Zoroaster appears to have believed that this consummation would take place not long after his own lifetime, achieved in part by another who would like himself be a
saošyant, i.e., a bringer of salvation; and this hope was developed by his followers into the expectation that one day a son named
Astvaṱ.ərəta would be born miraculously of the prophet’s own seed by a virgin mother, and would become the World Savior, the Saošyant. The myth that his mother will conceive him after bathing in a lake where the prophet’s seed is preserved is alluded to in verses from
Yašt 19 which clearly predate the Achaemenian period: “(10) . . . Ahura Mazdā created many and good creatures . . . (11) in order that they shall make the world perfect, . . . in order that the dead shall rise up, that the Living One, the Indestructible, shall come, the world be made perfect at his wish . . . (88) We worship mighty Xᵛarənah . . . (89) which will accompany the victorious Saošyant, and also his other comrades, so that he may make the world perfect . . . (92-3) When Astvaṱ.ərəta comes out from Lake Kąsaoya, messenger of Ahura Mazdā, son of Vīspa-taurvairī, brandishing the victorious weapon which . . . Kavi Vištāspa bore to avenge
Aša (Truth) upon the enemy host, then he will there drive the Drug (Falsehood) out from the world of Aša. (94) He will gaze with eyes of wisdom, he will behold all creation, . . . he will gaze with eyes of sacrifice on the whole material world, and heedfully he will make the whole material world undying. (95) His comrades . . . advance, thinking well, speaking well, acting well, upholding the Good Religion; and they will utter no false word with their tongues. Before them will flee ill-fated Aēšma (Wrath) of the bloody club. Aša will conquer the evil Drug, hideous, dark. (96) Aka Manah (Ill Purpose, see
Akōman) will be overcome, Vohu Manah (Good Purpose) overcomes him. Overcome will be the falsely spoken word, the truly spoken word overcomes it. . . . Haurvatāṱ (Ḵordād, Health) and Amərətāṱ (Amurdād, Long Life, Immortality) overcome both Hunger and Thirst. . . . Aŋra Mainyu (Ahriman) of evil works will flee, bereft of power” (see
Avesta, ed. Geldner, II, pp. 244, 256-58; on these verses as part of Zoroastrian apocalyptic see G. Messina, “Il Saušyant- nella tradizione iranica e la sua attesa,”
Orientalia I, 1932, pp. 149-76). The final contest here described is known as the Great Battle (Pahl.
ardīg ī wuzurg,
wuzurg kārezār,
Zātspram 34.52;
Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg, ed. G. Messina, Rome, 1939, 16.35).