Ahura Mazdā
Ahura Mazdā
- Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg
- and W. F. M. Henkelman
Extract
‘Wise Lord’ or ‘Lord Wisdom’, Iranian supreme deity invoked as wise, benevolent god, creator and upholder of Aṣ̌a (truth, righteousness) in the Avesta (Yasna 31.8). In *Achaemenid inscriptions, which rarely mention other gods, he is creator of heaven and earth and protector of kings. By contrast, he occurs among many other gods in the administrative *Persepolis Fortification texts, and received smaller amounts in offerings than the originally Elamite god Humban. Greeks equated him with *Zeus (Hdt. 1. 189). Gk. Ὡρομάζης is first attested in the 4th cent. bce (Pl. Alc. 1. 122a, Arist. in Diog.Laert. 1.8). See religion, persian.
Subjects
- Near East
