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When Zarathustra Spoke: The Reformation Of Neolithic Culture And Religion (Bibliotheca Iranica: Zoroastrian Studies)
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Average Rating:  out of 6 Reviews
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Price: $35.00
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Sale: $33.01
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Manufacturer: Mazda Publishers
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EAN (European Article Number): 9781568591841
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Hardcover
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Author: Mary Settegast
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Publisher: Mazda Publishers
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Dewey Decimal Number: 295.09
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Publication Date: 2005-06-30
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Reading Level: 161
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Description: Is it possible that Zarathustra, the famous founder of the Persian religion which bears his name, could have lived during the seventh millenium? The great German mystic Rudolf Steiner, for one, thought so. And so did the Greeks, for some of them regarded him as living at about 6500 b.c. Most modern scholars of the subject vacillate between the two dates of 500 b.c. and about 1500 b.c., and since the language of the Gathas bears many similarities with that of the Sanskrit Rig Veda, many favor this latter date.
But Mary Settegast has revived the tradition of dating him in the seventh millenium, for she believes that the archaeological evidence from this period most closely fits with the narrative schemas of Zoroastrianism. The middle of the seventh millenium was a time of great change in which the preceding period, known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, with its skull cults and worship of male virility in the form of statues and bull's heads, was begining to fade away. The making of weapons, furthermore, in the form of arrowheads and speartips, simply vanishes during the new period, that known as the Pottery Neolithic, as farming communities in both Greece and Iran began to take up the practice of agriculture in earnest. This phenomenon is interesting, according to Settegast, in light of the fact that Zarathustra privileged the farmer over the warrior class. The newly dawning Pottery Neolithic also brought with it new culture forms, such as the making of the world's finest painted pottery on vessels which apparently had no practical use, copper and lead metallurgy, irrigation and generally smaller settlements.
The iconography of the pottery from this period is elaborate and amazing. Far from being--as some scholars think--mere decoration, the motifs articulated on these vessels have a definite cosmological and mythological significance. Whatever such significance was, it is now lost to us since no writings--or even oral traditions--have survived from this period, but Ms. Settegast believes that its iconography becomes intelligible in the light of Zoroastrian mythology. The emphasis on dark and light contrasts, checkerboard patterns, double axes, all are motifs based on the principle of cosmic polarity, which is, of course, the whole basis of Zoroastrian cosmic dualism. Other phenomena from this period may also fit well with the Zoroastrian ethos. Irrigation, for example, which appears during this phase for the first time, was known in later Zoroastrian texts such as the Vendidad as a sacred duty. We also find miniature mortars and pestles from this period, which is interesting in light of the later Zoroastrian ritual of the yasna ceremony, in which the cosmic mortar and pestle were used to grind the sacred haoma plant.
Ms. Settegast's book is full of such wonderful speculations--such as the totally fresh idea of Catal Huyuk as a possible early stronghold of Indo-European traditions, which turns its conventional associations upside down--and if the book has a major flaw, it is that it is too short. At only 154 pages it is only a fraction of the length of her earlier masterpiece Plato Prehistorian, and one can only wish that this book had been longer, so full of fresh ideas does it seem. Ms. Settegast is able to look at the Neolithic with a gaze undiminished by the bland writings of the Levantine specialists in this field, and one can only hope that she will write another book soon.
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: When Zarathustra Spoke |
Date: 2006-07-27 |
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Details: The idea proposed by Mary Settegast is bold and exciting. It remain to be seen, if other scholars support her findings or not. The book itself was very well organized. She developed her idea in a very deliberate and methodical fashion. Her maps and illustrations are outstanding. Overall, I recommend this book to all who are interested in mid-east ancient history. |
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Review Summary: Also sprach Settegast |
Date: 2006-02-06 |
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Details: The subject of Zoroastrianism tends to lead even reputable scholars to flights of fancy in order to fill in the blanks, of which there are many. Such speculation is perhaps permissable when one has a command of the languages, disciplines, original sources and critical materials. The author is clearly lacking in these prerequisites and has produced a work of fiction masquerading as scholarship. Are we truly to believe that Zarathushtra was an agricultural activist/potter/alchemist who transmitted his teachings by means of arcane designs on well-made ceramics in the second half of the seventh millennium B.C.? Some ceramic designs indicate lack of motion and therefore teach Zarathushtra's doctrine of the stasis of perfection. Other ceramic designs indicate motion and therefore teach his doctrine of progress toward perfection through the struggles in the time of the mixture of good and evil. I am sure that the author could also find Zarathushtra's teachings in a ceramic bowl with no design at all. Faced with the author's assertion that one man could cause the spread of agriculture throughout the Near East, Southwest Asia, and Europe by making it a major feature of a religious revolution, which then failed, leaving only the tradition of settled farming communities as its legacy, one can only admire the scope of her imagination. For a more grounded view of Zarathushtra, read anything by Mary Boyce. |
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Review Summary: When Zarathustra Spoke |
Date: 2005-08-04 |
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Details: Clean, clear, and scrupulously documented, When Zarathustra Spoke is a must-read for anyone interested in the origins of civilization. Mary Settegast has found good and sufficient reason in the archaeology of the Neolithic Middle East for taking seriously the passages in ancient literature that place Zarathustra in the late-seventh millennium BC. I found her argument to be both intelligent and persuasive, offering a fresh approach to the question of why the agricultural way of life spread so quickly after 6500 BC. As a concerned environmentalist, I was particularly struck by the depiction of Zarathustra as not only the moving force behind this rapid diffusion of farming but also the first to designate man as steward of the earth. Fascinating.
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Review Summary: New insights on the "Neolithic Revolution" |
Date: 2005-07-20 |
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Details: I loved it! What a treat to find a truly original - and radically controversial - idea backed up by solid scholarship. This elegantly written book owes its existence to the fact that the author refused to dismiss the accounts of ancient Greek and Roman historians (Pliny, Eudoxus, Xanthus, Plutarch) that mention Zarathustra and place his life thousands of years before conventional estimates. Armed with new information made possible by advanced archaeological techniques, Settegast makes a compelling case for linking one of the great puzzles of Neolithic archaeology - the "sudden and irrevocable diffusion of the agricultural way of life" - with the simultaneous spread of Zarathustra's religious imperative emphasizing the role of farming in the religious life. A fascinating read. |
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Review Summary: A Fresh Look at the Neolithic |
Date: 2005-07-16 |
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Details: Is it possible that Zarathustra, the famous founder of the Persian religion which bears his name, could have lived during the seventh millenium? The great German mystic Rudolf Steiner, for one, thought so. And so did the Greeks, for some of them regarded him as living at about 6500 b.c. Most modern scholars of the subject vacillate between the two dates of 500 b.c. and about 1500 b.c., and since the language of the Gathas bears many similarities with that of the Sanskrit Rig Veda, many favor this latter date.
But Mary Settegast has revived the tradition of dating him in the seventh millenium, for she believes that the archaeological evidence from this period most closely fits with the narrative schemas of Zoroastrianism. The middle of the seventh millenium was a time of great change in which the preceding period, known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, with its skull cults and worship of male virility in the form of statues and bull's heads, was begining to fade away. The making of weapons, furthermore, in the form of arrowheads and speartips, simply vanishes during the new period, that known as the Pottery Neolithic, as farming communities in both Greece and Iran began to take up the practice of agriculture in earnest. This phenomenon is interesting, according to Settegast, in light of the fact that Zarathustra privileged the farmer over the warrior class. The newly dawning Pottery Neolithic also brought with it new culture forms, such as the making of the world's finest painted pottery on vessels which apparently had no practical use, copper and lead metallurgy, irrigation and generally smaller settlements.
The iconography of the pottery from this period is elaborate and amazing. Far from being--as some scholars think--mere decoration, the motifs articulated on these vessels have a definite cosmological and mythological significance. Whatever such significance was, it is now lost to us since no writings--or even oral traditions--have survived from this period, but Ms. Settegast believes that its iconography becomes intelligible in the light of Zoroastrian mythology. The emphasis on dark and light contrasts, checkerboard patterns, double axes, all are motifs based on the principle of cosmic polarity, which is, of course, the whole basis of Zoroastrian cosmic dualism. Other phenomena from this period may also fit well with the Zoroastrian ethos. Irrigation, for example, which appears during this phase for the first time, was known in later Zoroastrian texts such as the Vendidad as a sacred duty. We also find miniature mortars and pestles from this period, which is interesting in light of the later Zoroastrian ritual of the yasna ceremony, in which the cosmic mortar and pestle were used to grind the sacred haoma plant.
Ms. Settegast's book is full of such wonderful speculations--such as the totally fresh idea of Catal Huyuk as a possible early stronghold of Indo-European traditions, which turns its conventional associations upside down--and if the book has a major flaw, it is that it is too short. At only 154 pages it is only a fraction of the length of her earlier masterpiece Plato Prehistorian, and one can only wish that this book had been longer, so full of fresh ideas does it seem. Ms. Settegast is able to look at the Neolithic with a gaze undiminished by the bland writings of the Levantine specialists in this field, and one can only hope that she will write another book soon. |
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