacred Literature. 
i 
Such being the testimony of classical antiquity respecting* 
Zoroaster the Magian, let us next consider him and his religion 
as they now stand revealed in the sacred books of Iran, trans- 
lated, or I may rather say in many parts deciphered, by the 
genius and persevering efforts of Burnouf, Spiegel, Haug, and 
their several followers. The protagonist in this great work 
was the Frenchman Anquetil Duperron, whose name must never 
be forgotten in the history of Zoroastrian literature; arriving 
at Bombay in 1754, he first revealed to Europeans the treasures 
of the Avesta. The greater part of the sacred writings of Iran 
has been lost, but judging by those of other countries, and from 
the testimony of historians, we may well believe that they were 
at one time of vast extent. Haug quotes the statement of Abu 
Jafir Attavari, an Arabian historian, that “ Zoroaster’s writ- 
ings covered 1,200 cowhides (parchments) and Hermippos 
estimated the verses of the sage at no less than 2,000,000.f 
According to the best tradition, which is supported by the 
sacred writings now in existence and by other references to 
many of the lost works, the entire canon once consisted of 
twenty-one books, called Nashs, the Visparad and the Yasna. 
The word naslc is non- Aryan, and is connected by Haug with 
the Assyrian nusku. Now the Assyrian and Babylonian divinity 
Nabu (Nebo), the god of intellect, prophecy, and writing, is also 
known as Nusku; but Nusku, or rather Nuzku, was originally 
a distinct Akkadian divinity, whose name signified “the High ” 
or “ the height of heaven.” J Hence these sacred books, the 
nasks, purport to be named after the god of the height of hea- 
ven, lord of intellect and writing. The Vendidad forms the 
classical writer. He assigns several works on Nature, Astrology, and oilier 
subjects to this Zoroaster. He also mentions a third personage, Zoromasdres, 
whom he calls a Chaldean and a writer on mathematics and physics. In 
masdres we have apparently the second part of the name Ahuramazda, 
which, if we accept the derivation from aim, “ seed,” would give “ Son of 
Mazda ” as the meaning of the name, which would thus exactly agree with 
the statement of Plato that Zoroaster was “ the son of Oromasus.” The 
three personages mentioned by Souidas are doubtless identical. Diogenes 
Laertius says, “ From the time of the Magi, the first of whom was Zoroaster 
the Persian, to that of the fall of Troy, Hermodorus, the Platonic philosopher, 
calculates that 15,000 years elapsed. But Xanthos the Lydian [B.C. 470] 
says that the passage of the Hellespont by Xerxes took place 6,000 years 
after the time of Zoroaster” (Peri Burn, introduction, ii.). 
* Essay x on the Par sis, 123. 
t “ Hermippus qui dc tota ea arte diligentissimc scripsit, et vicies centum 
millia versuum a Zoroastre condita, indicibus quoque voluminuin ejus 
positis explanavit.” (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxx. 2.) 
+ Vide Lenormant, Etude, 325. 
