Avestan

Avestan (/əˈvɛstən/),[1] or historically Zend, or by the speakers as Upastavakaēna is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium CE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scriptural language of Zoroastrianism, and the Avesta likewise serves as their namesake. Both are early Eastern Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian language branch of the Indo-European language family. Its immediate ancestor was the Proto-Iranian language, a sister language to the Proto-Indo-Aryan language, with both having developed from the earlier Proto-Indo-Iranian language; as such, Old Avestan is quite close in both grammar and lexicon to Vedic Sanskrit, the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan language.

Avestan
𐬎𐬞𐬀𐬯𐬙𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬐𐬀𐬉𐬥𐬀
Region	Greater Iran
Era	Late Bronze Age, Iron Age
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Avestan
Writing system	Avestan alphabet Gujarati script and Devanagari script (used by Indian Zoroastrians)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ae
ISO 639-2	ave
ISO 639-3	ave
Glottolog	aves1237
Linguasphere	58-ABA-a
Yasna 28.1, Ahunavaiti Gatha (Bodleian MS J2)
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Zoroastrianism
Primary topics Ahura Mazda Zarathustra Asha Vohu Manah Persia/Iran Faravahar Avestan
Divine entities Amesha Spentas Yazatas Ahuras Daevas Angra Mainyu
Scripture and worship Avesta Ashem Vohu Ahuna Vairya Yenghe hatam Airyaman ishya Fire Temples 101 Names of Ahura Mazda Adur Burzen-Mihr Adur Farnbag Adur Gushnasp Cypress of Kashmar Gathas Yasna Vendidad Visperad Yashts Khordeh Avesta The Revayats Ab-Zohr
Accounts and legends Dēnkard Bundahišn Book of Arda Viraf Book of Jamasp Story of Sanjan Chinvat Bridge Frashokereti
History and culture Zurvanism Mazdakism Khurramites Calendar Festivals Initiation Kushti Sedreh Marriage Burial
Adherents Zoroastrians in India Zoroastrians in Iran Parsis Zoroastrianism in the United States Iranis Persecution of Zoroastrians
Related topics Criticism of Zoroastrianism
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The Avestan text corpus was composed in the ancient Iranian satrapies of Arachosia, Aria, Bactria, and Margiana,[2] corresponding to the entirety of present-day Afghanistan as well as parts of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Yaz culture[3] of Bactria–Margiana has been regarded as a likely archaeological reflection of the early "Eastern Iranian" culture that is described in the Zoroastrian Avesta.