Zarathustra taught the struggle between Ahura Mazda (good) and Angra Mainyu (evil), influencing Judaism and Christianity. Poets reference him as the original dualist, symbol of ethical choice, and the seer who frames existence as a battle between light and darkness.

Zoroaster (or Zarathustra, c. 1500–1000 BCE, though dates are debated) was the ancient Iranian prophet and founder of Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s earliest monotheistic or dualistic faiths, centered on the cosmic struggle between Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord, representing truth and light) and Angra Mainyu (destructive spirit, representing falsehood and darkness); his teachings, preserved in the Gathas (hymns composed in Avestan), emphasize free will, moral choice, and the ultimate triumph of good; in poetry, Zoroaster symbolizes prophetic revelation, ethical dualism, and the dawn of religious philosophy—his influence permeates Persian literature (e.g., Ferdowsi’s “Shahnameh”), Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” (which reimagines him as a secular prophet of the Übermensch), and modern verse exploring light/dark metaphors, eschatology, or the origins of moral consciousness; for poetry students, recognizing Zoroastrian motifs—such as fire as divine symbol, the bridge of judgment (Chinvat), or the three ethical precepts (good thoughts, good words, good deeds)—can illuminate intertextual layers in works from Romanticism to postcolonial writing; professors may use Zoroaster to discuss the transmission of Near Eastern ideas into Greek philosophy (via Heraclitus or Plato), the roots of apocalyptic literature, or the poetic legacy of pre-Islamic Persia.