Search Results for “Zoroastrianism”

• ZOROASTRIANISM

  Multiple Authors

  Historical reviews

• ZOROASTRIANISM i. HISTORICAL REVIEW UP TO THE ARAB CONQUEST

  William W. Malandra

  This article presents an overview of the history of Zoroastrianism from its beginnings through the 9th and 10th centuries CE. Details of different periods and specific issues relating to Zoroastrianism are discussed in the relevant separate entries.

• ZOROASTRIANISM ii. Historical Review: from the Arab Conquest to Modern Times

  Jamsheed K. Choksy

  As Zoroastrians in the seventh century began slowly but steadily adopting Islam, the magi attempted to preserve their religion’s beliefs, traditions, and lore by writing them down.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• ESCHATOLOGY i. In Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrian Influence

  Shaul Shaked

  Faith in the events beyond life on this earth is attested in the Zoroastrian scriptures from the very first, from the Gāθās. This faith developed and became central to later Zoroastrianism so that it colors almost all aspects of the religious life.

• EARTH IN ZOROASTRIANISM

  Cross-Reference

  See ELEMENTS i.

• CLEANSING

  Multiple Authors

  This article treats cleansing practices in Zoroastrianism and in Islamic Persia.

• DEATH (2)

  Cross-Reference

  IN RELIGIONS OTHER THAN ZOROASTRIANISM. See CORPSE and BURIAL.

• ZAND

  Cross-Reference

  Zoroastrian term for the literature written in Middle Persian to translate and explicate the Avestan scriptures. The supplementary explanations, which developed into the exegetical literature that we know from the Sasanian period and which are  preserved in the Middle Persian/Pahlavi texts are known as the Zand, hence the expression “Avesta and Zand” or “Zand-Avesta.”

  See EXEGESIS i. In Zoroastrianism.

• HOMOSEXUALITY

  Multiple Authors

  OVERVIEW of the entry: i. In Zoroastrianism. ii. In Islamic law. iii. In Persian literature. iv. In modern Persia. See Supplement.  

• OHRMAZD

  Cross-Reference

  Middle Persian name of the supreme deity in Zoroastrianism. See AHURA MAZDĀ.

• XRAFSTAR

  Cross-Reference

  (Avestan xrafstra-) “evil animals” in Zoroastrianism.  See MAMMALS iii. The Classification of Mammals and the Other Animal Classes according to Zoroastrian Tradition.

• DEITY

  Cross-Reference

  See under ACHAEMENID RELIGION; AHRIMAN; AHURA MAZDĀ; MANICHEISM ii. The Manichean Pantheon; ZOROASTRIANISM; SHIʿITE DOCTRINE.

• ZOROASTRIANS IN IRAN

  Multiple Authors

  The subject of the history and status of the Zoroastrian communities of Iran.

• BILIMORIA, NUSHERWANJI FRAMJI

  Kaikhusroo M. JamaspAsa

  (1852-1922), Zoroastrian journalist, editor, and publisher.

• DENŠAPUH

  James Russell

  short form of Vehdenšapuh; Sasanian hambārakapet (quartermaster) involved in the campaign of Yazdagerd II (438-57) to force Christian Armenians to abjure their faith and return to Zoroastrianism; a gem bearing his name is preserved in the British Museum in London.

• AKŌMAN

  J. Duchesne-Guillemin

  “Evil Mind,” a term personified as a demon in Zoroastrianism.

• BEHDĪN

  James R. Russell

  “the Good Religion,” i.e., Zoroastrianism, or one of its adherents, in modern usage, specifically of the laity.

• ĀZŪITI-

  M. Boyce

  an Avestan word meaning “oblation of fat,” also a divine being representing Fatness or Plenty.

• Z~ CAPTIONS OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  Cross-Reference

  list of all the figure and plate images in the Z entries

• ABZŌN

  M. F. Kanga

  Middle Persian term meaning “prosperity, increase” in Zoroastrianism.

• AHRIŠWANG

  B. Schlerath

  a learned transcription of the Avestan nominative Ašiš vaŋuhī, the goddess “Good Recompense.”

• MĀR ABĀ

  Manfred Hutter

  Zoroastrian convert to Christianity, catholicos for the Church of the East, 540-52 CE.

• NAVSARI

  Cross-Reference

  city and district of Gujarat State, adjoining Surat. See PARSI COMMUNITIES i. Early History, ZOROASTRIANISM ii. Historical Review: from the Arab Conquest to Modern Times.

• CATECHISMS

  Philip G. Kreyenbroek

  treatises for instruction in the fundamental tenets of a religious faith, cast in the form of questions and answers.

• SPANDARMAD

  Cross-Reference

  one of the six great Aməša Spəntas in Zoroastrianism. See ĀRMAITI .

• APŌŠ

  C. J. Brunner

  Middle Persian for Av. Apaoša, the demon of drought.  

• COSMOGONY AND COSMOLOGY

  Multiple Authors

  theories of the origins and structure of the universe.

• ANĒRĀN

  Ph. Gignoux

  “non-Iran,” Middle Persian ethno-linguistic term generally used pejoratively to denote a political and religious enemy of Iran and Zoroastrianism.  

• DŪRĀSRAW

  D. N. MacKenzie

  according to the Pahlavi tradition the name of two legendary personages in the history of Zoroastrianism.

• GŌBADŠĀH

  D. N. Mackenzie

  the name of a mythical ruler first appearing in medieval Zoroastrianism.

• HELL

  Multiple Authors

  This entry will treat the concept of hell in the Iranian culture under two rubrics.

• MANICHEISM

  Multiple Authors

  the religion founded by Mani, who regarded his doctrine not as the religion of a region, a state, or a chosen people, but as the completion of the preceding great religions of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism.

• BURIAL

  Multiple Authors

  This series of articles covers burial practices in Iran and Iranian lands.

• MAZDAK, MAZDAKISM

  Cross-Reference

  See  IRAN ix. RELIGIONS IN IRAN (1) Pre-Islamic (1.1) Overview, COSMOGONY AND COSMOLOGY iv. In the Mazdakite religion, ḴORRAMIS, BĀBAK ḴORRAMĪ, SASANIAN DYNASTY, CLASS SYSTEM iii. In the Parthian and Sasanian Periods, IRAN ii. IRANIAN HISTORY (1) Pre-Islamic Times,  ZOROASTRIANISM i. Historical Review Up To The Arab Conquest.

• BŪŠĀSP

  Allan V. Williams

  demon of slothfulness and procrastination in Zoroastrianism.

• ARLEZ

  J. Russell

  Armenian term for a supernatural creature.

• ĀΘVIYA

  cross-reference

  in the Avestan Hōm Yast (Y. 9.7) the second mortal to press the haoma and the father of Θraētaona (Ferīdūn).

• ĀYADANA

  J. Duchesne-Guillemin

  “place of cult.” The term occurs once in the Old Persian Bīstūn inscription of Darius I.

• SAGDID

  Cross-Reference

  in Zoroastrian practice, a purificatory ritual, involving a dog, before a body is carried away to be exposed; see DOG ii. In Zoroastrianism.

• ESCHATOLOGY

  Multiple Authors

  the branch of theology concerned with final things, i.e., the advent of the savior to defeat evil and the end of the world.

• CHILDREN

  Multiple Authors

  This series of articles covers children and child-rearing in Iran and Iranian lands.

• ĒRĪČ MOUNTAIN

  Gherardo Gnoli

  mentioned in a chapter of the Bundahišn devoted to mountains.

• FRĀXKARD

  Ahmad Tafazzoli

  name of the cosmic ocean in Iranian mythology.

• ĀB i. The concept of water in ancient Iranian culture

  Mary Boyce

  The ancient Iranians respected water as the source of life, which nourished plants, animals, and men. In their cosmology water was the second of the seven “creations.”

• AŠTĀD

  G. Gnoli

  Old Iranian female deity of rectitude and justice.

• AIRYAMAN IŠYA

  C. J. Brunner

  Gathic Avestan prayer.

• PĀDYĀB

  Ramiyar P. Karanjia

  a Pahlavi word meaning “ritually clean.”

• MONĀJĀT

  Multiple Authors

  a prayer genre which is often associated with the mystical verses of the Persian poet ʿAbdallāh Anṣāri (d. 1089) compiled in his famous Monājāt-nāma.

• DAIVADANA

  Gherardo Gnoli

  lit., "temple of the daivas," Old Persian term that appears in the “daiva inscrip­tion” of Xerxes at Persepolis.

• HUMATA HŪXTA HUVARŠTA

  Mary Boyce

  three Avestan words which encapsulate the ethical goals of Zoroastrianism. In form verbal adjectives,  they were substantivized to mean “good thought, good word, good act.”

• AMA

  M. Boyce

  a minor Zoroastrian divinity, the hypostasis of strength, who appears in the Avestan hymn to Vərəθraγna (Yt. 14).

• SĪH-RŌZAG

  Enrico G. Raffaelli

  a text of the Xorda Avesta comprising invocations to Zoroastrian divinities.

• NASU

  Mahnaz Moazami

  the demon of carrion, the greatest polluter of Ahura Mazdā’s world.

• AMURDĀD

  M. Boyce

  one of the seven great Aməša Spəntas of Zoroastrianism, the hypostasis of the concept of “not dying,” that is Long Life on this earth or Immortality in the hereafter.

• GŌŠ YAŠT

  W. W. Malandra

  the title of the ninth Yašt of the Avesta, also known as Drwāsp Yašt, after the goddess Druuāspā (see DRVĀSPĀ) to whom, in fact, it is dedicated.

• GANZAK

  Mary Boyce

  a town of Achaemenid foundation in Azerbaijan. The name means “treasury” and is a Median form (against Pers. gazn-), adopted in Persian administrative use.

• ACTS OF ĀDUR-HORMIZD AND OF ANĀHĪD

  J. P. Asmussen

  Syriac martyrological texts.  Their events are set in the year 446 A.D., during the reign of Yazdegerd II; and they were apparently recorded not long afterward. They offer more detailed data on Zoroastrianism and Zurvanism, even though in a somewhat corrupted form, than is commonly found in the records of the Christian martyrs of the Sasanian empire. 

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• CEDRENUS, GEORGIUS

  James R. Russell

  twelfth-century Byzantine historian who edited the Synopsis Historiōn of John Skylitzēs.

• EPIPHANIUS

  Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin

  (b. Eleutheropolis, Judaea, ca. 315; d. Constantia, Cyprus), bishop of Constantia on Cyprus, founded on the remains of Salamis.

• ISAIAH, BOOK OF

  Shaul Shaked

  one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, traditionally arranged among those of the latter Prophets.

• ŠAHREWAR

  William W. Malandra

  name of one of the Amahraspandān in Zoroastrianism. This is the Middle Persian form of the name deriving from Av. Xšaθra Vairya, meaning literally “dominion to be chosen” and more freely “choice/desirable/best dominion.”

• ČISTĀ

  Jean Kellens

  and Čisti; Avestan derivatives of the verb cit “to notice, to understand.”

• AHURA

  F. B. J. Kuiper

  designation of a type of deity inherited by Zoroastrianism from the prehistoric Indo-Iranian religion.

• ARŠĀMA

  E. Bresciani

  name of several Achaemenid notables.

• ABDĪH UD SAHĪGĪH Ī SAGASTĀN

  A. Tafażżolī

  (“The wonder and remarkability of Sagastān”), short Pahlavi treatise.

• GŌMĒZ

  Mary Boyce

  cow's urine.

• DRUJ-

  Jean Kellens

  Avestan feminine noun defining the concept opposed to that of aṧa-.

• ĀBĀN

  Mary Boyce

  Middle Persian term meaning “the waters” (Av. āpō). In Indo-Iranian the word for water is grammatically feminine; the element itself was always characterized as female and was represented by a group of goddesses, the Āpas.

• MODI, JIVANJI JAMSHEDJI

  Michael Stausberg and Ramiyar P. Karanjia

  (1854-1933) Parsi priest, scholar, public servant, and community activist. Modi produced scholarly works on a greatr range of subjects, and he may well have been the most prolific Parsi scholar of modern times. 

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• GOLINDUCH

  Sebastian Brock

  or GOLEN-DOḴT (d. 591), female Christian martyr.

• ABŪ SAHL NAWBAḴT

  D. Pingree

  2nd/8th century astrologer and author.  

• TALMUD, PERSIAN ELEMENTS IN

  Jacob Neusner

  Persian influence on Judaism through the Babylonian Talmud (Bavli) is by no means negligible. The Bavli is full of Iranian words and motifs.

• CLEMENT, PSEUDO-

  Marie Louise Chaumont

  the unknown author of a work of fiction falsely ascribed to Pope Clement I (88-­97 CE) and now generally known as the Pseudo­-Clementines, which contains passages reflecting myths and teachings of Persian origin.

• AIRYAMAN

  M. Boyce

  an ancient Iranian divinity and a yazata of the Zoroastrian pantheon, known in Manichean Middle Persian as Aryaman, in Pahlavi as Ērmān.

• CONVERSION vii. To the Zoroastrian faith in the modern period

  Pargol Saati

  Modern Zoroastrians disagree on whether it is permissible for outsiders to enter their religion. Now scattered in small minority communities in Persia, India, Europe, and North America and without a reli­gious hierarchy, the Zoroastrians are governed by councils and high priests whose authority is only local. 

• DRVĀSPĀ

  Jean Kellens

  or Drwāspā, Druuāspā, lit., “with solid horses”; Avestan goddess.

• JUDEO-PERSIAN COMMUNITIES xii. PERSIAN CONTRIBUTION TO JUDAISM

  Jacob Neusner

  While the Jews of the Parthian and Sasanian empires spoke (eastern) Aramaic, not Middle Persian, Persian influence on Judaism through the Babylonian Talmud (Bavli) is by no means negligible.

• AŠI

  B. Schlerath, P. O. Skjærvø

  Avestan feminine noun meaning “thing attained, reward, share, portion, recompense” and, as a personification, the goddess “Reward, Fortune.”

• ĀΘRAVAN-

  M. Boyce

  (Avestan) “priest” regularly used to designate the priests as a social “class,” one of the three into which ancient Iranian society was theoretically divided.

• AHURĀNĪ

  B. Schlerath

  feminine deity of the waters.

• APĄM NAPĀT

  M. Boyce

  (Son of the Waters), Zoroastrian divinity of mysterious character whose true identity, like that of his Vedic counterpart, Apām Napāt, has been much debated.

• CONVERSION i. Of Iranians to the Zoroastrian faith

  Gherardo Gnoli

  Although modern Zoroastrians question whether their religion even allows conversion, Zoroastrianism, as an ethical and essentially monotheistic religion based on a historical figure, originally had pronounced missionary characteristics, as is clear from the extent of its dissemination.

• SAOŠYANT

  William Malandra

  a term in Zoroastrianism sometimes rendered as “savior.” Since the term also occurs frequently in reference to contemporary individuals, a more neutral translation such as “benefactor” or “helper” (Lommel) may be preferred. 

• BURIAL iii. In Zoroastrianism

  James R. Russell

  Death being regarded as an evil brought about by Aŋra Mainyu, the Destructive Spirit, the corpse of a holy creature, particularly man or dog, is considered to be greatly infested by the druj Nasu.

• DUGDŌW

  D. N. MacKenzie

  the name of Zoroaster’s mother, which appears in several different spellings in the Pahlavi texts, mostly more or less corrupted from an original attempt at representing the Avestan form.

• ASTVAṰ.ƎRƎTA

  M. Boyce

  the Avestan name of the Saošyant, the future Savior of Zoroastrianism.

• CLASS SYSTEM i. In the Avesta

  Prods Oktor Skjærvø

  The evidence for the existence of a highly developed class structure in the community in which the Avestan texts were composed is very slight, and the available information must be culled from sources chronologically as far apart as the Avesta itself and the Pahlavi texts.

• HERMIPPUS OF SMYRNA

  J. Wiesehöfer

  third-century BCE Greek grammarian who wrote on “Zoroaster’s writings.”

• BARR, KAJ

  J. P. Asmussen

  Danish orientalist (1896-1970). Among his publications are an edition from F. C. Andreas’s papers of the Pahlavi Psalter fragments discovered at Turfan and a collaboration with A. Christensen and W. B. Henning to publish Andreas’s notes on Iranian dialects.

• KUKADARU, JAMSHEDJI SORAB

  Michael Stausberg and Ramiyar P. Karanjia

  (1831-1900), Parsi Zoroastrian priest. He was renowned for his spiritual powers, in particular with respect to healing and divination.

• GĀW Ī ĒWDĀD

  William W. Malandra

  or ēwagdād; the name of the primordial Bovine in Zoroastrian mythology.

• DAMASCUS, Zoroastrians at

  Mary Boyce

  The earliest evi­dence for the presence of Zoroastrians at Damascus is provided by Berossus, who stated that this was one of the cities of the Achaemenid empire at which Artaxerxes II (404-358 b.c.e.) had a statue set up for “Anaitis”

• HERMES

  Albert de Jong

  Hermes was identified with the Roman god Mercury, god of commerce and trade, and came to be symbolized with the moneybag. In Egypt, he was identified with the god Thoth; he was the source of a large number of writings outlining the ways in which the soul could be released from the bonds of matter.

  This Article Has Images/Tables.

• YAZDEGERD II

  Touraj Daryaee

  Sasanian king, whose reign is marked by wars with Byzantium in the west and the Hephthalites in the east.  He stayed in the east for some years fighting the nomadic tribes and is known for imposing Zoroastrianism in Armenia.

• DĒW

  A. V. Williams

  lit. "demon" in the Pahlavi books.

• HOMOSEXUALITY i. IN ZOROASTRIANISM

  Prods Oktor Skjærvø

  Zoroastrian literature contains discussions of personal relations only in legal contexts and is quite explicit with regard to sins of a sexual nature.

• ĀDURFARNBAG Ī FARROXZĀDĀN

  A. Tafażżolī

  first author of the 9th century CE Zoroastrian compilation, the Dēnkard. 

• ZURVAN

  Albert de Jong

  ancient Zoroastrian deity of Time.  Although the etymology of the Avestan word causes difficulty, there is consensus over its basic meaning,  “period (of time).”

• HELL i. IN ZOROASTRIANISM

  Philippe Gignoux

  Hell is not explicitly mentioned in the Gathas. There are only allusions, where it is said that the soul and the daēnā of the wicked will be guests in the “house of falsehood.”

• EXEGESIS i. In Zoroastrianism

  Philip G. Kreyenbroek

  Zoroastrian exegesis consists basically of the interpretation of the Avesta (q.v.). However, the closest equivalent Iranian concept, zand, generally includes Pahlavi texts which were believed to derive from commentaries upon Avestan scripture, but whose extant form contains no Avestan passages.