About the author -- Acknowledgements -- List of abbreviations -- Maps -- Zoroastrianism: an introduction -- Chapter I. Zoroastrians present and past -- Chapter II. The ancient Persians: truth-tellers and paradise-builders -- Chapter III. A Zoroastrian presence from Seleucia to Sistan: the Parthian period -- Chapter IV. Eranshahr: the Sasanian center of the world -- Chapter V. The Zoroastrians of Central Asia -- Chapter VI. Gabr-Mahalle: Zoroastrians in Islamic Iran -- Chapter VII. Parsipanu: Zoroastrianism in India -- Chapter VIII. Zoroastrians present: revisited -- Chapter IX. Zarathushtra present and past -- Appendix 1. Textual timeline -- Appendix 2. The five Gathas -- Appendix 3. Outline of the Yasna -- Appendix 4. A selective historical timeline -- Glossary of names and terms -- Illustration, map and picture credits -- Select resources.;This new, thorough and wide-ranging introduction will appeal to anyone interested in discovering more about the faith that bequeathed the contrasting words 'Magi' and 'magic', and whose adherents still live according to the code of 'Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds.' The central Zoroastrian concept that human beings are continually faced with a choice between the path of 'good' and 'evil', represented by the contrasting figures of Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, inspired thinkers as diverse as Voltaire, Mozart and Nietzsche.