Anahita
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Anahita
The Greek and Roman historians of
According to
Characteristics
Nomenclature
Only Arədvī (a word otherwise unknown, perhaps with an original meaning "moist") is specific to the divinity.[1] The words sūra and anāhīta are generic
As a divinity of the waters (
In the (Middle-)Persian texts of the Sassanid and later eras, Arədvī Sūra Anāhīta appears as Ardwisur Anāhīd.[1] The evidence suggests a western Iranian origin of Anāhīta.[15] (see borrowing from Babylonia, below).
Anahita also shares characteristics with
Conflation with Ishtar
At some point prior to the 4th century BCE, this
The link between Anahita and Ishtar is part of the wider theory that Iranian kingship had
Because the divinity is unattested in any old Western Iranian language,[6] establishing characteristics prior to the introduction of Zoroastrianism in Western Iran (c. 5th century BCE) is very much in the realm of speculation. Boyce concludes that "the Achaemenids' devotion to this goddess evidently survived their conversion to Zoroastrianism, and they appear to have used royal influence to have her adopted into the Zoroastrian pantheon."[26][β] According to an alternate theory, Anahita was perhaps "a daeva of the early and pure Zoroastrian faith, incorporated into the Zoroastrian religion and its revised canon" during the reign of "Artaxerxes I, the Constantine of that faith."[27][δ][28]
Cosmological entity
The cosmological qualities of the world river are alluded to in Yasht 5 (see in the Avesta, below), but properly developed only in the Bundahishn, a Zoroastrian account of creation finished in the 11th or 12th century CE. In both texts, Aredvi Sura Anahita is not only a divinity, but also the source of the world river and the (name of the) world river itself. The cosmological legend runs as follows:
All the waters of the world created by Ahura Mazda originate from the source Aredvi Sura Anahita, the life-increasing, herd-increasing, fold-increasing, who makes prosperity for all countries. This source is at the top of the world mountain Hara Berezaiti, "High Hara", around which the sky revolves and that is at the center of Airyanem Vaejah, the first of the lands created by Mazda.
The water, warm and clear, flows through a hundred thousand golden channels towards Mount Hugar, "the Lofty", one of the daughter-peaks of Hara Berezaiti. On the summit of that mountain is Lake Urvis, "the Turmoil", into which the waters flow, becoming quite purified and exiting through another golden channel. Through that channel, which is at the height of a thousand men, one portion of the great spring Aredvi Sura Anahita drizzles in moisture upon the whole earth, where it dispels the dryness of the air and all the creatures of Mazda acquire health from it. Another portion runs down to Vourukasha, the great sea upon which the earth rests, and from which it flows to the seas and oceans of the world and purifies them.
In the Bundahishn, the two halves of the name "Ardwisur Anahid" are occasionally treated independently of one another, that is, with Ardwisur as the representative of waters, and Anahid identified with the planet Venus: The water of the all lakes and seas have their origin with Ardwisur (10.2, 10.5), and in contrast, in a section dealing with the creation of the stars and planets (5.4), the Bundahishn speaks of 'Anahid i Abaxtari', that is, the planet Venus.[29] In yet other chapters, the text equates the two, as in "Ardwisur who is Anahid, the father and mother of the Waters" (3.17).
This legend of the river that descends from Mount Hara appears to have remained a part of living observance for many generations. A Greek inscription from Roman times found in Asia Minor reads "the great goddess Anaïtis of high Hara".[30] On Greek coins of the imperial epoch, she is spoken of as "Anaïtis of the sacred water".[29]
In scripture
Aredvi Sura Anahita is principally addressed in Yasht 5 (Yasna 65), also known as the Aban Yasht, a hymn to the waters in Avestan and one of the longer and better preserved of the devotional hymns. Yasna 65 is the third of the hymns recited at the Ab-Zohr, the "offering to the waters" that accompanies the culminating rites of the Yasna service. Verses from Yasht 5 also form the greater part of the Aban Nyashes, the liturgy to the waters that are a part of the Khordeh Avesta.
According to Nyberg
In the Aban Yasht, the river
The association between water and wisdom that is common to many ancient cultures is also evident in the Aban Yasht, for here Aredvi Sura is the divinity to whom priests and pupils should pray for insight and knowledge (5.86). In verse 5.120 she is seen to ride a chariot drawn by
The concept of Aredvi Sura Anahita is to a degree blurred with that of
Other verses in Yasht 5 have masculine instead of feminine pronouns, and thus again appear to be verses that were originally dedicated to other divinities..
There are also parts in the Yasht that show discrepancies in the description of Anahita. There was the case, for instance, of her beaver coat, which was described to an audience for whom the Yasht was redacted. It was clear that these do not know the animal given the fact that the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) were found in the Caucasus but did not range south of the Caspian Sea nor the rivers and lakes of the Aral-Caspian steppe.[3]
Inscriptions and classical accounts
Evidence of a cult
The earliest dateable and unambiguous reference to the iconic cult of Anahita is from the Babylonian scholar-priest Berosus, who – although writing in 285 BCE, over 70 years[η] after the reign of Artaxerxes II Mnemon[θ] – records that the emperor had been the first to make cult statues of Aphrodite Anaitis and place them in the temples of many of the empire's major cities, including Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, Bactria, Persepolis, Damascus and Sardis.[c1] Also according to Berosus, the Persians knew of no images of gods until Artaxerxes II erected those images.[c1][λ] This is substantiated by Herodotus, whose mid-5th-century-BCE general remarks on the usages of the Perses, Herodotus notes that "it is not their custom to make and set up statues and images and altars, and those that make such they deem foolish, as I suppose, because they never believed the gods, as do the Greeks, to be the likeness of men." [c23][35][36] As the cult was institutionalized, it began to spread widely, reaching beyond the borders of Persia taking root in Armenia and Asia Minor.[37]
The extraordinary innovation of the shrine cults can thus be dated to the late 5th century BCE (or very early 4th century BCE), even if this evidence is "not of the most satisfactory kind."
Nonetheless, Artaxerxes' close connection with the Anahita temples is "almost certainly the chief cause of this king's long-lasting fame among Zoroastrians, a fame which made it useful propaganda for the succeeding
Parsa, Elam, and Media
Artaxerxes II's devotion to Anahita is most apparent in his inscriptions, where her name appears directly after that of Ahura Mazda and before that of Mithra. Artaxerxes' inscription at Susa reads: "By the will of Ahura Mazda, Anahita, and Mithra I built this palace. May Ahura Mazda, Anahita, and Mithra protect me from all evil" (A²Hc 15–10). This is a remarkable break with tradition; no Achaemenid king before him had invoked any but Ahura Mazda alone by name although the Behistun inscription of Darius invokes Ahuramazda and "The other gods who are".[41]
The temple(s) of Anahita at
Polybius' reference to Alexander is supported by Arrian, who in 324 BCE wrote of a temple in Ecbatana dedicated to "Asclepius" (by inference presumed to be Anahita, likewise a divinity of healing), destroyed by Alexander because she had allowed his friend Hephaestion to die.[c5] The massive stone lion on the hill there (said to be part of a sepulchral monument to Hephaestion[ψ]) is today a symbol that visitors touch in hope of fertility.
Plutarch records that Artaxerxes II had his concubine Aspasia consecrated as priestess at the temple "to Diana of Ecbatana, whom they name Anaitis, that she might spend the remainder of her days in strict chastity."[c6] This does not however necessarily imply that chastity was a requirement of Anaitis priestesses. [ν]
Isidore of Charax, in addition to a reference to the temple at Ecbatana ("a temple, sacred to Anaitis, they sacrifice there always")[c2] also notes a "temple of Artemis"[μ] at Concobar (Lower Media, today Kangavar). Despite archaeological findings that refute a connection with Anahita,[42] remains of a 2nd-century BCE Hellenic-style edifice at Kangavar continue to be a popular tourist attraction.
Isidore also records another "royal place, a temple of Artemis, founded by Darius" at Basileia (Apadana), on the royal highway along the left bank of the Euphrates.[c7][43]
During the Hellenistic Parthian period,
In the 2nd century CE, the center of the cult in
During the reign of
Notwithstanding the dissolution of the temple cults, the triad Ahura Mazda, Anahita, and Mithra (as Artaxerxes II had invoked them) would continue to be prominent throughout the Sassanid age, "and were indeed (with
Anahita has also been identified as a figure in the investiture scene of
In addition, Sassanid silverware depictions of nude or scantily dressed women seen holding a flower or fruit or bird or child are identified as images of Anahita.[51] Additionally, "it has been suggested that the colonnaded or serrated crowns [depicted] on Sasanian coins belong to Anahid."[49]
Asia Minor and the Levant
The cult flourished in
In the 2nd century CE, the geographer Pausanias reports having personally witnessed (apparently Mazdean) ceremonies at Hypaipa and Hierocaesarea.[c11] According to Strabo, Anahita was revered together with Omanos at Zela in Pontus.[c12] [c13] At Castabala, she is referred to as 'Artemis Perasia'.[c14] Anahita and Omanos had common altars in Cappadocia.[c15]
Armenia and the Caucasus
"Hellenic influence [gave] a new impetus to the cult of images [and] positive evidence for this comes from Armenia, then a Zoroastrian land."[29] According to Strabo, the "Armenians shared in the religion of the Perses and the Medes and particularly honored Anaitis".
Anahit was also venerated at Artashat (Artaxata), the capital of the Armenian Kingdom, where her temple was close to that of Tiur,[φ] the divinity of oracles. At Astishat, center of the cult of Vahagn, she was revered as voskimayr, the 'golden mother'.[c24] In 69 BCE, the soldiers of Lucullus saw cows consecrated to 'Persian Artemis' roaming freely at Tomisa in Sophene (on the Euphrates in South-West Armenia), where the animals bore the brand of a torch on their heads.[c25] Following Tiridates' conversion to Christianity, the cult of Anahit was condemned and iconic representations of the divinity were destroyed.[43]
Attempts have been made to identify Anahita as one of the prime three divinities in
Legacy
As a divinity Aredvi Sura Anahita is of enormous significance to the Zoroastrian religion, for as a representative of Aban ("the waters"), she is in effect the divinity towards whom the Yasna service – the primary act of worship – is directed. (see Ab-Zohr). "To this day reverence for water is deeply ingrained in Zoroastrians, and in orthodox communities offerings are regularly made to the household well or nearby stream."[55][ε]
It is "very probable"[25] that the shrine of Bibi Shahrbanu at royal Ray (Rhagae, central Media) was once dedicated to Anahita.[25][ρ] Similarly, one of the "most beloved mountain shrines of the Zoroastrians of Yazd, set beside a living spring and a great confluence of water-courses, is devoted to Banu-Pars, "the Lady of Persia"."[56][57]
However, and notwithstanding the widespread popularity of Anahita, "it is doubtful whether the current tendency is justified whereby almost every isolated figure in Sassanid art, whether sitting, standing, dancing, clothed, or semi-naked, is hailed as her representation."[57][58]
The Armenian cult of Anahit, as well as the pre-Christian Armenian religion in general, was very closely connected to Persian Zoroastrianism.[59]
Some
In literature
In his
In Tad Williams' Bobby Dollar Series, Anahita is referred to as Anaita, a powerful goddess turned angel who acts as one of five members of a judgement collective known as the Ephorate.
See also
- Ab-Zohr, the Zoroastrian "purification of the waters" ceremony and the most important act of worship in Zoroastrianism.
- Aban, "the Waters", representing and represented by Aredvi Sura Anahita.
- Airyanem Vaejah, first of the mythological lands created by Ahura Mazda and the middle of the world that rests on High Hara.
- Atargatis, A Syrian deity also conflated with Ishtar and associated with waters.
- Temple of Anahita, Kangavar archaeological site in Kermanshah Province, Iran.
- Temple of Anahita, Istakhr archaeological site in Fars Province, Iran.
- Arachosia, name of which derives from Old Iranian *Harahvatī (Avestan Haraxˇaitī, Old Persian Hara(h)uvati-).
- Hara Berezaiti, "High Hara", the mythical mountain that is the origin of the *Harahvatī river.
- Oxus, identified[61]as the world river that descends from the mythological High Hara.
- Sarasvati River, a manifestation of the goddess Saraswati.
- Minar (Firuzabad)
- Qadamgah (ancient site)
- Anahit (disambiguation)
References
Notes
α | ^ | Boyce (1982:29-31) proposes that there was once a Perso-Elamite divinity named *Anahiti (as she reconstructs it from the Greek rendering of Anaitis, being otherwise unattested in old Persian) Ishtar–Inanna. "That the concept [of *Anahiti] owes much to that of Ishtar was first suggested by H. Gressman, Archiv f. Religionswissenschaft XX, 1920, 35ff., 323ff."[62]
An inheritance from Ishtar is also supported by Cumont[63] and Lommel.[64] For a rejection of some of the numerous other identifications (Atargatis, Anat, etc.) as historically distinct, see Meyer.[65] |
β | ^ | According to Boyce's theory (see note α above), "the problem of how to offer veneration to a divinity unknown to the Avesta was solved by assimilating *Anāhiti to *Harahvaitī Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā, whose third epithet was very close to the western divinity's proper name, and indeed may already in late Old Persian have become identical with it, through the dropping of the final vowel in ordinary speech."[26]
In antiquity, "to invoke a deity correctly, it was essential to know his proper name" and when people "worshipped gods other than their own, they invoked them by their original names."[66] |
γ | ^ | satrapy ) and hence quite aware of the differences between the various ethnic groups (Persis, Medes etc.). Herodotus reported on the customs as he observed them in Asia-Minor; he did not visit Parsa.
|
δ | ^ | Although Taqizadeh's hypothesis is not supportable in light of the archaic nature of the Gathic nucleus of Yasht 5 (see In the Avesta, above), it is worth noting that Artaxerxes I (r. 465-424 BCE) moved his capital from Susa to Babylon, where it would remain until Artaxerxes II moved it back in 395 BCE. Darius II was half-Babylonian and died in Babylon. Darius's son and successor, Artaxerxes II also had a Babylonian mother, Parysatis, who was immensely influential on both Darius and her sons (the other being Cyrus the Younger).
Widengren has a similar hypothesis, but places it in the Proto-Avestan period. In this opinion, |
ε | ^ | Although one could (polemically) say Zoroastrians were fire worshippers, it would be quite as just and reasonable to call them water worshippers.[68][69] |
ζ | ^ | Boyce agrees: "Linguistically, Aredvi Sura's hymn appears older than [the Gathic hymn of] Asi's."[1] It "was presumably after [Artaxerxes II] that verses [that] describe a temple statue" were incorporated in Yasht 5.[29] |
η | ^ | Berosus' account dates to ca. 285 BCE, Artaxerxes II died in 358 BCE. |
θ | ^ | 'Mnemon' is a Greek epithet, roughly translatable as 'the mindful one', but is itself a mistranslation of Vohu Manah, the Amesha Spenta of 'Good Mind' or 'Good Purpose'.[70] |
λ | ^ | See also: Müller's Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, 16 |
μ | ^ | "Artemis [is] one of the Greek identifications of Anahid."[29] Isidore of Charax (Mansiones Parthicae 1) also speaks of "the city of Besechana" (Piruz-sabur, Parthian Msyk, or Massice by Pliny) "in which is a temple of Atargatis", which Boyce, citing Chaumont, states is a temple of Anahita at Beonan.[43] Atargatis is however a Levantine goddess and, although also associated with water and the planet Venus, had a cult that is historically distinct from that of Anahita.[65] |
ν | ^ | "It is impossible (in the absence of contemporary Iranian evidence) to know the limits of what is implied here - whether, that is, all priestesses of Anahita were required at this epoch to be chaste for life, or only certain among them. Celibacy is not in general a state respected by Zoroastrians, or regarded by them as meritorious."[71] |
π | ^ | Ecbatana "is said to have greatly exceeded all the other cities in wealth and the magnificence of its buildings" (Polybius, Histories 10.27.5). The citadel supposedly had a circumference of 7 stades (ca. 1,300 m; 1,400 yd) and was built of cedar and cypress wood. "The rafters, the compartments of the ceiling, and the columns in the porticoes and colonnades were plated with either silver or gold, and all the tiles were silver" (10.27.10-11). |
ρ | ^ | In 1948, Persian scholar Abd al-Husayn Nava'i addressed the Shahrbanu legend and suggested that there must have been a Zoroastrian shrine at Ray whose sanctity attracted the legend.[72]
The shrine, which legend attributes to the eldest daughter of Yazdegerd III, continues to be a pilgrimage site (by women only, through a concession by male descendants of Mohammed) even in Islamic times.[72] Boyce suggests that the shrine may be even older than the Sassanid period, dating perhaps to the Hellenistic Parthian era.[29] |
σ | ^ | "like Acilisene, it was doubtless the territory of a temple dedicated to Anahita but otherwise unknown."[43] |
φ | ^ | According to Boyce, Tiur is Mesopotamian Nabu-*Tiri conflated with Avestan Tishtrya.[73] In Hellenic (Seleucid and Parthian) times Tiur was associated with Pythian Apollo, patron of Delphi. |
ψ | ^ | The stone lion of Hamadan is said to have been part of Alexander's plan to build a monument to Hephaestion. |
Ω | ^ ^ | Plutarch is relying on older sources, probably on "the often inaccurate"[74] Ctesias. |
Citation index
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Further reading
- Cereti, Carlo G. (2023). "Armenia and Iran: Anāhitā's Worship in the Caucasus". .
- Koulabadi, Rahele; Seyyed Mehdi Mousavi Kouhpar; Javad Neyestani; Seyyed Rasool Mousavi Haji (2019), "An Overview of Goddess Anahita and Her Iconography in Ancient Iran", Central Asiatic Journal, 62 (2): 203–226, S2CID 256888930
External links
- Media related to Anahita (mythology) at Wikimedia Commons