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

353 Pages·2015·1.48 MB·English

by  Aòhmadåi

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.
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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.