Everyone has heard of the Ancient Greek gods, from Zeus to Hades, from Apollo to Athena, and from Hera to Aphrodite, the inhabitants of Olympus are famous. Their Roman counterparts; Jupiter, Saturn, Minerva, Venus, and many more are embedded in our society. Even the Germanic gods play a crucial part in our everyday lives, for instance, the days of the week are named after them. For example, Wednesday is ‘Woden’s day’ and Thursday is ‘Thor’s day”. But have you ever heard of Ahuramazda? Or Mithra? Or Anahita? These are all Ancient Iranian gods, and while we may not know as much about them, they should still be talked about. I recently read some of Lloyd-Llewelyn Jones’ ‘The Persians’, which inspired me to write about this. It’s a very interesting book; I definitely recommend it, and this article, if you find this sort of thing interesting!

So, what did the Persians believe, and what were their religious practices?

 The Ancient Iranian or Persian religion was a polytheistic religion which we sadly do not know much about. Our sources of information about it used to be mainly foreign, primarily Greek. However, thanks to the discovery of the Persepolis Fortification tablets, we now have a Persian source as well. The Histories, a book by Greek historian Herodotus from c.425 BCE, stated things which contradict these tablets though. He said that the Persians had no images of their gods and had no temples or altars as they considered them “a sign of foolishness”.  In the Persepolis Fortification tablets they do mention the use of images of the gods, temples and altars. Herodotus also wrote about how the Persians would “ascend the summits of the loftiest mountains, and there to offer sacrifice”, which gives the impression of these monk-like priests performing solitary rituals of sacrifice on high snow-covered mountains. However, we know that they used to perform their rituals in the enclosed spaces of small temples and shrines, normally constructed on hills. The Greek and Persian sources contradict each other, so who’s right? Due to the purpose of Herodotus’ Histories, we think of him as the ‘wrong’ one in this situation. Herodotus wrote to entertain and to teach lessons about hubris. In his Histories he wishes to depict the Persian empire as a backwards world, the opposite to Greek civilisation. For this reason, he described the Persian religion as having exactly the opposite elements to Greek religion. Therefore, in this case we regard Herodotus as being an unreliable source of information.

The Persepolis Fortification tablets are small dry clay documents that talk about the worship of the old Elamite gods, Iranian deities, their rituals and priests. They frequently use the Elamite word ziyan, which literally means ‘a place of seeing’ and was used to refer to a temple, shrine or cult building. It refers to any place where the gods are seen or experienced. Ziyan can mean a large variety of places of worship including small square temples, rock-carved shrines and cave sanctuaries. In the tablets, Ziyans are mentioned in the context of somewhere where goods were sent to. For example, a shipment of wine was sent to a ziyan in Harkurtush, and a shipment of vinegar was sent to a ziyan in Zarnamiya.  The Elamites built their ziyans mainly on mountain tops, rock surfaces and hillsides, and the Achaemenids after them followed suit.

 One important god in Ancient Iranian religion was called Ahuramazda. The earliest known reference to him is found in an Assyrian text dating to the eighth century BCE, where as-sa-ra ma-za-ash is named as one god in a list of deities. An Iranian god being present on a Mesopotamian text suggests that a form of Ahuramazda must have moved into the Iranian plateau when the great migrations happened. Ahuramazda was considered the Father of all things and was said to have established the course of the sun, moon and stars, to have separated the earth from the heavens, created light, darkness, man, woman, plants and animals, all by power of thought.  He was usually depicted as a passive unarmed god, but sometimes with a bow and arrow. He wore a star-bespattered robe, and the ‘swift-horsed sun’ was said to be his eye. His throne was set in the highest heaven, and he held court there with angels carrying out his commands. If this sounds familiar, then it is probably because the Jewish god was influenced by Ahuramazda, due to Jewish scribes and priests working in Babylon at the time.

We do not know if Ahuramazda was widely worshipped throughout Iran, however, he is frequently mentioned in the royal inscriptions of Darius the Great and his son Xerxes I. They both stressed that they became king because of Ahuramazda’s divine support. In the Bisitun Inscription Darius said, “by the grace of Ahuramazda am I king”, and his successor Xerxes I also declared in the Harem Inscription “by the grace of Ahuramazda I became king on my father’s throne”.  However, Darius went so far as to say that “Ahuramazda is mine; I am Ahuramazda’s” in an inscription at Susa, suggesting that they had an extremely intimate relationship and that neither can exist without the other. Moreover, on an inscription in Naqsh-e Rostam he implies that thought of himself as serving the god as a divine instrument for establishing order and justice on Earth. On the inscription Darius says that “Ahuramazda, when he saw this earth in commotion... bestowed it upon me... By the favor of Ahuramazda I put it down in its place”, which highlights how he considered himself an agent of Ahuramazda chosen to enforce order and justice on Earth.

Furthermore, on Darius’ tomb relief a human-like figure rises from a winged disk and presents the king with a ring. The ring itself represents kingship. The figure may represent the god Ahuramazda, and the ring represents the kingship he has bestowed upon him. Moreover, both Darius and the figure share the same features: the same hairstyle, beard shape, crown and garment. The whole relief stresses the reciprocity between the king and the god, suggesting, like the aforementioned inscription at Susa, that they are the same entity.

However, another interpretation of what the winged disk may represent exists as well. It is believed that it could be khvarenah. This was a Persian word which refers to a halo-like ‘glory’ that emanates from a charismatic king, it is a sign that divine grace is present with the ruler and shines out of him. They used to visualise it as a spiritual counterpart to the king, so because the figure in the winged disk has the same features as Darius, it could be interpreted as being his khvarenah.

Nonetheless, the winged disk can have a simultaneous double reading, where the figure represents Ahuramazda who is the god which supports king Darius and Darius receives the glory of the god through the gift of khvarenah.

At the heart of Ancient Iranian religion is the belief in Arta (the Truth) and Drauga (the Lie). Arta represented truth, order and goodness, whereas Drauga represented disorder, falsehood and evil. The Persians strived to always act in accordance with the Truth and avoid giving in to the Lie at all costs. For example, if Darius had not acted in accordance with Arta, then his khvarenah would have disappeared, leaving him a shell of the good king he was, devoid of light. Therefore, his khvarenah implied that he was a morally good king, not just a divinely blessed one.

Overall, there was a lot of emphasis on the concept of dualism; for every good there was a bad and for every right there was a wrong. Even Ahuramazda had an evil counterpart, named Angra Mainyu. He was the leader of the demonic hordes and was helped by the spirits of Fury and Bad Intentions. Together, they dwelt in an abyss of endless darkness. Angra Mainyu, being the opposite to Ahuramazda, had no material form but rather resided, parasite-like, in the bodies of humans and animals. To protect his Creation from evil, Ahuramazda created six Amesha Spentas or ‘Bounteous Immortals’.  They were: Vohu Manu (Good Thoughts), Spenta Armaiti (Holy Devotion), Asha Vahishta (Best Righteousness), Khsathra Vaiyra (Desirable Dominion), Amertat (Immortality), and Haruvatat (Wholeness). They banded together to protect Earth from the forces of evil.

The Persians believed that you could choose whether to follow the Arta or the Drauga. They believed that the afterlife included a final judgement on the mystical Chinvat Bridge, which spanned the world of the living and the dead. If you followed the Truth, then the gods would bless you and you would be let into the House of Song. Those who had followed the Lie would fall off Chinvat Bridge and down to the hell which was the House of Lies.

Ahuramazda wasn’t the only god the Persians worshipped though. Ahuramazda is frequently mentioned alongside “all the gods” or “the other gods who are”, showing that they did believe in other gods. The most important of these gods included Mithra (or Mithras). In the Avesta Mithra gets described as “the Lord of Wide Pastures, of the Thousand Ears, and of the Myriad Eyes, the Loftly, and the Everlasting Ruler”. He was the deity of judicial matters and the protector of the Truth. He was also a god of fertility, as the guardian of cattle and the harvest. Mithra was also supposed to be a creation of Ahuramazda. Mithra was depicted as a chariot-racing warrior holding a mace, or sometimes even with arrows, spears, hatchets, and knives. To those who followed the Truth, Mithra brought them rain and made their crops grow.

Although Mithra was a warrior, any very violent work was done by his companion, Verethragna. Verethragna would knock down, smash the vertebrae, and mangle the bones, hair and blood of the followers of the Lie. He would do this in his wild boar form.

Another important god was the water goddess Anahita who brought fertility and purified the people. She is described as having “beautiful white arms, thick as a horse's shoulder” and always being keen to bestow gifts upon her followers, like chariots, weapons, household goods and even victory in battle. However, for these gifts she demanded a sacrifice to be made in her honour.

The Persepolis Fortification tablets name quite a few other Iranian gods who were worthy of ritual offerings. These included Zurvan, who was a god of time and fate. He was associated with weather and cosmic order, and also with controlling the flow of time and the cycles of nature.

Narvasanga is also mentioned. He was the deity of fire and destruction, and was associated with the destructive and purifying qualities of fire. He was also associated with the element of heat and light.

Mizdushi, the goddess of fertility, motherhood and agriculture, also makes an appearance on the tablets. She was celebrated for her role in nurturing the growth, life, and fertility of the land and the people.

Hvarita was the personification of the rising sun and was seen as the entity who brought the light of the new day. This spirit was associated with hope, light and renewal.

 Also mentioned in the Persepolis tablets are the Visi Baga. ‘Visi Baga’ literally translates to ‘the Good Gods’ or ‘the Virtuous Deities’. In this case it referred to a benevolent group of gods associated with the positive divine forces and the protective cosmic powers they had. They represent order, cosmic harmony and justice. The term ‘Visi Baga’ emphasises the collectiveness of this force and these gods, which contrasts to the other individual gods the Persians worshipped.

Furthermore, the Persepolis tablets refer to a lot of the old Elamite gods who were still being worshipped at the time of the Persians. These included Humban, who was a god of fertility, animal life and harvest. He was often associated with agricultural prosperity and nature.

Inshushinak is another old Elamite god who is mentioned. He was the god of war, justice and protection. He was believed to be a main protector of the Elamite world and was strongly associated with military strength and law.

Additionally, Naparisha was the Elamite god of creation and life. This deity was often connotated with life-giving forces and cosmic creation.

Shimat was the goddess of fertility, motherhood and love. She is a caring figure associated with childbirth and the Earth’s fertility.

Lastly, Adad was the god of storms, thunder and weather. He is what is known as a storm god, so people believed he was responsible for natural weather phenomena such as thunder and rain.

Moving on from their gods, the Ancient Iranian religion also had a prophet to spread the faith as well. Ahuramazda’s prophet was named Zarathustra, who the Greeks called Zoroaster. We do not know for sure when in history he was alive, modern Zoroastrian tradition believes that he was born in 600 BCE. However, scholars push the date of his birth back to around 1000 or 1200 BCE, which was when the great migrations happened. Zarathustra was an ordinary camel-herder in what is now Afghanistan, or possibly Azerbaijan. When he was a young man, he served as a priest to ‘lesser deities’ until he heard the true god, Ahuramazda, call to him. He is depicted wearing white robes, with a clean beard, and a halo upon his head. Not much is known about his life, but one of the stories says that at the moment of his birth he did not cry but rather laughed. Supposedly, he laughed because he was so delighted and grateful to be a part of Ahuramazda’s glorious Creation.

When he received a call to prophesy from Ahuramazda, he was supposedly forty years old. Unfortunately, during the years of his ministry he made enemies of the karpans (priests), and of the kawis (princes), who carried out religious rituals in a way that he did not agree with. Life in his society became dangerous enough that he had to flee to the eastern edge of Iran. It is said that Zarathustra then experienced seven more encounters with Ahuramazda and other divine entities. As a result of those encounters, the Yasht says “he accepted the religion”, which suggests that he was not chosen by Ahuramazda to establish a new religion, but rather to refine and reform the already existing one which was being practiced poorly by the karpans and the kawis.

Zarathustra gave new meanings and form to the faltering fate of the Persians. He emphasised the dualistic nature of the Creation of Ahuramazda, asking his followers to reject the Lie and to protect the Truth.

The Zoroastrian sacred texts, unfortunately, were all written around a thousand years after the prophet’s death, which makes it difficult to tell the genuine early Zarathustran materials from later additions. He composed a cycle of hymns, called the Gathas, which reflected the Nomadic lifestyle of the early Iranians, and his teachings were written down in a book called the Avesta.

We cannot know for sure when Zarathustra died, but there are plenty of myths about his death. According to one, he died at home in bed of natural causes, surrounded by his three wives, three daughters and three sons, aged seventy-seven. Another tells the story of how he was assassinated by a karpan for challenging the old religious order. However, these are just myths, and we probably will never know what truly happened to him.