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Here are two verses of Zarathustra from his Gathas published in the The Hymns of Zoroaster: A New Translation of the Most Ancient Sacred Texts of Iran by M. L. West:

40.10

And that reward, Mindful One

Thou dost keep in your house

Good thought, and the souls of the Righteous

And Reverence, with which are Piety and Libation

Besides ... that confer lasting Dominion

And

49.11

But as for the ill-dominioned, ill-actioned, I'll-speaking, ill-moralled, ill-thinking wrongful ones

The souls come to them with foul food

In the house of Wrong they will be veritable lodgers

They seem to be rather (!) at odds with Nietzschean philosophy, and Zarathustra did not speak in the way that Niezsche said he did.

Q. What evidence is there that Nietzsche was both familiar with Zarathustran philosophy and understood it?

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  • If you read Thus Sprach Zarathustra, Nietzschean Zarathustra at first tried to give the philosophy of Ubermensch but later gave the idea of last man. Maybe Nietzsche associated that idea with actual Zoroastrianism. – rus9384 Jan 20 at 8:31
  • See Avesta for details about the sources. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jan 20 at 15:10
  • Avesta was discovered and published in 1755 by the French Indologist Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (1731 – 1805) that published the first European language translation of a Hindu text containing some Unpanishads (albeit in an approximate rendering). Arthur Schopenhauer encountered Anquetil's Oupnek'hats in the spring of 1814 and repeatedly called it not only his favorite book but the work of the entire world literature that is most worthy of being read. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jan 20 at 15:15
  • Thus, being an admirer of Schopenhauer and a philologist, it is reasonable to think that N red the Western (bad) translations of Indian ancient texts. Having said that, Z is a fictional character in N's first masterpiece. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jan 20 at 15:45
  • This is an article from Encyclopaedia Iranica, which I had no idea even existed before I did some searching. "Nietzsche and Persia". I have just skimmed over it a bit and it seems interesting. iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia – Gordon Jan 21 at 0:24

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