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Peshotanu
Peshotanu (Avestan ', Middle Persian ''Peshyotan'', ''Peshotan'') is an eschatological figure of the medieval texts of Zoroastrian tradition, in particular in the apocalyptic '' Zand-i Wahman yasn''. In these texts, Peshotanu is an assistant of the Saoshyant, the future benefactor who brings about the final renovation of the world. In these texts, Peshotanu is also one of the Zoroastrian "immortals" (''anoshag-ruwan'', "of immortal soul"), and the name ''peshotanu'' is an allusion to this idea; the Avestan language word literally means "of surrendered (pesh-) body (-tan)", and is also used as a common adjective as a euphemism for "deceased" (also in a derogatory sense of "of forfeited body" in the context of capital offenses). The development of the legend of Peshotanu has been traced from that of a dead prince whose departed spirit is honored (''Yasht'' 13.103) to that of the eschatological hero who is "he is immortal, undecaying, hungerless, and thirstless, living and predominan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vishtaspa
Vishtaspa ( ae, 𐬬𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬁𐬯𐬞𐬀 ; peo, 𐎻𐏁𐎫𐎠𐎿𐎱 ; fa, گشتاسپ ; grc, Ὑστάσπης ) is the Avestan-language name of a figure of Zoroastrian scripture and tradition, portrayed as an early follower of Zoroaster, and his patron, and instrumental in the diffusion of the prophet's message. Although Vishtaspa is not epigraphically attested, he is – like Zoroaster – traditionally assumed to have been a historical figure, although obscured by accretions from legend and myth. In Zoroastrian tradition, which builds on allusions found in the Avesta, Vishtaspa is a righteous king who helped propagate and defend the faith. In the non-Zoroastrian Sistan cycle texts, Vishtaspa is a loathsome ruler of the Kayanian dynasty who intentionally sends his eldest son to a certain death. In Greco-Roman literature, Zoroaster's patron was the pseudo-anonymous author of a set of prophecies written under his name. In scripture Vishtaspa is referred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avestan
Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scriptural language of Zoroastrianism, and the Avesta likewise serves as their namesake. Both are early Eastern Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian language branch of the Indo-European language family. Its immediate ancestor was the Proto-Iranian language, a sister language to the Proto-Indo-Aryan language, with both having developed from the earlier Proto-Indo-Iranian language; as such, Old Avestan is quite close in both grammar and lexicon to Vedic Sanskrit, the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan language. The Avestan text corpus was composed in the ancient Iranian satrapies of Arachosia, Aria, Bactria, and Margiana, corresponding to the entirety of present-day Afghanistan as well as parts of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mithra
Mithra ( ae, ''Miθra'', peo, 𐎷𐎰𐎼 ''Miça'') commonly known as Mehr, is the Iranian deity of covenant, light, oath, justice and the sun. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest, and of the Waters. The Romans attributed their Mithraic mysteries to Zoroastrian Persian sources relating to Mithra. Since the early 1970s, the dominant scholarship has noted dissimilarities between the Persian and Roman traditions, making it, at most, the result of Roman ''perceptions'' of Zoroastrian ideas. Etymology Together with the Vedic common noun ''mitra'', the Avestan common noun ''miθra'' derives from Proto-Indo-Iranian '' *mitrám'' (Mitra), from the root ''*mi-'' "to bind", with the "tool suffix" ''-tra-'' "causing to". Thus, etymologically ''mitra''/''miθra'' means "that which causes binding", preserved in the Avestan word for "Covenant, Contract, Oath". In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daevas
A daeva (Avestan: 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀 ''daēuua'') is a Zoroastrian supernatural entity with disagreeable characteristics. In the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrian canon, the ''daeva''s are "gods that are (to be) rejected". This meaning is – subject to interpretation – perhaps also evident in the Old Persian "''daiva'' inscription" of the 5th century BCE. In the ''Younger Avesta'', the ''daeva''s are divinities that promote chaos and disorder. In later tradition and folklore, the ''dēw''s (Zoroastrian Middle Persian; New Persian ''div''s) are personifications of every imaginable evil. Over time, the Daeva myth as Div became integrated to Islam. ''Daeva'', the Iranian language term, shares the same origin of " Deva" of Hinduism. While the word for the Vedic spirits and the word for the Zoroastrian entities are etymologically related, their function and thematic development is altogether different. Originally, the term was used to denote beings of cultural f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Millennialism
Millennialism (from millennium, Latin for "a thousand years") or chiliasm (from the Greek equivalent) is a belief advanced by some religious denominations that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur on Earth prior to the final judgment and future eternal state of the "World to Come". Christianity and Judaism have both produced messianic movements which featured millennialist teachings—such as the notion that an earthly kingdom of God was at hand. These millenarian movements often led to considerable social unrest. Similarities to millennialism appear in Zoroastrianism, which identified successive thousand-year periods, each of which will end in a cataclysm of heresy and destruction, until the final destruction of evil and of the spirit of evil by a triumphant king of peace at the end of the final millennial age. "Then Saoshyant makes the creatures again pure, and the resurrection and future existence occur" (''Zand-i Vohuman Yasht 3:62''). Scholars have also linked variou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vohu Manah
Vohu Manah (Avestan: 𐬬𐬊𐬵𐬎 𐬨𐬀𐬥𐬀𐬵 ''vohu manah'') is the Avestan language term for a Zoroastrian concept, generally translated as "Good Purpose", "Good Mind", or "Good Thought", referring to the good state of mind that enables an individual to accomplish their duties. Its Middle Persian equivalent, as attested in the Pahlavi script texts of Zoroastrian tradition, is 𐭥𐭤𐭥𐭬𐭭 ''Wahman'', which is a borrowing of the Avestan language expression and has the same meaning, and which continues in New Persian as ''Bahman'' and variants. Manah is cognate with the Sanskrit word Manas suggesting some commonality between the ideas of the Gathas and those of the Rigveda. The opposite of Vohu Manah is ''akem manah'' or Aka Manah, "evil purpose" or "evil mind". The term is a compound of the words ''vohu'' "good" and ''manah'' "mind, thought, purpose", cognate with the Vedic words ''vásu'' and ''mánas'', both with the same meaning. Both of these der ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bundahishn
''Bundahishn'' (Avestan: , "Primal Creation") is the name traditionally given to an encyclopedic collection of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology written in Book Pahlavi. The original name of the work is not known. Although the ''Bundahishn'' draws on the Avesta and develops ideas alluded to in those texts, it is not itself scripture. The content reflects Zoroastrian scripture, which, in turn, reflects both ancient Zoroastrian and pre-Zoroastrian beliefs. In some cases, the text alludes to contingencies of post-7th century Islam in Iran, and in yet other cases, such as the idea that the Moon is farther than the stars, it reiterates scripture even though science had, by then, determined otherwise. Structure The ''Bundahishn'' survives in two recensions: an Indian and an Iranian version. The shorter version was found in India and contains only 30 chapters, and is thus known as the ''Lesser Bundahishn'', or '' Indian Bundahishn''. A copy of this version was brought to Europe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashavan
Ashavan (Avestan: 𐬀𐬴𐬀𐬬𐬀𐬥 ''ašavan'') is a Zoroastrian theological term. It literally means "possessing/mastering '' aša''" and has been interpreted as "possessing/mastering truth" or "possessing/mastering righteousness", but has further implications: * It is an epithet of Ahura Mazda ('' Yasht'' 1.12). The term may then be applied to anything within the domain of Ahura Mazda and/or Aša (i.e. all of Creation), and excludes only that which is ''dr''ə''gvant'' "possessing lie" ( YAv: ''drvant''). * With respect to mortals and in an eschatological and sotereological context, ''ašavan'' is also a quality that can be acquired in life. Then, having acquired the qualities of an ''ašavan'', one becomes an ''ašavan'' (through "blessed union with aša") after death. (See also: ''aša'': in eschatology and sotereology). This sotereological meaning of ''ašavan'' is also evident in Xerxes' '' daiva inscription'', an Old Persian text (XPh, early 5th century BCE). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turan
Turan ( ae, Tūiriiānəm, pal, Tūrān; fa, توران, Turân, , "The Land of Tur") is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of the Avestan age. Overview In ancient Iranian mythology, Tūr or Turaj (''Tuzh'' in Middle Persian) is the son of the emperor Fereydun. According to the account in the ''Shahnameh'', the nomadic tribes who inhabited these lands were ruled by Tūr. In that sense, the Turanians could be members of two Iranian peoples both descending from Fereydun, but with different geographical domains and often at war with each other. Turan, therefore, comprised five areas: the Kopet Dag region, the Atrek valley, parts of Bactria, Sogdia and Margiana. A later association of the original Turanians with Turkic peoples is based primarily on the subsequent Turkification of Central Asia, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kangdez
Kangdez (literally "Fortress of Kang") is a legendary fortress in Iranian mythology, which resembles paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad .... References Sources * Iranian mythology {{Iran-culture-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoroaster
Zoroaster,; fa, زرتشت, Zartosht, label= Modern Persian; ku, زەردەشت, Zerdeşt also known as Zarathustra,, . Also known as Zarathushtra Spitama, or Ashu Zarathushtra is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. He is said to have been an Iranian prophet who founded a religious movement that challenged the existing traditions of ancient Iranian religion, and inaugurated a movement that eventually became a staple religion in ancient Iran. He was a native speaker of Old Avestan and lived in the eastern part of the Iranian plateau, but his exact birthplace is uncertain. There is no scholarly consensus on when he lived. Some scholars, using linguistic and socio-cultural evidence, suggest a dating to somewhere in the second millennium BC. Other scholars date him to the 7th and 6th centuries BC as a near-contemporary of Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great. Zoroastrianism eventually became the official state religion of ancient Iran—particularly during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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