Post by Ava on Aug 27, 2019 13:49:52 GMT
4486 Mithra - associated with the sun, enforcing covenants, pastures (associated with Varuna).
270 Anahita - waters, fertility, healing, wisdom (associated with Venus/Ishtar/Innana)
The articles get so long I feel like I'm reading the history of the world.
www.britannica.com/topic/ancient-Iranian-religion/Anahiti
This is good: www.crystalinks.com/mithraism.html
I don't know if Anahita was Mithra's "virgin mother," or her spouse/partner, or both, or neither.
lumina?
270 Anahita - waters, fertility, healing, wisdom (associated with Venus/Ishtar/Innana)
The articles get so long I feel like I'm reading the history of the world.
Mithra
Beside Ahura Mazdā, Mithra is the most important deity of the ancient Iranian pantheon and may have even occupied a position of near equality with him. In the Achaemenian inscriptions Mithra, together with Anāhitā, is the only other deity specifically mentioned. Although the ancient pantheon contained an individual sun god, Hvar Khshaita, in the eastern Iranian traditions reflected in the Avesta, Mithra has a hint of connection with the sun, more specifically with the first rays of dawn as he drives forth in his chariot. In western Iran the identification was complete, and the name Mithra became a common word for “sun.” In spite of his connection with the sun, Mithra functioned preeminently in the ethical sphere. The word mithra was a common noun that meant “covenant, contract, treaty,” and Mithra, as such, was the god Covenant, the celestial deity who oversaw all solemn agreements that people made among themselves and who severely punished anyone who broke the terms of a covenant, whether it was between individuals or between countries or other sociopolitical entities. In his capacity to find out the covenant breaker, he is described as sleepless, ever-waking, and having 1,000 ears, 10,000 eyes, and a wide outlook. He is portrayed as a great warrior brandishing his mace while driving in his chariot to battle, where he intervenes on behalf of those faithful to treaties by throwing the treaty breakers (mithra-drug) into panic and defeat. As a sovereign deity, Mithra bore the standing epithet varu-gavyūti, meaning “one who (presides over) wide pasture lands”—i.e., one who keeps under his protection (another of his epithets was pāyu, “protector”) the territories of those who worship him and abide by their covenants. It should be mentioned that Mithra gave his name to a mystery religion, Mithraism, which was popular throughout the Roman Empire but whose Iranian origins are difficult to trace.
Anāhiti
One of the longest Avestan Yashts is to the powerful goddess whose full name is given as Ardvī Sūrā Anāhitā, literally “the damp, strong, untainted.” In fact, the long name seems to combine two originally separate names and, hence, two individual deities, Ardvī Sūrā and Anāhiti. Ardvī Sūrā is the Iranian name of the heavenly river goddess who in the Rigveda is called Sarasvati. In this role, she brings fresh water to the earth, filling streams, rivers, and seas as she flows from Mount Hukarya to the Varu-Karta sea. The other, Anāhiti, is a separate goddess of uncertain origin whose cult seems to have been popular originally in northeastern Iran. The name probably meant “untaintedness, purity (both moral and physical).” It is interesting that the Greek Anaitis (’Αναιτις) preserves the Old Iranian form of the name, while the Avestan and Old Persian Anāhit(a) shows a more recent linguistic form. Unlike any other Iranian deity, she is described in great detail in the Yashts, especially in respect to her clothing and ornamentation, to such an extent that one assumes a dressed cult image must be the source of the description. This is confirmed by the fact that Artaxerxes II mentions her. Then, too, the Babylonian historian Berosus reports that this king had many images of her made and distributed. Since the Iranians did not traditionally make images, it may be assumed that Anāhiti’s cult borrowed heavily from Mesopotamian models. The Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar probably provided the clearest model, though the details of Anāhiti’s dress—her beaver coat, for example—show significant differences. There were other striking similarities: Ishtar was the goddess of war and patroness of the palace, while the greater part of Anāhiti’s Yasht is devoted to her martial traits and her patronage of Iranian heroes and legendary rulers (in post-Achaemenian Iran Anāhiti was intimately connected with kingship and the shah). In addition, both goddesses were important for fertility.
Beside Ahura Mazdā, Mithra is the most important deity of the ancient Iranian pantheon and may have even occupied a position of near equality with him. In the Achaemenian inscriptions Mithra, together with Anāhitā, is the only other deity specifically mentioned. Although the ancient pantheon contained an individual sun god, Hvar Khshaita, in the eastern Iranian traditions reflected in the Avesta, Mithra has a hint of connection with the sun, more specifically with the first rays of dawn as he drives forth in his chariot. In western Iran the identification was complete, and the name Mithra became a common word for “sun.” In spite of his connection with the sun, Mithra functioned preeminently in the ethical sphere. The word mithra was a common noun that meant “covenant, contract, treaty,” and Mithra, as such, was the god Covenant, the celestial deity who oversaw all solemn agreements that people made among themselves and who severely punished anyone who broke the terms of a covenant, whether it was between individuals or between countries or other sociopolitical entities. In his capacity to find out the covenant breaker, he is described as sleepless, ever-waking, and having 1,000 ears, 10,000 eyes, and a wide outlook. He is portrayed as a great warrior brandishing his mace while driving in his chariot to battle, where he intervenes on behalf of those faithful to treaties by throwing the treaty breakers (mithra-drug) into panic and defeat. As a sovereign deity, Mithra bore the standing epithet varu-gavyūti, meaning “one who (presides over) wide pasture lands”—i.e., one who keeps under his protection (another of his epithets was pāyu, “protector”) the territories of those who worship him and abide by their covenants. It should be mentioned that Mithra gave his name to a mystery religion, Mithraism, which was popular throughout the Roman Empire but whose Iranian origins are difficult to trace.
Anāhiti
One of the longest Avestan Yashts is to the powerful goddess whose full name is given as Ardvī Sūrā Anāhitā, literally “the damp, strong, untainted.” In fact, the long name seems to combine two originally separate names and, hence, two individual deities, Ardvī Sūrā and Anāhiti. Ardvī Sūrā is the Iranian name of the heavenly river goddess who in the Rigveda is called Sarasvati. In this role, she brings fresh water to the earth, filling streams, rivers, and seas as she flows from Mount Hukarya to the Varu-Karta sea. The other, Anāhiti, is a separate goddess of uncertain origin whose cult seems to have been popular originally in northeastern Iran. The name probably meant “untaintedness, purity (both moral and physical).” It is interesting that the Greek Anaitis (’Αναιτις) preserves the Old Iranian form of the name, while the Avestan and Old Persian Anāhit(a) shows a more recent linguistic form. Unlike any other Iranian deity, she is described in great detail in the Yashts, especially in respect to her clothing and ornamentation, to such an extent that one assumes a dressed cult image must be the source of the description. This is confirmed by the fact that Artaxerxes II mentions her. Then, too, the Babylonian historian Berosus reports that this king had many images of her made and distributed. Since the Iranians did not traditionally make images, it may be assumed that Anāhiti’s cult borrowed heavily from Mesopotamian models. The Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar probably provided the clearest model, though the details of Anāhiti’s dress—her beaver coat, for example—show significant differences. There were other striking similarities: Ishtar was the goddess of war and patroness of the palace, while the greater part of Anāhiti’s Yasht is devoted to her martial traits and her patronage of Iranian heroes and legendary rulers (in post-Achaemenian Iran Anāhiti was intimately connected with kingship and the shah). In addition, both goddesses were important for fertility.
www.britannica.com/topic/ancient-Iranian-religion/Anahiti
Anahita /ɑːnɑːhiːtɑː/ is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as Aredvi Sura Anahita (Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" (Aban) and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom.
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According to H. Lommel, the proper name of the divinity in Indo-Iranian times was Sarasvatī, which also means "she who possesses waters".[4] In Sanskrit, the name आर्द्रावी शूरा अनाहिता means "of the waters, mighty, and immaculate". Like the Indian Sarasvatī, Anāhitā nurtures crops and herds; and she is hailed both as a divinity and as the mythical river which she personifies, "as great in bigness as all these waters which flow forth upon the earth" (Yasht 5.3).
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"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."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anahita
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According to H. Lommel, the proper name of the divinity in Indo-Iranian times was Sarasvatī, which also means "she who possesses waters".[4] In Sanskrit, the name आर्द्रावी शूरा अनाहिता means "of the waters, mighty, and immaculate". Like the Indian Sarasvatī, Anāhitā nurtures crops and herds; and she is hailed both as a divinity and as the mythical river which she personifies, "as great in bigness as all these waters which flow forth upon the earth" (Yasht 5.3).
---
"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."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anahita
This is good: www.crystalinks.com/mithraism.html
I don't know if Anahita was Mithra's "virgin mother," or her spouse/partner, or both, or neither.
lumina?
