Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest monotheistic religions, founded by the Persian prophet Zoroaster and centered on the cosmic struggle between truth and falsehood.
Zoroastrianism was founded by the prophet Zoroaster, also known as Zarathustra, in ancient Persia, with most scholars placing his life sometime between 1500 and 1000 BCE, though the exact dating remains debated.
The religion centers on Ahura Mazda, the supreme god of wisdom, and teaches a cosmic struggle between truth (asha) and falsehood (druj), with human free will playing a central role in that struggle through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.
Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion of the Persian Empire for centuries and significantly influenced later religious traditions, including elements of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Today it survives primarily among the Parsi community in India and smaller communities in Iran and worldwide, numbering only in the low hundreds of thousands.