Bible Encyclopedias
Persian Language and Literature (Ancient):

Ameretātā , haurvātā , Spéništā Mainyū Mazdā ,

Tévı̄shı̄ , utayūitı̄ , Manaǹhā Vōhū , séǹhē .

"Give me, O thou who didst make the bull (earth), and the waters and the plants, immortality, health - O most Bountiful Spirit, Mazda - strength, might, through Vohu Mano, I say.")

2. Gathic:

There is a sub-dialect of Medic (Avestic) known as the Gatha-dialect, from the fact that the Gathas or "Hymns" ( Yasna XXVIII-XXXIV , XLII-L , LII ), and also the prayers ( Yathá Ahú Vairyó , Ashem Vōhū , Airyamā Ishyō , and originally Yēǹhé Hālãm , and a few scattered passages elsewhere) are composed in it. This represents, speaking generally, an older form of the Avestic. It is probably the old language of Bactria or of Margiana Gāthā I, 2, runs thus:

Yé vw̄ , Mazdā Ahurā , pairijasāi Vōhū Manaǹhā ,

Maibyō dāvōi ahvw̄ ( astivatasca hyaTca manaǹhō )

Āyaptā Ashāṭ hacā , yāiš rapeñtō daidı̄ṭ hvāthrē .

("To me, O A hura Mazda, who approach you two through Vohu Mano, grant the benefits from Asha, (those) of both worlds, both of the material (world) and of that which is of the spirit, through which (benefits) may (Asha) place in glory those who please him.")

The meter of the Gāthās , like that of the other Avestic poems, is based on the number of syllables in a line, with due regard to the caesura. But the condition of the text is such that there is great difficulty in recovering the original reading with sufficient accuracy to enable us to lay down rules on the subject with any certainty. The first Gāthā is composed of strophes of 3 lines each (as above). Each line contains 16 syllables, with a caesura after the 7th foot.

IV. Zoroaster.

1. His Date, Etc.:

Many of the Gāthās are generally ascribed to Zoroaster himself, the rest to his earliest disciples. They compose the most ancient part of the Avesta . It is now becoming a matter of very great probability that Zoroaster lived at earliest in the middle of the 7th century BC, more probably a century later. The Artā Vı̄rāf Nāmak says that his religion remained pure for 300 years, and connects its corruption with the alleged destruction of much of the Avesta in the palace burned by Alexander at Persepolis, 324.BC. This traditional indication of date is confirmed by other evidence. Zoroaster's prince Vishtāspa (in Greek Hustáspēs ) bears the same name as the father of Darius I, and was probably the same person. Vishtaspa's queen Hutaosa, who also protected and favored Zoroaster, bears the same name (in Greek Atóssa ) as Cambyses' sister who afterward married Darius, and probably belonged to the same family. Zoroastrianism comes to the fore under Darius, whereas Cyrus in his inscriptions speaks as a decided polytheist. Hence, we conclude that the earliest part of the Avesta belongs to circa 550 BC. Of Zoroaster himself we learn much from the Avesta , which traces his genealogy back for 10 generations. It mentions his wife's name (Hvovi), and tells of his 3 sons and 3 daughters. His first disciple was Frashaostra, his wife's natural uncle. His own name means "Owner of the yellow camel," and has none of the higher meanings sometimes assigned to it by those who would deny his existence. Tradition says he was born at Ragha ( Raga , Rai ) about 5 1/2 miles South of the present Tehran, though some think his native place was Western Atropatene ( Āzarbāı̄jān ). Rejected by his own tribe, the Magi, he went to Vishtispa's court in Bactria. The faith which he taught spread to the Persian court (very naturally, if Vishtispa was identical with Darius' father) and thence throughout the country. Tradition ( Yasht XIX , 2, etc.) says that the Avesta was revealed to Zoroaster on Mt. Ushi-darena ("intellect-holding") in Sistan. But it is not the composition of one man or of one age.

2. Date of Avesta:

Herodotus makes no mention of Zoroaster, but speaks of the Magi (whom he calls a Median tribe (i. 101)) as already performing priestly functions. His description of their repetition of charms and theological compositions (i. 132) would agree very well with recitation of the Gāthās and Yasna . Mention of controversies with Gautama, Buddha's disciples ( Yasht XIII , 16) who probably reached Persia in the 2nd century BC, is another indication of date. The fact that in both the Yasna and the Vendı̄dād heretics ( zañda ) are mentioned who preferred the commentary ( zañd ) on the Avesta to the Avesta itself, is a sign of late date. Names of certain persons found in the Avesta (e.g. Atare - pāta , a Dastūr who lived under Hormuzd I, 273 AD, and Rāštare - Yagheñti , whom the Dı̄nkart identifies with the chief Mobed of Sapor II, 309-379 AD, Āderpād Mārespand , and who, according to the Patēt , section 28, "purified" the revelation made to Zoroaster, i.e. revised the text of the earlier parts of the Avesta ) enable us to prove that certain portions of the work as we now have it were composed as late as near the end of the 4th century of our era. It is said that the text was in confusion in the time of Vologases I (51-78 (?) AD). A reccnsion was then begun, and continued with much zeal by Ardashı̄r Pāpakān , 226-240 AD. According to Geldner ( Prolegomena , xlvi) the final recension took place some considerable time after Yezdigird 3 (overthrown 642 AD). In the times of the Sāsānides there were, it is said, 21 Naskas or volumes of the Avesta , and the names of these are given in the Dı̄nkart (Book IX). Of these we now possess only one entire Naska , the Vendı̄dād , and portions of three others.

3. Divisions of the Present Avesta:

The present Avesta is divided into 5 parts:

(1) The Yasna

The Yasna (root yaz , Sanskrit yaj , "to invoke," "to praise") contains 72 chapters of hymns for use at sacrifices, etc., including the "Older Yasna " or Gāthās .

(2) The Vispered

The Vispered ( vı̄spa , "every," "all," and rādha , "a lord") is divided into 24 chapters in Geldner's edition; it is supplementary to the Yasna .

(3) The Vendidad

The Vendı̄dād ( van plus daēva plus dāta , "law for " vanquishing the demons") contains 22 chapters. The first chapter contains the Iranian myth about the order in which the provinces of the Iranian world were created by Ahura Mazda. It tells how the Evil Spirit, Anro Mainyus, created plagues, sins and death, to destroy the good creatures of the Good Spirit. The greater part of the book contains ceremonial laws and formulas, some of them loathsome and all rather petty and superstitious in character.

(4) The Yashts

The Yashts, 21 in all, are hymns, telling many mythological tales about Mithra, Tishtriya, etc.

(5) The Khorda Avesta

The Khorda Avesta ("Little Avesta ") consists of a number of short compositions, hymns, etc., compiled by the Āderpād Mārespand ( Ādharpādh Mahraspand , Ātarobāt Mānsarspendān ) already mentioned, in Sapor II's reign.

Much of the Avesta is said to have been destroyed by the Khalı̄fah ‛Umar ' s orders when Persia was conquered by the Arabs after the battle of Nahāvand (642 AD). Certainly ‛Umar ordered the destruction of Persian libraries, as we learn from the Kashfu ' z Zunūn (p.341).

V. Pahlavi.

1. Literature:

Under ancient Persian literature may be classed the Pahlavı̄ (a) inscriptions of Sapor at Hājı̄ābād and elsewhere, (b) legends on Sāsānian coins, (c) translations of certain parts of the Avesta , made under the Sāsānides for the most part, (d) such books as the Artā Vı̄rāf Nāmak , the Zād Sparam , Dı̄nkart , Ōrmazd Yasht , Patēt , Būndı̄shnı̄h , etc. These are mostly of religious import. The Artā Vı̄rāf Nāmak gives a description of the visit of the young dastūr Artā Virāf , to the Zoroastrian heaven. The Būndihı̄shnı̄h ("creation") tells how Ōrmazd and Ahriman came into being, and treats of the 9,000 years' struggle between them. Pahlavı̄ , as written (the so-called Huzvaresh ), contains an immense number of Aramaic words, but the Persian terminations attached to these show that they were read as Persian: thus yehabūnt - ano is written, and dāt - ano ("to give") is read. Pahlavı̄ works that are no longer extant are the sources of the Vı̄s o Rāmı̄n , Zarātusht Nāmah , Shāhnāmah , etc.

2. Comparison:

In order to understand the relation in which the Persian dialects and stages in the history of the language stand to one another, it may be well to subjoin a list of words in Old Persian, Avestic, Pahlavı̄ and modern Persian. It will be seen that Ayestic is not the source of the Āryan part of the present tongue.

*superlatives

Literature.

Achaemenian inscriptions, Korsowitz, Spiegel, Rawlinson: Geiger and Kuhn (editors), Grundriss der iranischen Philologie ; Darmesteter, Etudes iraniennes ; Spiegel, Eranische Altertumskunde; Noldeke, Aufsatze zur persischen Geschichte ; W. Geiger, Ostiranische Kultur im Alterium ; Geldner's edition of Avesta ; Professor Browne, Literary History of Persia ; De Harlez, Manuel de la langue de l' Avesta , Manuel de la langue Pehlevie , and Introduction to the Avesta ; Haug, Book of Artd Viraf ; Cook, Origins of Religion and Language .