The first notable invocation of Ahura Mazda occurred during the Achaemenid period (c. 550–330 BC) with the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great.

Finnish Indologist Asko Parpola locates a borrowing from Proto-Indo-Aryan *asera- to the Uralic languages, with the meaning 'lord, prince'.

Both the Avestan and the Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdʰáH, from Proto-Indo-European *mn̥sdʰh₁éh₂, literally meaning "placing (*dʰeh₁) one's mind (*mn̥-s)", hence "wise".

[6] In Old Persian, during the Achaemenid era, the name was either depicted using the cuneiform logograms 𐏈 or 𐏉 (genitive 𐏊), or spelled out as 𐎠𐎢𐎼𐎶𐏀𐎭𐎠 (a-u-r-m-z-d-a, Auramazdā).

In Parthian, the name was written as 𐭀𐭇𐭅𐭓𐭌𐭆𐭃 (ʾḥwrmzd, Ahurmazd), while 𐭠𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭬𐭦𐭣𐭩 (ʾwhrmzdy, Ōhramazdē) was the Middle Persian term used during the Sassanid era.

This title was given by Zoroaster, who proclaimed Ahura Mazda as the uncreated spirit, wholly wise, benevolent, and sound, as well as the creator and upholder of Asha.

[b] The Arimanius ritual required an otherwise-unknown plant that Plutarch calls "omomi" (Haoma or Soma), which was to be pounded in a mortar and mixed with the blood of a sacrificed wolf.

But a destined time shall come when it is decreed that Areimanius, engaged in bringing on pestilence and famine, shall by these be utterly annihilated and shall disappear; and then shall the earth become a level plain, and there shall be one manner of life and one form of government for a blessed people who shall all speak one tongue.

An inscription written in Greek was found in a late Achaemenid temple at Persepolis, which invoked Ahura Mazda and two other deities, Mithra and Anahita.

The winged symbol with a male figure formerly regarded by European scholars as Ahura Mazda has been now speculated to represent the royal khvarenah, the personification of divine power and regal glory.

However, it was customary for every emperor from Cyrus until Darius III to have an empty chariot drawn by white horses as a place for Ahura Mazda to accompany the Persian army on battles.

Under Artaxerxes II, the first literary reference, as well as a statue of Ahura Mazda, was built by a Persian governor of Lydia in 365 BC.

However, Ahura Mazda remained symbolized by a dignified male figure, standing or on horseback, which is found in Sassanian investiture.

Five kings took the name Hormizd and Bahram II created the title of "Ohrmazd-mowbad", which was continued after the Muslim conquest of Persia and through Islamic times.

The five Gāhs start with the declaration in Middle Persian that "Ohrmazd is Lord" and incorporate the Gathic verse "Whom, Mazda hast thou appointed my protector".

Haug also interpreted the concept of a free will of Yasna 45.9 as an accommodation to explain where Angra Mainyu came from since Ahura Mazda created only good.

[citation needed] According to William W. Malandra both Varuna (in Vedic period) and Ahura Mazda (in old Iranian religion) represented same Indo-Iranian concept of a supreme "wise, all-knowing lord".

[25] In Manichaeism, the name Ohrmazd Bay ("god Ahura Mazda") was used for the primal figure Nāšā Qaḏmāyā, the "original man" and emanation of the Father of Greatness (in Manicheism called Zurvan) through whom after he sacrificed himself to defend the world of light was consumed by the forces of darkness.

He is thought to be a syncretic deity, a combination of the autochthonous Armenian figures Aram and his son Ara and the Iranian Ahura Mazda.