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The Avestan period (c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE)[note 1] is the period in the history of the Iranians when the Avesta was produced.[1] It saw important contributions to both the religious sphere, as well as to Iranian mythology and its epic tradition.[2]
Scholars can reliably distinguish between two different linguistic strata in the Avesta; Old Avestan and Young Avestan, which are interpreted as belonging to two different stages in the development of the Avestan language and society.[3] The Old Avestan society is the one to which Zarathustra himself and his immediate followers belonged. The Young Avestan society is less clearly delineated and reflects a larger time span.[4]
There is a varying level of agreement on the chronological and geographical boundaries of the Avestan period. Regarding the geographical extent of the Avesta, modern scholarship agrees that it reflects the eastern portion of Greater Iran.[5] Regarding the chronological extent, scholarship initially focused on a late chronology, that places Zarathustra in the 6th century BCE. More recently an early chronology, that places him several centuries earlier, has become widely accepted.[6][7] This early chronology would largely place the Avestan period before the Achaemenid period, making it the earliest period of Iranian history for which literary sources are available.[8]
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