THE SCRIPTURES OF IRAN.[76]
The statements of the Avesta concerning the ancient rulers of Eastern
Iran were proved to be without historical value, yet we found in them an
ancient and genuine tradition, the form of which allowed us to draw
certain conclusions about the political condition of that region in a
period for which we have no other records except the poetry of Western
Iran. But what the Avesta tells us of the rulers of ancient days is of
secondary importance for the book, which comprises the doctrines and
ordinances of the faith proclaimed by Zarathrustra, and the rules of
life which he is said to have laid down. May we assume that we possess
these in a genuine and unaltered form in the Avesta, though they have
only come down to us in fragments?
A book of the Parsees of India, which tells the story of their flight
from their ancient home, relates that Iskander (Alexander of Macedon)
burned the revealed scriptures, and the faithful were persecuted for 300
years. When Ardeshir (the first Sassanid) ascended the throne, the true
faith was restored, under the superintendence of Arda Viraf. After this
the true religion was again suspended till king Shapur (Shapur II.) rose
and once more made the faith famous, and Aderbat Mahresfant girded his
loins in the good cause. The same account is given in the Book of Arda
Viraf, also a book of the Parsees of India. From this we learn that the
religion received by the pious Zarathrustra lasted for 300 years in
purity. Then the evil one stirred up Iskander Rumi, so that he spread
war and devastation over Iran, and slew the rulers of the land. The
Avesta which was preserved at Stakhar Papakan (Persepolis), written on
cow-skins with golden ink, he burned, and put to death many priests and
judges, pillars of the faith, and spread hatred, strife, and confusion
among the people of Iran. They had now no lord, guide, and high priest,
who knew their religion; they were full of doubts and had different
modes of belief and worship of various kinds, and different laws
prevailed in the world till the time when Ardeshir came to the throne
and listened to the words of the holy Arda Viraf and believed him. But
after Ardeshir's death a schism broke out, and more than 40,000 souls
fell away from the true faith, till the day when the holy Aderbat
Mahresfant arose.[77] An older writing of the Parsees, the Dinkart
(composed under the Sassanids), tells us, apparently on the ground of a
proclamation of the Sassanid Chosru Parvez (590-627 A.D.) that king
Vistacpa of Bactria had commanded that all books which were written in
the language of the Magians should be collected, in order that the faith
of the worshippers of Auramazda might have some support, and all men
were to go to Frashaostra (whom the Avesta mentions as a companion of
Zarathrustra) to be instructed in the faith. And Darai, the son of Darai
(Darius Hystaspis is meant), commanded that two copies of the entire
Avesta, precisely as Zarathrustra had received it from Auramazda, should
be preserved, the one in the treasury at Shapikan, and the other in the
city of scriptures. Then Valkosh (Vologeses), the descendant of Ashkan
(Arsaces), gave orders that so much of the Avesta as had escaped
destruction and the ravages of Iskander and the warriors of Rum, and
existed in fragments or in oral tradition, should be sought out and
brought from every city. And king Artakshatr (Ardeshir) summoned the
Herbedh (_i.e._ the priest)[78] Tosar with the holy scriptures, which
were scattered, to his residence, and when Tosar came he gave command to
the other priests that everything, which differed from that which was
now considered to be knowledge and wisdom, should be suppressed. The son
of Artakshatr, Shapuhar (241-272 A.D.), the king of kings, gave command
that all writings on medicine or astronomy or other subjects in
Hindostan, Rum, and other lands, should be collected, and again united
with the Avesta, and that an exact copy should be deposited in the
treasury of Shapikan. Lastly Atropat (Aderbat) in the reign of Shapuhar
(Shapur II, 309-379 A.D.), the son of Auharmazdi, purified the sayings
of Zarathrustra and enumerated the Nosks (chapters) of the sacred
scriptures.[79]
In the rivayats of the Parsees in India, _i.e._ in the collections of
the sayings of the priests on their doctrine, we find an enumeration of
these sections of the scriptures. At each book this list notes how many
chapters were re-discovered "after Alexander." According to this
enumeration the scriptures of Iran consisted of twenty-one books.[80]
The first book contained the songs of praise to the supreme spirits in
33 chapters; the second (22 chapters) treated of good works; the third
(22 chapters) of the sacred word; the fourth (21 chapters) of the gods;
the fifth (22 chapters) of the earth, of water, of trees, of wild
animals; the sixth (35 chapters) of the heavens and the stars; the
seventh (22 chapters) of pure and impure kinds of food, and of the
celebration of the great festivals; the eighth (50 chapters) of the
kings and priests, of pure and impure animals; the ninth (60 chapters)
of the laws according to which the kings and judges were to give
sentence; the tenth (60 chapters) of virtue and wisdom; the eleventh (60
chapters) of the reign and conversion of king Vistacpa; the twelfth
taught agriculture in 22 chapters, the planting of trees, the duty of
the priests and laity, and treated of the orders; the thirteenth (60
chapters) was occupied with the sacred sciences, the teachers and
pupils, and the miracles which Zarathrustra worked; the fourteenth book
(22 chapters) spoke of the life of men from birth to death; the
fifteenth (17 chapters) contained songs of praise; the sixteenth (54
chapters) laid down rules for what was permitted and what was not; the
seventeenth (64 chapters) contained the doctrines of medicine and
astronomy; the eighteenth (65 chapters) the doctrine respecting animals
and their treatment; the nineteenth (52 chapters) contained the civil
and criminal law; the twentieth (22 chapters) the rubrics for the
removal of impurity; the twenty-first gave in 30 chapters the history of
creation.[81]
According to this list the scriptures of Iran must have been of very
considerable extent. The Arabian author Masudi, who lived about the
middle of the tenth century A.D., also puts the number of books at
twenty-one. "Zartusht," he says, "gave the Parsees the book which is
called the Avesta. It consisted of twenty-one sections, of which each
amounted to 200 pages. This book was written in the character which
Zartusht invented and which the Magians call the religious character, on
12,000 cow-hides, and these were kept together by bands of gold. It was
composed in the old Persian language, which no one now understands."[82]
From the list of the books and chapters it is clear that these writings
comprised not only the religious doctrine and law, together with the
rules for correct conversation, but also the rubrics for the liturgy and
ritual. They were at the same time the code of criminal and civic law,
and in them was deposited what was known of medicine and agriculture,
and the sum total of the science of their authors.
Can we assume that writings of this importance, nature, and extent
existed in Iran before Alexander of Macedon overthrew the kingdom of the
Achaemenids? Herodotus tells us that the Magians or priests of the
Persians recited the theogony, _i.e._ long poems, at their sacrifices.
The disciples of the sophist Prodicus are said to have asserted that
they were in possession of writings of Zoroaster, who taught the
Persians their religion.[83] Hermippus of Smyrna, who wrote in the
second half of the third century B.C., and devoted especial attention to
the religions of the east, stated that the Magians maintained two
principles, a good and an evil deity; the one they called Zeus and
Oromasdes, the other Hades and Areimanius.[84] Zoroaster, who founded
the doctrine of the Magians, had composed twenty books, each of 100,000
lines, and Hermippus gave the contents of the various books and quoted
regulations from them. Pliny tells us: "The doctrine of the Magians
prevails to this day among a great part of the nations, and in the East
is supreme over the king of kings" (_i.e._ the Arsacids); and vouches
for Hermippus that he had written with great care about the Magians,[85]
from whose work no doubt he quotes some particulars of the doctrine of
Zoroaster. According to Zoroaster's rule the sowing of the fields should
take place when the moon is in the sign of Taurus; and it was forbidden
to expose the person before the sun or moon, or to defile a man's
shadow. Pliny also mentions the precious stones, of which Zoroaster had
extolled the brilliance; the herbs, used by the Magians; and enumerates
a number of remedies, which they applied. Finally, he speaks of the
Nyktegertos, a herb growing in Gedrosia, which the Magians used when
making vows.[86] Philo of Byblus quotes a passage, apparently from "the
sacred collection of Zoroaster," on the nature of the deity, and assures
us that the Persian Osthanes maintained the same in the Octateuch.[87]
Plutarch gives us a short but accurate account of the system of
Zoroaster; his contemporary Dio Chrysostom asserts that Zoroaster and
the sons of the Magians had sung of the balance of Zeus and the
constellation of the day in strains more sublime than those of Homer or
Hesiod;[88] and Pausanias relates that at the kindling of the
sacrificial fire the invocation was sung by the Magians from a book in a
barbarous language wholly unintelligible to the Greeks.[89]
This evidence from the West confirms the existence of sacred writings
in Iran after the time of Alexander, and also indicates that they
existed previously to that date; it contradicts the story of their
destruction by the Macedonians. The books must have been in existence
when Hermippus could speak of their extent, and quote rules from them;
and writings of the kind must have been known when, in the days of
Pausanias, the Magians could sing their invocations from a book. From
other sources we are sufficiently informed that Alexander's efforts were
not directed towards destroying the national character and traditional
religion of the Persians. Arrian tells us that Magians no less than
Greek soothsayers took part in their festivals.[90] Nor were the
Seleucids more desirous than Alexander to effect the destruction of the
Iranian nationality; just as the Ptolemies never attempted to set aside
the Egyptian religion and life. Even if they had cherished such views,
they were far from being strong enough to carry them out, for the Greek
empire over Iran lasted in its integrity only eighty years. The Arsacids
also, who recovered Iran from the Seleucids, were not averse to the
Greek nation. They called themselves friends of the Hellenes, and not
only was Greek spoken, but even the tragedies of Euripides were acted at
their courts. The scanty remains of the monuments present us with echoes
of Greek;[91] their coins, with few exceptions, bear Greek legends like
those of the Bactrian princes whom they overcame. But though the
influence of the Hellenic character continued under the Arsacids, and at
the same time the Aramaean language and manners obtained even greater
recognition than Hellenism during their dominion, the reign of the
Arsacids was a restoration and revivification of the Iranian
nationality. According to the evidence of western writers the Magians
together with the members of the royal race formed the council of the
Arsacids.[92] Pliny has already told us that these princes obeyed the
rules of the Magians, and we also find that they invoked Mithra as the
Achaemenids had done, and "saluted the sun."[93] Like the Achaemenids,
too, they would not permit their armies to fight by night, and we are
told that in their time the greatest weight was given to the love of
truth and fidelity, _i.e._ to the virtues which, according to Herodotus,
the Persians of his time considered the most important, and on which the
Avesta insists above all others.[94] We also learn from western writers
that the founder of the kingdom (Arsaces I.) was a descendant of
Phriapites (Friyapaiti), and with his brother Tiridates and five others
he slew the satrap of Antiochus Theos, and drove out the
Macedonians;[95] just as Darius with the six Persian princes overthrew
the dominion of Gaumata; and the Arabs relate that the Arsacids trace
back their stock to Cyavarshana, the son of Kava Uca, a story which
cannot have been invented in Arabia.[96] In the list of the Arsacids we
also find the name Chosru (108-130 A.D.), the Kava Hucrava of the old
legend (p. 37); on the coins we find a Vologeses and a Phraates before
the fire-altar, the characteristic symbol of the ancient worship of
Iran. Just as the old Arian character appears beside the Greek on the
coins of the Greek princes of Bactria, the Greek character on the coins
of the Arsacids gradually degenerates until at length it gives way to a
new Iranian character and language. The tradition sketched in the
Dinkart, as we have seen, represents the Arsacid Vologeses (which of the
four princes of the name is meant is not clear)[97] as collecting what
fragments remained of the holy scriptures in the memory of the priests.
The burning of the scriptures by Alexander, as related in the books of
the Parsees on their exodus and the Arda Viraf, is merely a transference
to him of the conduct of the Moslems on their conquest of Iran. Of the
continuance of the ancient religion of Iran under the Arsacids there can
be no doubt, though it is true that along with it, in the Greek cities
which Alexander and the Seleucids founded, and which were independent
within their walls even under the Parthians, Hellenic rites were
practised. In these cities Syrian modes of worship were also permitted,
and the Aramaic language and culture found entrance into Iran.[98]
In the land of Persia, among the Persians whom Mithridates I. subjugated
to the dominion of the Arsacids, reminiscences of the ancient time, of
the splendour and glory of the Achaemenids, were naturally more lively
than in Parthia, which was formerly subject to the Persians, and now
under the Arasacids stood at the head of Iran. In Persia, Artakshatr
(Ardeshir), the son of Papaki, the grandson of Sassan, rebelled against
king Artabanus IV. In three great battles the Persians contended with
the Parthians; the latter were conquered, and Artabanus fell, and with
him the kingdom of the Arsacids after a continuance of 476 years (225
A.D.). With the reign of Ardeshir began a more energetic restoration of
Iran. He and his successors after him revered the memory of the
Achaemenids, and strove to continue their achievements[99]. We again hear
of seven houses, and seven princes who had the right to wear diadems
beside the king, like the seven tribal princes of the old Persian
kingdom;[100] we find the fire-altar before the tent of the Sassanids as
well as the Achaemenids; and in the army of the Sassanids, no less than
in that of Darius and Xerxes, was a troop of "immortals." Ardeshir, like
the founder of the Persian empire, caused a portrait of himself on
horseback to be cut in a rock-wall to the north-west of Persepolis
(Naksh-i-Rustem) in remembrance of the achievements which established
his kingdom--the rock on which 700 years before Darius had marked his
tomb by a portrait and inscription. The inscription under this portrait
(in the Pehlevi of East and West Iran, with a Greek translation) runs
thus: "Portrait of the worshipper of Mazda, the god Artakshatr
(Artaxares in the Greek), the king of kings of the Arians (of the kings
of Airan, in the Pehlevi texts), the scion of the sky (_minu chitri_),
the son of the god Papaki, the king."[101] Ardeshir's son, Shapur I.
(241-272 A.D.), caused his victory over Valerian and his capture of the
emperor to be recorded on the same rock; we see Shapur on horseback, and
Valerian kneeling before him, a representation which recurs at the old
Persian city of Darabgerd. At Naksh-i-Rejeb, between the rock-wall of
Naksh-i-Rustem and Mount Nachmed, on which abutted Persepolis, the proud
citadel of the Achaemenids, and in the grotto of Haiyabad, we find in the
one case a portrait of Shapur, and in the other inscriptions which
mention this ruler and king Varahran. At Kermanshah, on the western side
of Mount Behistun, on the eastern side of which mountain Darius
inscribed the proudest memorial of his achievements, we see king
Ardeshir, and beneath him the corpse of Artabanus; behind the king is
Mithra with the club which gave him victory, and before him Auramazda
who presents the ring of empire to Ardeshir. Not far from this portrait
Shapur II. (309-379 A.D.) caused a grotto to be excavated in the rock.
In the sculpture of this cave we see the goddess Anahita, who presents
to the king the ring of empire; at some distance are the hunting
expeditions of the king; a second grotto close to this exhibits the
pictures of king Auharmazdi II., the father of Shapur II., and of Shapur
III. his second successor.[102]
Though the Sassanids sought to restore the kingdom of the Achaemenids,
and immortalise their own achievements beside those of the early kings,
the religious revival which they undertook was far more thorough than
the political. In this direction they went further than the Achaemenids;
they caused the forms which the old faith of Iran had retained and
forced on the East, to be current throughout the whole kingdom. Agathias
assures us that Ardeshir was eagerly devoted to the study of the
doctrine of the Magians, who since his accession had gained an
importance such as they never enjoyed before. The business of the State
was decided upon their advice and predictions; they assisted individual
persons in their private matters and suits at law, and the Persians did
not regard anything as legal and right which was not confirmed by a
Magian.[103] At the head of the Magians, we are told in another account
coming from a western source, a Grand Magian was placed under the
Sassanids,[104] and as a fact the Magians now received a thorough
organisation. At the head of their caste was the High Magian (_Magupat_,
Mobedh); and over all the High Magians was the Grand Magian (_Magupatan
magupat_); to the Magians belonged the judicial power; and the Grand
Magian performed the coronation of the king. The Sassanids erected
fire-temples in Persia no less than in Aderbeijan; their coins always
exhibit the fire-altar, and as a rule two priests before it. They
carried their genealogy beyond Sassan through Cpentodata (p. 38) to
Vistacpa of Bactria, who is now said to have established the seven
princes; they call themselves by the names of the ancient heroes who met
us in the Avesta; Kavadh (Kava Kavata) and Chosru (Kava Hucrava). While
styling themselves the worshippers of Mazda (Auramazda) like the
founders of their empire, they went so far as to assume the names of the
gods of the Avesta; some even called themselves after Verethraghna
(Varahran, Bahram), others Auharmazdi after Auramazda himself. The
numerous Christians on the Euphrates and Tigris as well as in Armenia
had to undergo severe persecutions; especially under Shapur II.,
Varahran V., and Yezdegerd II. (438-457 A.D.), whose viceroy declared to
the Armenian Christians that the Daevas (Dews) of Ahriman had deceived
them; it was not the good God who had created evil and death but the
wicked spirit. Defection from the faith of Auramazda was punished with
death. In the treaties of the years 422, 533, and 563 A.D. Theodosius
II. and Justinian obtained the concession that the Christians in the
kingdom of the Sassanids should not be compelled to conform to the rules
of the Magians; they were to be at liberty to bury their dead,[105]
whereas the doctrine of Zarathrustra required that the corpses should be
exposed.
As such was the attitude of the house of the Sassanids, we may believe
the books of the Parsees that Ardeshir eagerly took in hand the revival
of the true faith, and that he was assisted in this by competent
Magians; by Arda Viraf, according to the book of the Exodus and of Arda
Viraf (p. 50); according to the Dinkart, by the Herbedh Tosar. The book
of Arda Viraf relates at length how he fell asleep in the assembly of
priests before Ardeshir, and his soul was carried by the god Craosha
through heaven and hell. And when the Dinkart represents a standard of
true religion as being set up under Ardeshir, there is no reason to
doubt the statement. After the reign of Ardeshir, we are told in the
Book of the Exodus, the true religion was again suspended, or, as the
Book of Arda Viraf tells us, a schism arose. The cause of this division
is sufficiently known from other sources. In the reign of Shapur I.
(241-272 A.D.) a native of Ctesiphon, of the name of Mani, came forward
with a new doctrine which attempted to mingle Chaldaean, Jewish, and
Christian elements in the faith of Iran, and to resolve it into
abstractions. He found numerous adherents.[106] Varahran II. (276-293
A.D.) allowed him to dispute with the Magians, and then put him to
death. Under Shapur II., who succeeded his father Auharmazdi II. as a
posthumous child (309-379 A.D.), in order to check Manicheism and the
advance of Christianity, it was necessary to go back to the principles
of the old faith, and to invigorate these by the collection and
establishment of the sacred scriptures. We may therefore have the
fullest confidence in accepting from these three books of the Parsees
the facts that Shapur "made the sacred faith to be famous;" that
Aderbat, whose work under Shapur is confirmed by Hamza of Isfahan,
collected the scriptures, purified the sayings of Zarathrustra, and
enumerated the chapters. It is on this redaction of the canon by Aderbat
Mahresfant under Shapur II. that the list of the books and chapters
rests, distinguishing what were originally in existence and what were
then preserved. What was not discovered "after Alexander" means what was
not discovered or not accepted at this redaction. Instead of the 815
chapters which the Avesta is said to have previously contained, the new
canon amounted to only 348 chapters. That Aderbat was the founder of
this canon is clear not only from the epithet which the books of the
Parsees give him (Mahresfant, Old Bactrian Manthracpenta, meaning "the
sacred word,") but also from the confession of faith still in use among
the Parsees: "I abide in the law which Zarathrustra taught to Vistacpa,
to Frashaostra, to Jamacpa, and Cpentodata, which came in the succession
of generations to Aderbat, who duly corrected and purified it."[107] It
was shown above that the language of the sacred books thus again
collected was that of Eastern Iran (p. 30). When Aderbat revised the
canon it had long ceased to be spoken. But there were already
translations of the sacred books into the later forms which the language
of Iran had received in the time of the Parthians, or at any rate such
translations were made after the revision of the canon.[108] Masudi
informed us that the Avesta was composed in the old Persian language,
which at that time (tenth century A.D.) was no longer understood. Ibn
Haukal, who travelled in Persia in the same century, tells us: "In Fars
three languages are in use; the Farsi, in which the inhabitants converse
with each other; the Pehlevi, which was the language of the ancient
Persians, and in which the Magians wrote their historical books, but
which in our time is no longer understood by the inhabitants of Fars
without a translation; and the Arabian.[109]" When Aderbat revised the
Avesta in the middle of the fourth century B.C., the Parsi (Farsi),
_i.e._ the later Middle Persian, was still in formation; the older
Middle Persian or Pehlevi was still intelligible, but translations of
the Avesta into this language did not make clear to every one the
meaning of the ancient language in which the scriptures were composed.
In the time of the Parthian empire the old mode of writing was given up
in the West as well as in the East of Iran, and exchanged for new
methods. In the West a cuneiform character derived from the writing of
Babylon and Assyria had been adopted; the East used the Arian alphabet.
Under the Arsacids the Pehlevi became common. Like the old Persian
cuneiform this is borrowed from a Semitic pattern. The chief city of the
Parthians lay on the Tigris in the midst of a Semitic population. The
cursive character of the Aramaeans, as we find it on the coins of the
satraps of the Achaemenids of the fourth century B.C., with a few
modifications, forms the base of the Pehlevi; and the earlier shapes of
this character are seen in the coins of the Arsacids of the first
century A.D. But it is not the character which forms the peculiar mark
of Pehlevi. Along with the Aramaic letters the Parthians took the
Aramaic vocabulary; they wrote the Aramaic word instead of the Persian,
and to this they attached the termination or case-ending of the
corresponding Persian word; the reader must understand Aramaic and
substitute the Persian word for the Aramaic when reading.[110] Hence
Pehlevi was in reality a secret mode of writing, intended exclusively
for the learned, _i.e._ for the priests. It is a proof of the close
connection between the priests of the East and West that this character,
which arose in the West out of the contact with the Aramaic population
on the Euphrates and Tigris, spread to the East also and was adopted by
the scholars there. Nor was this all. The variations in the Eastern
dialect brought about certain modifications in the forms of the letters,
and thus there arose an Eastern alphabet of Pehlevi beside the Western
alphabet. When Ardeshir destroyed the empire of the Parthians in the
year 226 A.D. these two alphabets were in existence. The Eastern
alphabet finally triumphed over the Western. It became the royal mode of
writing, and as such was used on the coins. The letters in the
manuscripts of the Pehlevi translation of the Avesta in the possession
of the Parsees agree throughout with the characters on the legends of
the coins of the Sassanids about the year 600 A.D.[111] The characters
also, in which the text of the Avesta is written in the manuscripts of
the Parsees, belong to the later East-Pehlevi alphabet, which, owing to
the greater wealth of the old Bactrian alphabet in sounds, especially in
vowels, possesses a greater number of letters.[112] The coincidence of
the letters in the manuscripts of the Parsees with those on the coins of
the later Sassanids, proves beyond contradiction that although the
oldest existing manuscripts belong to the fourteenth century of our
era,[113] they are nevertheless true copies of the characters in which
the Avesta was written in the last century of the empire of the
Sassanids.
All that the Parsees of India now possess are some not very extensive
remains of the revision of the sacred scriptures made in the reign of
Shapur II. The existing part of the laws corresponds in the title, the
divisions and their arrangements, with the twentieth book of the text
(p. 52). It contains the rubrics for purification, for repelling and
removing the evil spirits. The title is the Vendidad, or, in the older
form, the Vidaevodata, _i.e._ "given against the Daevas," or evil
spirits. Obviously this book was regarded as the most important and
valuable part of the law, and to this circumstance it owes its
preservation. Besides this we have invocations and prayers, chiefly
belonging to the liturgy. They form a considerable collection, known by
the title of Yacna, _i.e._ worship. The remainder of the 348 chapters
was lost in the invasion of the Arabs into Iran, owing to their
fanatical zeal for conversion.[114]
Though we were able to establish the fact that these fragments belonged
in their language, their contents, and their written character to
Eastern Iran, and the evidence of Western writers proved to us that at
the time when Alexander of Macedon overthrew the kingdom of the
Achaemenids, there were sacred scriptures of considerable extent in
Iran--this does not enable us to decide the date of the origin of these
scriptures. We have to inquire whether these writings were known in the
West of Iran also, before the date of the Sassanids; whether the new
collection and revision about the year 350 of our era was satisfied with
faithfully representing the old condition of the scriptures, so far as
it could be discovered, or whether it altered their contents; whether
the influence exercised by Hellenic and Aramaic elements in the time of
the Seleucids and Parthians--so obvious in the one case and so searching
in the other--affected the contents of the Avesta.[115] This question
cannot be set aside, because even under the Sassanids, in spite of their
zeal for the Avesta and for Iran, these elements were not unknown. We
are aware that Greek and Jewish schools flourished in Syria and
Mesopotamia at the date of the Sassanids, that Chosru Nushirvan (531-578
A.D.) gave his protection to Damascius and the Platonists in his
kingdom, and caused Greek works to be translated. However much other
virtues, required in the Avesta, were extolled in this ruler, such as
the foundation of fire-temples, and appointment of sacristans for them,
the promotion of agriculture (no temple was to be without cultivated
lands) and of marriages--nevertheless sects sprung up within the true
religion. Even in official documents of the fifth century we find a
certain deviation from the doctrine of the Avesta; under king Kavadh
(488-453 A.D.), Mazdak, who proclaimed the community of goods and women,
found adherents, and the Arabs speak of sects in Iran which opposed the
teaching of the Magians.[116] They mention the Zarvanites, the
Gayomarthians, and others, of whom the Zarvanites sought to derive the
good and evil deity from some higher abstraction,[117] while the
Gayomarthians represented the evil deity as proceeding from the thought
of the good deity. Had conceptions of this kind, and other later views
which we find in their doctrines, influence on the restoration of the
canon? The fact that the sacred writings were composed in a language no
longer current, when the canon was restored, is not a complete safeguard
against changes and interpolations, for the priests at that time may
have understood the language, and therefore may possibly have been able
to compose in it.
FOOTNOTES:
[76] [Cf. Darmesteter, "Zend-Avesta," Introduction, c. iii.]
[77] Haug, "The Book of Arda Viraf," p. 142 ff.
[78] Herbedh is the old Bactrian _athrapaiti_.
[79] Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 144, 146.
[80] It is found in the so-called "Great Rivayat."
[81] Vullers, "Fragmente ueber die Religion Zoroasters," s. 15-42; Haug,
"Essays," p. 125.
[82] Quatremere, "Journ. des Savants," 1840, p. 413.
[83] Clemens Alex. "Strom." p. 598.
[84] Diogen. Laert. prooem. The corrupt passage in Athenaeus (p. 478) is
not a sufficient reason for refusing to accept Hermippus of Smyrna as
the author of the treatise on the Magians. Pliny could not quote the
Berytian Hermippus.
[85] Plin. "H. N." 30, 2.
[86] "H. N." 37, 49, 55, 58; 26, 9; 27, 35; 28, 19, 27; 29, 38; 21, 36.
[87] Philon. Bybl. fragm. 9, ed. Mueller.
[88] Dio Chrysost, ed. Dind. 2, 60.
[89] Pausan. 5, 27, 3.
[90] "Anab." 7, 11, 8.
[91] _E.g._ the bas-relief on Mount Behistun in the winged victory,
which refers to the battle between Vardanes and Gotarzes, between 40 and
50 A.D. [Cf. Rawlinson, "Sixth Monarchy," p. 389, where a sketch of the
relief is given.]
[92] Poseidonius in Strabo, p. 515; Justin, 42,1.
[93] Herodian, 4, 30.
[94] Plut. "Crassus," c. 29; "Anton." c. 47; Joseph. "Antiq." 18, 9, 3;
Justin (12, 3), and Horace ("Ep." 1,2, 112), are of another opinion in
regard to the latter point.
[95] Above, p. 26. Arrian, "Parth." 2, ed. Mueller; Eunap. p. 222.
[96] Al Biruni in Droyson, "Hellenismus," 3^2, 372.
[97] Vologeses I. reigned 50-80 A.D.; Vologeses II. 130-149 A.D.;
Vologeses III. and IV. 149-208 A.D.; the son of the fourth, also
Vologeses, reigned beside Artabanus IV.
[98] Joseph. "Ant." 18, 9, 1; "Bell. Jud." Prooem. 1, 2; Ammian.
Marcell. 23, 6.
[99] Ammian. Marcell. 17, 5.
[100] Noeldeke, "Tabari." s. 437.
[101] De Sacy, "Memoires de l'institut Cl. Hist." 2, 162-242.
[Rawlinson, "Seventh Monarchy," p. 70, 606.]
[102] Rawlinson, _loc. cit._ p. 602, 607, 92 ff.
[103] Agathias, 2, 26.
[104] Sozomen, "H. Eccl." 2, 10, 12.
[105] Menandri Protect. fragm. 11, ed. Mueller.
[106] [Cf. Rawlinson, "Seventh Monarchy," p. 96 ff.]
[107] Spiegel, Avesta, 3, 214, 218, 219, 227.
[108] Above, p. 17. On the date of these translations, Haug,
"Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 147.
[109] Quatreinere, "Journal des Savants," 1840, p. 412.
[110] Haug, "Pahlavi-Pazand Glossary," p. 120 ff.; 128 ff. West,
"Pahlavi Texts," part 1. Introd. Sec. 2.
[111] Lepsius, "Zendalphabet, Abh. B. Akad." 1862, s. 338; Lenormant,
"Sur l'alphabet Pehlevi Journ. Asiat. 1^{er}." 6, 6, 180 ff.; Levy,
"Beitraege Z. D. M. G.", 21, 459 ff. From Ardeshir down to Narses, _i.e._
from 226 to 302 A.D., the writing on the coins agrees with the West
Pehlevi of the monuments of the Sassanids. From 302 to 600 A.D. the
character on the coins is different. From 600 the writing on the coins
agrees with the MSS. of the Parsees; Mordtmann, "Z. D. M. G." 8, 12 ff.
[112] Lepsius, _loc. cit._ s. 306.
[113] Westergaard, "Avesta," 1, 4 ff.
[114] That the author or authors of the Bundehesh,--for the work
consists of a collection of fragments of various character,--had before
them larger remains of the Avesta, or a commentary which included more
than our fragments, may be conceded. The composition of the work cannot
be placed before the time of the Arabs, for the whole period of the
Sassanid empire is given, and even on an extended scale (p. 82), mention
is made of the empire of the Arabs, and Arabian words occur. Cf. Justi,
"Bundehesh," p. ix. ff; cf. below, p. 73. [West, "Pahlavi Texts," 1,
Introd. p. xci. ff].
[115] On the Aramean sketch of the dialectic of Aristotle which was
written for Ohoeru, cf. Renan, "Journ. Asiat." 1852, p. 311.
[116] [Cf. Rawlinson, _loc. cit._ 448 ff.; 342 ff.]
[117] "Sharastani," by Haarbruecker, 2, 284. The son of Mihr Narses is
called Zarvandadh.