The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c41.s1.3

v2.c41.s1.3

Stress is naturally laid by Hertel on the fact that the religion of the Persians as described by Herodotos contains nothing specifically Zoroastrian, while it accepts much that Zoroaster rejected, especially the direct veneration of nature gods, and the animal sacrifice; moreover Herodotos records the drunkenness of the Persians, which may be connected with the Haoma offering, the fear of defiling fire or water, and the practice of the Magoi of permitting the bodies of the dead to be torn by birds or beasts, matters which are not recognized in the Gāthās. Hence it may be concluded that Zoroaster's activity fell at no great date before the reign of Xerxes I. Nor can we form any reasoned judgement to the contrary on the strength of the view of Xanthos of Lydia, a contemporary of Artaxerxes I (465–424 B.C.), who places Zoroaster 6,000 years² before the expedition of Xerxes, or the slightly variant account of Aristotle which makes him 6,000 years before the death of Plato.³