Note 2713 — BOOK XXX. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM LIVING CREATURES.

Magic, no doubt, has been the subject of belief from the earliest times, whatever may have been the age of Zoroaster, the Zarathustra of the Zendavesta, and the Zerdusht of the Persians. In the Zendavesta he is represented as living in the reign of Gushtasp, generally identified with Darius Hystaspes. He probably lived at a period anterior to that of the Median and Persian kings. Niebuhr regards him as a purely mythical personage.