Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion that was founded by Zoroaster. He a religious teacher and was the prophet of Zoroastrianism. Zoroaster was from Persia, though he went to Iran to spread his religion. The religion is said to be one of the first religions to be monotheistic. The one main deity is Ahura Mazda, which means "the wise lord." The main motto of this religion is: Good words, good thoughts and good actions. They believed fate is decieded when the person dies and if they had done good then they will go to heaven, but if they gave in to evil deeds they will not. The religion talks about the purpose of life is to make less evil in the world. I found a quote in a article on EBSCOhost which says, "All animal species are seen as being in one of two categories-either beneficent or malevolent aligned either with the forces of good or with the forces of evil in an on going cosmic battle." They said the believers worshiped the sun and elements like fire. There might have been persian fire temples. The picture on top is of Zoroaster. The art style reminds be of Ancient Near East, because of the beard. It also reminds me of Egyptian, the wings look like an Egyptian scarab beetle with the wings. The side profile as well.The work is stylized with the repeated bird feathers.
I watched a video on Youtube to help me understand the religion more:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0AH-oFmU5M&feature=related
Here are a few sources:

Lawler, Andrew. "Seeking Zoroastrianism's Roots." Archaeology 64.5 (2011): 46. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Nov. 2012.

"Zoroaster." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Nov. 2012.

I did not find too much about this religion.

Here is the picture link:http://www.creekcats.com/pnprice/Images/zoroaster.gif