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Zandik
Zandik () is a Zoroastrian term conventionally interpreted as heretic in a narrow sense, or, in a wider sense, for a person with any belief or practice that ran contrary to Sassanid-mediated Zoroastrian orthodoxy. The Middle Persian term engendered the better-attested Arabic زنديق '' zindiq'', with the same semantic field but related to Islam rather than Zoroastrianism. In the Islamic world, including Islamic-era Iran, the term was also variously assigned to Manichaeans, Mandaeans, Mazdakites, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Christians, and free-thinkers in general, including Muslims.. Whether ''zandik'' was also used in any of these ways in Zoroastrian times is unknown; in that context, the term is only attested in three texts (two from the same author), and in all three appears as a hapax legomenon used in a pejorative way, but with no additional hints from which to infer a meaning. In several now-obsolete studies related to Zoroastrianism, the word was also speculated to be the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zindiq
Zindīq (pl. zanādiqa) is an Islamic pejorative applied to individuals who are considered to hold views or follow practices that are contrary to central Islamic dogmas.. Zandaqa is the noun describing these views. Zandaqa is usually translated as "heresy" and is often used to underscore the seriousness of the religious views of the accused individual, and the rejection of such views by Islamic orthodoxy. It originally referred to the adherents of Manichaeism, but then came to be applied to those who were accused of having heretical beliefs and actions deemed as threatening by Islamic authorities. Under the Abbasids The Arabic ''zindīq'' is a loan word from pre-Islamic Middle Persian 𐭦𐭭𐭣𐭩𐭪 ''zandik'', a Zoroastrian term of uncertain etymology and meaning (for a discussion of the term in a pre-Islamic context, see ''zandik''). Zindīq (زنديق) or Zandik (𐭦𐭭𐭣𐭩𐭪) was initially used to negatively denote the followers of the Manichaeism religion in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the world's oldest organized faiths, its adherents exalt an Creator deity, uncreated, Omnibenevolence, benevolent, and List of knowledge deities#Persian mythology, all-wise deity known as Ahura Mazda (), who is hailed as the supreme being of the universe. Opposed to Ahura Mazda is Ahriman, Angra Mainyu (), who is personified as a List of death deities#Persian-Zoroastrian, destructive spirit and the adversary of all things that are good. As such, the Zoroastrian religion combines a Dualism in cosmology, dualistic cosmology of good and evil with an eschatological outlook predicting the Frashokereti, ultimate triumph of Ahura Mazda over evil. Opinions vary among scholars as to whether Zoroastrianism is monotheistic, polyth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to personal limitations rather than a worldview. Another definition is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist." The English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley said that he originally coined the word ''agnostic'' in 1869 "to denote people who, like imself confess themselves to be hopelessly ignorant concerning a variety of matters ncluding the matter of God's existence about which metaphysicians and theologians, both orthodox and heterodox, dogmatise with the utmost confidence." Earlier thinkers had written works that promoted agnostic points of view, such as Sanjaya Belatthiputta, a 5th-century BCE Indian philosophe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
Kaaba, Ka'ba-ye Zartosht (), also called the Kaaba or Cube of Zoroaster, is a rectangular stepped stone structure in the Naqsh-e Rustam compound beside Zangiabad, Fars, Zangiabad village in Marvdasht county in Fars province, Fars, Iran. The Naqsh-e Rustam compound also incorporates memorials of the Elamites, the Achaemenid Empire, Achaemenids and the Sasanian Empire, Sasanians. Architecturally, it is one of several Kaabas. The Ka'ba-ye Zartosht is from the mountain, situated exactly opposite Darius II's mausoleum. It is rectangular and has only one entrance door. The material of the structure is white limestone. It is about high, or if including the triple stairs, and each side of its base is about long. Its entrance door leads to the chamber inside via a thirty-stair stone stairway. The stone pieces are rectangular and are simply placed on top of each other, without the use of Mortar (masonry), mortar; the sizes of the stones varies from to , and they are connected to each ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kartir
Kartir (also spelled Karder, Karter and Kerdir; Middle Persian: 𐭪𐭫𐭲𐭩𐭫 ''Kardīr'') was a powerful and influential Zoroastrian priest during the reigns of four Sasanian kings in the 3rd century. His name is cited in the inscriptions of Shapur I (as well as in the '' Res Gestae Divi Saporis'') and the Paikuli inscription of Narseh. Kartir also had inscriptions of his own made in the present-day Fars province (then known as Pars). His inscriptions narrates his rise to power throughout the reigns of Shapur I (), Hormizd I (), Bahram I (), and Bahram II (). During the brief reign of Bahram II's son and successor Bahram III, Kartir was amongst the nobles who supported the rebellion of Narseh, who overthrew Bahram III and ascended the throne. During Narseh's reign, Kartir faded into obscurity. Name Kartir's name is spelled in several ways in the engravings; Middle Persian , Parthian , Greek ''Karteir'', and Coptic ''Kardel''. The name was also used in the north ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aniran
Anērān (Middle Persian, ) or Anīrân ( Modern Persian, ) is an ethno-linguistic term that signifies "non-Iranian" or "non-Iran" (non-Aryan). Thus, in a general sense, 'Aniran' signifies lands where Iranian languages are not spoken. In a pejorative sense, it denotes "a political and religious enemy of Iran and Zoroastrianism." The term 'Aniran' derives from Middle Persian ''anērān'', Pahlavi ''ʼnyrʼn'', an antonym of '' ērān'' that in turn denoted either the people or the Sasanian Empire.. However, "in Zoroastrian literature and possibly in Sasanian political thought as well, the term has also a markedly religious connotation. An ''anēr'' person is not merely non-Iranian, but specifically non-Zoroastrian; and ''anēr'' designates also worshipers of the ''dēws'' ("demons") or adherents of other religions." In these texts of the ninth to twelfth century, "Arabs and Turks are called ''anēr'', as are Muslims generally, the latter in a veiled manner." In inscriptions In of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arsacid Empire
The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I ( BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce. The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and regalia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Letter Of Tansar
The Letter of Tansar () was a 6th-century Sassanid propaganda instrument that portrayed the preceding Arsacid period as morally corrupt and heretical (to Zoroastrianism), and presented the first Sassanid dynast Ardashir I as having "restored" the faith to a "firm foundation." The letter was simultaneously a declaration of the unity of Zoroastrian church and Iranian state, "for church and state were born of the one womb, joined together and never to be sundered." The document seems to have been based on a genuine 3rd-century letter written by Tansar, the Zoroastrian high priest under Ardashir I, to a certain Gushnasp of Parishwar/Tabaristan, one of vassal kings of the Arsacid Ardavan IV. This original missive was apparently written not long after Ardashir had overthrown Ardavan, and Tansar appears to have been responding to charges levelled at Ardashir, and the delay in accepting Ardashir's suzerainty. Representative of those charges is the accusation that Ardashir "had taken away ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ardashir I
Ardashir I (), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire, the last empire of ancient Iran. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new empire. After defeating the last Parthian Empire, Parthian King of Kings, shahanshah Artabanus IV of Parthia, Artabanus IV on the Battle of Hormozdgan, Hormozdgan plain in 224, he overthrew the Parthian Empire, Arsacid dynasty and established the Sasanian dynasty. Afterwards, Ardashir called himself ''shahanshah'' and began conquering the land that he called ''Iran (word), Eranshahr'', the realm of the Arya (Iran), Iranians. There are various historical reports about Ardashir's lineage and ancestry. According to al-Tabari's ''History of the Prophets and Kings'', Ardashir was son of Papak, son of Sasan. Another narrative recorded in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, ''Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan'' and Ferdowsi, Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh'' states that Ardashir was born from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denkard
The ''Dēnkard'' or ''Dēnkart'' (Middle Persian: 𐭣𐭩𐭭𐭪𐭠𐭫𐭲 "Acts of Religion") is a 10th-century compendium of Zoroastrian beliefs and customs during the time. The ''Denkard'' has been called an "Encyclopedia of Mazdaism" and is a valuable source of Zoroastrian literature especially during its Middle Persian iteration. The ''Denkard'' is not considered a sacred text by a majority of Zoroastrians, but is still considered worthy of study. Name The name traditionally given to the compendium reflects a phrase from the colophons, which speaks of the /, from Avestan meaning "acts" (also in the sense of "chapters"), and , from Avestan , literally "insight" or "revelation", but more commonly translated as "religion." Accordingly, means "religious acts" or "acts of religion." The ambiguity of or in the title reflects the orthography of Pahlavi writing, in which the letter may sometimes denote /d/. Date and authorship The individual chapters vary in age, style ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pazand
Pazend () or Pazand (; ) is one of the writing systems used for the Middle Persian language. It was based on the Avestan alphabet, a phonetic alphabet originally used to write Avestan, the language of the Avesta, the primary sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. Pazend's principal use was for writing the commentaries ('' Zend'') on and/or translations of the Avesta. The word "Pazend" ultimately derives from the Avestan words ''paiti zainti'', which can be translated as either "for commentary purposes" or "according to understanding" (phonetically). Pazend had the following characteristics, both of which are to be contrasted with Pahlavi, which is one of the other systems used to write Middle Persian: * Pazend was a variant of the Avestan alphabet (''Din dabireh''), which was a phonetic alphabet. In contrast, Pahlavi script was only an abjad. * Pazend did not have ideograms. In contrast, ideograms were an identifying feature of the Pahlavi system, and these '' huzvarishn'' were wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zend
Zend or Zand () is a Zoroastrian term for Middle Persian or Pahlavi versions and commentaries of Avestan texts. These translations were produced in the late Sasanian period. ''Zand'' glosses and commentaries exist in several languages, including in the Avestan language itself. These Avestan language exegeses sometimes accompany the original text being commented upon, but are more often elsewhere in the canon. An example of exegesis in the Avestan language itself includes '' Yasna'' 19–21, which is a set of three Younger Avestan commentaries on the three Gathic Avestan 'high prayers' of ''Yasna'' 27. ''Zand'' also appears to have once existed in a variety of Middle Iranian languages, but of these Middle Iranian commentaries, the Middle Persian ''zand'' is the only one to survive fully, and is for this reason regarded as 'the' ''zand''. With the notable exception of the '' Yashts'', almost all surviving Avestan texts have their Middle Persian ''zand'', which in some manuscripts a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
