Avesta Avesta: the collection of sacred texts of Ahuramazdism, the Iranian religion founded by the Bactrian prophet Zarathustra. The Avesta (or Zend-Avesta) contains several kinds of texts:

• Yasna (rituals -e.g., drinking haoma- and sacrifices)
• Vispered (other ceremonies, including Gatha's dedicated to protective spirits);
• Vidêvdat (laws against demons, including all kinds of taboos);
• Yashts (hymns to divine beings).

The final redaction of the Avesta took place in the fifth and seventh centuries AD. The Yasna, however, contains a collection of older texts, the Gâthâ's (songs). On linguistic grounds, these texts can be dated in the first half of the firsdt millennium BC; probably, they are even older. They may be composed by Zarathustra;