How to Develop a Fabula: The Case of Dēnkard VII

Abstract

In his important 1963 study, Marijan Molé (1924–63) argued that Dēnkard VII does not provide an objective and complete biography of Zoroaster, but rather reflects a later Zoroastrian conception of him as a prophet at the time of its writing. Following his approach, the present article examines the text as a cultural product and a narrative fabrication of late Antique Zoroastrianism. This study attempts first to identify the main theme of Dēnkard VII, since, although it is generally considered the book of the “legend of Zoroaster,” the protagonist appears in only five out of eleven chapters—less than half of the material. Furthermore, this paper analyses also some of the main compositional techniques that form the internal structure of the narrative, with the aim of understanding the literary tricks that allow flow from one episode to another and from one chapter to another.