The State of Old Avestan Scholarship@@@Les Textes vieil-avestiques, Vol. 2: Répertoires grammaticaux et lexique; Vol. 3: Commentaire@@@Les Textes vieil-avestiques, Vol. 2: Repertoires grammaticaux et lexique; Vol. 3: Commentaire

Avestan scholarship throughout this century has been based upon the assumption that Zarathustra was an historical person: a prophet and a religious reformer. These assumptions have no objective foundation. The complete edition of the Old Avestan texts by Jean Kellens and Eric Pirart is the first edition not based upon such assumptions; instead it places the texts firmly in a ritual context, looking to the Vedas for comparative evidence, rather than to the later Zoroastrian tradition. Jean Kellens' book on the Old Avestan pantheon is a further discussion of the nature of old Iranian gods and demons.