Zarathustra did not have the military might of the pharaoh and so could not physically coerce people into accepting his exclusive claim to truth. But he did present his god as the sole source of human morality—“the veritable Creator of Truth and Right.” He vowed that Ahura Mazda would judge every individual on earth by their thoughts, words, and deeds, and then either reward or punish them accordingly after they died. This was an extraordinary idea. The concept of a heaven and hell—for that is what Zarathustra was essentially promoting—was without precedent in human spirituality.
