Ancient Iranian Religion

Рахно К.Ю. Иранские компоненты в языческих верованиях средневековых башкир // Актуальные  проблемы  гуманитарной  науки:  фольклористика,  литературоведение, этнография, история, археография: Материалы Всероссийской  (с международным участием) научно-практической конференции, посвященной 80-летию  со дня рождения  видного  ученого-фольклориста,  почетного  академика  АН  РБ  Сулейманова  Ахмета  Мухаметвалеевича. – Уфа: ИИЯЛ УФИЦ РАН, 2019. – С. 141-145.

Iran is an ancient nation known as Persia, which has a long and glorious history. Unlike many other empires, Persia (Iran) managed to keep stability, to prevent losing territory and to remain its independence. The modern history of Iran started from nationalist movements against the Shah (a person, who is in power) in 1905, and continued with the adoption of the new limited constitution in 1906. In 1921, Reza Khan took control and made himself Shah in 1925 and installed new Pahlavi dynasty. Under his leadership, Iran became to be a modern country and secularized its policy. Iran is adopted as the country’s official name in 1935. Ayatollah Khomeini was the spiritual leader during 1970’s and consequently, Khomeini took power by the result of the Islamic revolution and started to lead the country after returning from years in exile in France.
This paper is analyzing different periods of Iran Islamic Republic regarding its foreign policy, diplomatic missions, conflicts, treaties, and geopolitical position based on different sources.

From engraved metal artifacts of bronze land (Luristan), it should be referred to unique objects named disc pin head that are from makeup, ritual and religious requirements. Different types of these pinheads are observed from graves, temples and also on deco rational motive of figures applied in decoration motive of figures applied in decoration of pinhead. Building pinheads began from the late of third millennium B.C and continue to the first half of first millennium B.C. Disk pinheads have much more diversity and different species that at eight and nine centuries B.C reach to its peak of development and beauty. Disk pinheads is composed of one flat engraved head and one bar that often are made of bronze and sometimes both bronze and iron with two methods. Molted in mold and hammering. Pin heads are divided into two disc pinheads: circle and square and based on motive and deco rational subjects on its disk are divided into several motive and subjects that are geometrical, herbal, human, animal and combinational motives, Key questions pacing present researcher are: 1) what is the objective of building and decoration of these pinheads? 2) Why these objects are often obtained from grave and temples? In present writing. In addition to answer the questions and considering and analyzing the motive of these pinheads from the art and visual perspective, it is tried to offer the integrated and rationale analysis based on motive typology, use kind, building method, building technique and motive of disc pinheads that are made in bronze and iron age.

The Iranian Expanse explores how kings in the ancient Iranian world utilized the built and natural environment—everything from royal cities and paradise gardens, to hunting enclosures and fire temples—to form and contest Iranian cultural memory, royal identity, and sacred cosmologies over a thousand years of history. Although scholars have often noted startling continuities between the traditions of the Achaemenids and the art and architecture of medieval or Early Modern Islam, the tumultuous millennium between Alexander and Islam has routinely been downplayed or omitted. The Iranian Expanse delves into this fascinating period, examining royal culture and identity as something built and shaped by strategic changes to architectonic and urban spaces and the landscape of Western Asia. Canepa shows how the Seleucids, Arsacids, and Sasanians played a transformative role in developing a new Iranian royal culture that deeply influenced not only early Islam, but also the wider Persianate world of the Il-Khans, Safavids, Timurids, and Mughals.

Persian Translation of Shenkar, M. (2011), "Temple Architecture in the Iranian World in the Hellenistic Period”, in Kouremenos, A., Rossi, R., Chandrasekaran, S. (eds.), From Pella to Gandhara: Hybridisation and Identity in the Art and Architecture of the Hellenistic East, Oxford.

This article examines the usage and sense of hātąm ‘of beings’ and the adjective haiθiia- ‘true’, both from the present participle haṇt- ‘being’, in the Old Avestan texts. It argues that the first is a rhetorical figure that enhances the stature of its complement and does not denote any particular kind of being whether divine or mortal. haiθiia- consistently appears in contexts that may be legitimately described as eschatological. Most often it qualifies a certain type of activity that leads to or constitutes a ‘splendid’ state of existence. What truly is, the article concludes, refers to existence beyond mortal life.

An investigation into the provenance and history of one of the most popular stories of medieval Europe, which had its origins in the life of the Buddha, as recounted in Buddhist literature. The paper details its transmission through various languages and religions from India to the Iranians of Central Asia, to Abbasid Bagdad, Georgia, Greece and Palestine, to Eastern and Western Europe. The religions include Buddhism, Manichaeanism, Shia Islam, Judaism, and Eastern and Western Christianity. The author argues that the tale is an early expression of values that today can be considered ecumenical and interfaith in scope.

The present paper, as the first Persian writing in this regard, intends to publish and comment on four newly-found Manichaean documents that emerged in 2008, in Xiapu region- Fujian province, southeast China. Based on these unique relics, the article not only interprets the characteristics of one of the most important Manichaean temples, so-called Dragon Head Temple (Lóngshǒu sì) in Southeast China, but also documents the monastic life of one of the most famous Chinese Manichaean Monks Lín Dèng, after his death reached the level of divinity, and his name even recorded in the official memory of Chinese history.

زبان ایلامی باستان یکی از کهن ترین زبان های جهان است که از آن نبشته های بسیاری به جا مانده است. این زبان کهن برای دهه ها زبانی جدا از دیگر زبان های جهان دانسته شده که نژاد مردمانش نیز ناشناخته و ناایرانی انگاشته شده است. کتاب پیش رو نگاهی دیگر اندیشانه و ژرف به این زبان کهن می اندازد و با انبوهی از گواهی های زبان شناسی که از آن میان گواهی های دستوری و واژگانی است، نشان می دهد که این زبان کهن و مردمان باستانیش را باید خویشاوند و هم زبان با دیگر مردمان آریایی و ایرانی نامید.

Indians are known for spirituality, philosophy and mythology. But they were poor in chronicling their events, with almost all important events in their history having been converted into mythology or romanticised to large extent. This resulted in the hero of the tale turning into a demigod, while his opponent damned to be a demon, making reconstruction of the Indian history quite difficult. There are many events and accounts in the Hindu mythology which still elude logical explanation or historic validation. One of such accounts is the identity of asuras – evil characters in the Hindu mythology. While the names of cities and kingdoms ruled by asuras are mentioned in the Hindu scriptures, we cannot locate their geographies now. After it was found that Harappan cities were populated with people of dark complexion and that Ravana's kingdom Lanka existed in the south, some people began to identify asuras with Dravidians and deva-asura yuddhas with Aryan-Dravidian battles. This paper tries to demystify asuras and their identity while digging out the past of what we wrongly call the Hindu religion.

It is necessary to know Magi as they considerably influenced the history of Iran and the Zoroastrian religion. Before the spread of Zoroastrianism, Magi, as an influential social class, were the guardians of religion in Iran, particularly in the western regions. Magi worshiped natural phenomena, and while worshipping and holding religious rituals, they sacrificed animals and drank an intoxicating drink called Hoom. This article intends to show that, after the coming of Zoroaster and the spread of his religion, Magi accepted that new religion to maintain their position among the Iranians. Then, they gradually incorporated their beliefs into the Zoroastrian religion after beginning to act as its guardians. Therefore, we can conclude that some common beliefs of Zoroastrianism have their roots in the teachings of the tribe of Magi

A series of tattoo were discovered in remains from the Pazyryk culture. Their subjects are usually animals depicted in dynamic poses. There are visible differences in tattoo practices between social groups; for common peoples, the tattoo was normally on the hands or shoulder. Gender preferences are also visible in the types of torment’ scenes and tormented animals depicted. The most popular figures depicted in the tattoos were a monster – a wild goat with an eagle’ beak and a panther’s tail and also a realistic wild ram. A panther with very long spiral tail was known in China as a monster of nomadic origin. There are two images of Chinese zoomorphic goods. On the images of nomadic Iranian groups we see a probable tattoo on the cheeks only with two or three horizontal lines.

The interpretation of depictions in petroglyphs belonging to the Bronze Age in South Siberia as shamanic ones is debatable. Obviously, cultic attributes belonging to men were not removed from barrows 2 and 5 in Pazyryk. Their series can be compared with complexes (known to ethnologists) belonging to shamans of Iranian peoples. Such elements of practicing sequential shamanic rituals as divination, use of musical instruments, entering into a trance state, summoning patron spirits and their “feeding”, exorcism of evil spirits can be reconstructed. 

Keywords: Indo-Iranian shamanism, Pazyryk culture shamans, shamans images, South Siberia, material culture

Alexander the Great at Susa (324 B.C.)  in: Cincia Bearzot, Franca Landucci (eds). ALEXANDER’S LEGACY. Atti del Convegno Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano 2015, Roma: «L’Erma» di Bretschneider 2016, 61-72.

ABSTRACT
After his return from India Alexander was faced with the need to reorganise his state. In some satrapies the governors and military commanders had taken advantage of the many years when he was away, busy on other fronts, and there had been atrocities, embezzlements, and rebellions. Alexander had to bring the building of his empire to completion and restructure his armed forces completely. These changes show very clearly the nature of his political programme in the period when he was continuing the pro-Iranian policy he had announced in Parthia/Khorasan in 330. The main decisions defining Alexander’s policy in 324 and 323 were made at Susa, and they will be the subject of this article. They have to be examined in the wider context of Alexander’s policy.

This article examines a pair of closely connected episodes in Herodotus’ account about King Cambyses. The deranged Persian monarch kills the Apis, the sacred bull of Memphis, by striking the animal on its thigh with his sword; subsequently, he perishes after wounding himself on his own thigh with the same weapon. In fact, no Apis seems to have been slain during Cambyses’ reign in Egypt. The Herodotean story is a historical legend, i.e. a fictional narrative attached to a historical figure of the recent past. This fictitious creation presumably originated from elite circles of Egypt and Persia, who were hostile to Cambyses and wished to slander him. Iranian religious and mythical motifs are especially prominent in the narrative. The ritual slaying of bulls, regularly connected with figures of Iranian legend and cult, such as Yima and Mithra, has been distorted into an act of madness, so as to denigrate the hateful king. The story of Cambyses also presents a series of parallels with the religious crimes and death of another impious monarch, Amar-Sin of Ur, as described in a Babylonian historical work, the Weidner Chronicle. Possibly a religious legend akin to that of Amar-Sin was used by the Persian enemies of Cambyses as raw material for their defamatory storytelling. This case offers a good example of a piece of fiction which has infiltrated Greek historiography and has been absorbed into the largely legendary Herodotean portrait of an archetypical oriental autocrat.

The names of gods of Armenian Pre-Christian pantheon are in majority of Iranian origin. Nevertheless, the figures of the gods and their cults have ancient roots in Armenia. The supreme god Aramazd, whose cult center was located in the village of Ani-Kamax (= Hittite Kummaha), is inseparable from the ancient local thunder and storm god Tešub/ Teišeba, whose centers bore similar names – Kumme, Kummanni (= classic Komana). The goddess Anahit was identical with the goddess of Komana (in antiquity – wife of Tešub). The figure of Mher, epicized version of the god Mihr, is derived from the Urartian god Haldi (I.M. Diakonoff). The cults of the majority of gods were located in a small area to the northwest of historic Armenia and are to be traced back to ancient local tradition – the gods of Hayasa.

The inaugural issue of Sasanian Studies: Late Antique Iranian World 1 (2022) is characterized by a selection of innovative and fresh researches, done by excellent scholars in the field. The contributions cover already all major aspects of the study of the Sasanian and late Antique word, including the study of the Sasanian rock and stucco reliefs, Sasanian rituals in context of the Zoroastrian manuscripts, genealogy of the Sasanian kings, philological and historical studies on the basis of unpublished Pahlavi papyri from Sasanian period, Sasanian art and iconography, historical surveys on the late Sasanian period and the advent of the Islam, the Sasanian political history in Caucasus, new aspects of the Sasanian numismatic, Sasanian literary tradition as well as the specific aspects of the study of the religions during the Sasanian period.

MITHRA’S INTERACTION WITH ANATOLIA

Mithra which is a divinity associated with sunlight and worshipped by ancient Aryan communities for centuries, appears as the most worshipped and widespread belief among Ancient Pagan Religions. Although his first appearance was in areas where Aryan communities resided, he maintained his evolution in Indian and Iranian regions. Chronologically, Mithra is first seen in Vedas that appeared as oral sources in India around 1800 BC. For the first time in written form, Mithra is found in Anatolia. In a treaty text between Hittites and Mitannis in 1400s BC, Mithra appears as the god of treaty/agreement.
There are evidences referring to worship of Mithra in Anatolia in Achaemenid era. Mithra interacted with local, Greek and Roman beliefs, thereby enriching his own characteristic qualities while contributing to increase of religious diversity of Anatolia. Mithra, thanks to being Sun, Treaty and War god, whichever geography he went, he was identified with other gods who had similar features. Mithra taking a syncretic form during the Hellenistic period experienced some important changes within himself with encountering Rome in Anatolia. Due to being War god Mithra widely worshipped among Roman soldiers, retreated into underground caves by transforming into a mystic religion.
Cult of Mithra which had a significant position in Anatolian religion history of pre-Christian period was worshipped a long time in this geography. In this study in which the mutual interaction between the geography of Anatolia, an important transition statues of communities, cultures and beliefs from past to present and Mithra cult, certain findings will be revealed with taking into consideration antique, numismatic, archeologic and modern sources.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the global phenomenon of Manichaean magical practice. Studies of magic in the Classical, Semitic, Iranian and South Asian cultural spheres have, to a large extent, ignored the parallel traditions of Manichaean magic that grew up alongside these more dominant traditions. While an impressive body of literature has accumulated around pagan, Jewish, and Christian magic in the antique Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, since 1947 only a handful of articles have been published dealing with Manichaean magic. This is in part because of the small corpus of Manichaean magical texts that survive and because of the formidable challenges that the material’s array of languages and cultural influences presents. In this study I look globally at the different manifestations of magic in Manichaean communities from the earliest traces of evidence in late antique Egypt and Mesopotamia, to the last manifestations on the early Medieval Silk Road. In doing so I hope to understand what was a constant in Manichaean magic throughout this expanse of time and cultural and linguistic alterations and analyze how these cultural goods traveled and transformed across Eurasia

The quranic sūra The Women 4:157-58 says that Jews claimed to have killed and crucified Christ but denies that they did so. Rather, the verse says, ‘it was made to appear to them so.’ For centuries, controversy has swirled around these verses, as most Muslims took them to deny that Christ was crucified. If we place them in the historical context of the Roman-Sasanian war of the early seventh century, it is clear that the allegations denied in this Qurʾān passage resemble reported taunts of Sasanian war propagandists seeking to demoralize their Christian foes. These verses about the crucifixion are preceded in The Women 4:153-156 by accusations leveled at Jews of having been unfaithful to their own covenant and of having killed prophets that came to them. It is shown that these charges against the Jews are closely based on a biblical passage, the penitential prayer of Ezra in Nehemiah 9.

Christopher Buck, “The Universality of the Church of the East: How Persian was Persian Christianity?” Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society 10.1 (1996): 54–95. 

ABSTRACT

“Persian Christianity” refers to East Syriac Christianity under the Sasanian empire and beyond. The term “Persian Christianity” is used by A. V. Williams (1996), Stephen Gerö (1981; 1982) and others to refer to the “Church of the East”—the official name of the church—which was territorially coextensive with, yet surpassed, the orbit of the Sasanian empire. (Acknowledging that the term “Iranian” is technically more correct, both Syriac texts and the greater part of European scholarship employ the term “Persian.”

Persian Christianity was perhaps the first great non-Roman form of Christianity. The “Church of the East” was ecclesiastically “Persian” in that it was, with minor exceptions, the officially-recognized Church of the Sasanian empire. The Church was politically “Persian” due to the role of Sasanian kings in the eleven Synods from 410 to 775 C.E. The Church was geographically “Persian” in that it was coextensive with, but not limited to the orbit of the Sasanian empire. The Church of the East was only secondarily “Persian” in terms of ethnicity. Yet the presence of ethnic Persians vividly illustrates why the Church of the East became the world’s most successful missionary church until modern times.   

Although the majority of Christians in the church are assumed to have been ethnic Syrians, the Church of the East was once a universal, multi-ethnic religion. As a witness to the universality of the Church of the East in its heyday, it is probably the case that ethnic Persians formed the most visible and important ethnic minority of Christianity in Persia. This study will argue that the role of Iranian converts may have been far more significant than has so far been realized.

Discoveries of Persian Christian texts in Iranian languages (Middle Persian, Sogdian, New Persian) have proven conclusively that Syriac was not the exclusive language of liturgy and instruction in the Persian Church. In fact, part and parcel of the extraordinary missionary success of the Church of the East derived from its genius for adapting Christian worship to local vernaculars. Evidence of this gift for effective indigenization may be seen in the both the Assyrian and Chaldean services for the Feast of Epiphany, in which fragments from a lost Persian Christian liturgy are preserved and recited to this very day.

The Nērang ī ātaxš abrōxtan is a variant of the Ātaxš Niyāyišn to be performed when the flames of the sleeping fire are not visible. The Avestan texts makes explicitly reference to the action of "awakening" the fire confirming the existence in Avestan times of the ritual and the antiquity of the metaphor of the sleeping fire. It is further analysed the evolution of this ritual and the connections between eternal fire and haōma.

This article presents a detailed reconsideration of the well-established and canonized theory of “Sasanian iconoclasm” postulated by Mary Boyce in 1975. The Sasanians did not develop any prohibition against anthropomorphic representations of the gods, and in the surviving Zoroastrian literature and inscriptions there is no evidence of either theological disputes over idols or of a deliberate eradication of them by the Persian kings. Sasanian cult was aniconic, but the historical and archaeological evidence clearly demonstrates that Sasanian visual culture was anything but iconoclastic. It seems that the Persian iconoclastic identity was constructed in the early Sasanian period as a response to the challenges posed by Christianity. By joining the common monotheistic discourse against idolatry, the Zoroastrian clergy adopted the conventions of the world in which they lived. Attacks against “idols” and “idolatry” should be understood in the context of internal and external polemical discourse against beliefs deemed to be erroneous by the Zoroastrian priesthood.

E. Shavarebi, "The Temples of Anāhīd at Estakhr (Southern Iran): Historical Documents and Archeological Evidence" in: J. Belaj et al. (eds.), Sacralization of Landscape and Sacred Places: Proceedings of the 3rd International Scientific Conference of Mediaeval Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, 2nd and 3rd June 2016 [Zbornik Instituta za Arheologiju 10], Zagreb: Institute of Archaeology, 2018, pp. 179-194.

Abstract: This essay deals with the location of the Achaemenid and Sasanian temples of Anāhīd at Estakhr, the capital of Persis/Fārs province in southern Iran. Relevant texts from Achaemenid and Sasanian epigraphic sources, classical literature, and Islamic historical and geographical writings are interpreted, followed by a survey of the archaeological sites at Estakhr and its environs, which have been suggested by other scholars to be in connection with the temples of Anāhīd. In this survey, I will criticise a new speculative hypothesis on the location of the temples and argue where in fact these temples were located.