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The Daeva Cult in the Gathas: An Ideological Archaeology of Zoroastrianism PDF

353 Pages·2015·1.48 MB·English
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ē ā ā The Da va Cult in the G th s A ddressing the question of the origins of the Zoroastrian religion, this book argues that the intransigent opposition to the cult of the d a ē vas, the ancient Indo-Iranian gods, is the root of the development of the two central doctrines of Zoroastrianism: cosmic dualism and eschatology (fate of the soul after death and its passage to the other world). The da ē va cult as it appears in the G ā th ās , the oldest part of the Zoroastrian sacred text, the Avesta, had eschatological pretensions. The poet of the Gā th ā s condemns these as deception. The book critically examines various theories put forward since the nineteenth century to account for the condemnation of the d a ē vas . It then turns to the relevant Gā thic passages and analyses them in detail in order to give a picture of the cult and the reasons for its repudiation. Finally, it examines materials from other sources, especially the Greek accounts of Iranian ritual lore (mainly) in the context of the mystery cults. Classical Greek writers consistently associate the nocturnal ceremony of the magi with the mysteries as belonging to same religious-cultural category. This shows that Iranian religious lore included a nocturnal rite that aimed at ensuring the soul’s journey to the beyond and a desirable afterlife. C hallenging the prevalent scholarship of the Greek interpretation of Iranian religious lore and proposing a new analysis of the formation of the Hellenistic concept of ‘magic’, this book is an important resource for students and scholars of History, Religion and Iranian Studies. Amir Ahmadi is an Adjunct Researcher at the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University, Australia. He has published in Philosophy, History of Religions and Iranian Studies. Iranian Studies Edited by Homa Katouzian , University of Oxford and Mohamad Tavakoli , University of Toronto Since 1967 the International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS) has been a leading learned society for the advancement of new approaches in the study of Iranian society, history, culture, and literature. The new ISIS Iranian Studies series published by Routledge will provide a venue for the publication of original and innovative scholarly works in all areas of Iranian and Persianate Studies. 1. Journalism in Iran 6. The Politics of Iranian Cinema From mission to profession Film and society in the Islamic Hossein Shahidi Republic Saeed Zeydabadi-Nejad 2. Sadeq Hedayat His work and his 7. Continuity in Iranian Identity wondrous world Resilience of a cultural heritage Edited by Homa Katouzian Fereshteh Davaran 3. Iran in the 21st Century 8. New Perspectives on Safavid Iran Politics, economics and confl ict Empire and society Edited by Homa Katouzian and Edited by Colin P. 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Iranian–Russian Encounters Contemporary Persian Fiction Empires and revolutions Who writes Iran? since 1800 Mohammad Mehdi Khorrami Edited by Stephanie Cronin 22. Nomads in Post-Revolutionary 15. Iran Iran Politics, history and literature The Qashqa’i in an era of Homa Katouzian change Lois Beck 16. Domesticity and Consumer Culture in Iran 23. Persian Language, Literature Interior revolutions of the and Culture modern era New leaves, fresh looks Pamela Karimi Edited by Kamran Talattof 17. The Development of the Babi/ 24. The Daē v a Cult in the G ā th ā s Baha’i Communities An ideological archaeology of Exploring Baron Rosen’s Zoroastrianism archives Amir Ahmadi Youli Ioannesyan 18. Culture and Cultural Politics Under Reza Shah The Pahlavi state, new bourgeoisie and the creation of a modern society in Iran Bianca Devos and Christoph Werner This page intentionally left blank ē ā ā The Da va Cult in the G th s An ideological archaeology of Zoroastrianism Amir Ahmadi First published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Amir Ahmadi The right of Amir Ahmadi to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Ahmadi, Amir. The Daēva cult in the Gā th ā s: an ideological archaeology of Zoroastrianism / Amir Ahmadi. pages cm. – (Iranian studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Avesta. Yasna. Gathas–Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Zoroastrian gods. I. Title. BL1515.5.Y3A73 2015 295–dc23 2014035443 ISBN: 978-1-138-84766-8 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-72661-8 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Out of House Publishing Contents Acknowledgements i x List of abbreviations x Introduction 1 PART I Preamble 2 1 1 Monotheistic thesis 23 2 Ahura-cult thesis 44 3 Ethno-historical thesis 65 4 Ritualistic thesis 71 PART II Preamble 9 3 5 The choice 97 6 The da ē va cult 146 PART III Preamble 2 03 7 Chthonic features of the daē va cult 209 8 The nocturnal rite 219 9 The Greek mysteries 227 viii Contents 10 The magi in Heraclitus and the Derveni author 242 11 The divine man, the goē s and the magician 261 12 Initiation-based youth bands and initiatory sacrifi ce 281 13 Eschatology 306 Conclusion 316 Index 3 34 Acknowledgements I warmly thank Almut Hintze for her encouragement, advice and support. She generously shared with me her thorough knowledge of the Avesta. I am grateful to Antonio Panaino for his enthusiastic engagement with the arguments of this book. Almut and Antonio each read a version of this monograph and offered many helpful comments. Responsibility for any error of fact or interpretation is, of course, mine alone. I am indebted to the editors of the Iranian Studies Series at Routledge, Homa Katouzian and M. Tavakoli- Targhi, for including this monograph in their series. Finally, my thanks go to Joe Whiting at Routledge for his support of this project, and to Kat Rylance for overseeing the publication. This book could not have been written without the loving support of my partner Alison Ross. Certain sections of this book have been previously published. Chapters 1 , 3 and 5 contain materials that are used in Ahmadi, A 2013, ‘The Twins Stanza, Y 30.3’, Iranian Studies, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 227–49. C hapter 6 contains mater- ial that was published in Ahmadi, A 2014, ‘Old Persian d uv ı (cid:2) t ā paranam and G ā thic daibit ā (n ā ) ’, Studia Iranica, vol. 43, pp. 41–82. C hapter 7 is a shorter version of Ahmadi, A 2015, ‘Two Chthonic Features of the D a ē va Cult in Historical Evidence’, History of Religions , vol. 54, pp. 346–70. Chapter 10 is a shorter version of Ahmadi, A 2014, ‘The M agoi and D aimones in Column VI of the Derveni Papyrus’, N umen: International Review for the History of Religions, vol. 61, pp. 484–508. I would like to acknowledge the editors and publishers of these journals for their permission to use this material here. This book is dedicated to Gyö rgy Markus.

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Addressing the question of the origins of the Zoroastrian religion, this book argues that the intransigent opposition to the cult of the daēvas, the ancient Indo-Iranian gods, is the root of the development of the two central doctrines of Zoroastrianism: cosmic dualism and eschatology (fate of the
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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.