Born Laughing

The writer George Wharton James suggested the name of this 7,128-foot butte in 1902 to honor the Persian religious leader, who lived from about 660 to 580 B.C.
Zoroaster is said to have been born laughing, a sign of divinity. At the age of twenty he left his parents' home to find "the man most in love with righteousness and most disposed to feeding the poor and needy," the best person on Earth. In searching for that man, whom he never found, Zoroaster lived for seven years in a mountain cave alongside the Daiti River of Azerbaijan--territory that, fittingly enough, resembles the Colorado Plateau. There he received visitations from representatives of the god Ahura-Mazda, whose chief holy man he became. Thereafter Zoroaster preached a doctrine of perfection in thought, word, and deed.

--"Zoroaster Temple"
(from "Grand Canyon Place Names")