Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
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God name "Ahriman" | Zoroastrian / Farsi Per sian | Chthonic god of darkness. The antagonist of AHURA MAZDA, god of light, and his attendant, MITHRA. The name is a modern derivation of the original Avestan title ANGRU MAINYU. Ahriman is said to have tried to persuade his attendant animals, including the scor pion, ant and snake, to drink the blood of the bull slain by Mithra in the primeval legend of dualistic conflict (see Mithra); if he had succeeded he would have prevented life from forming on earth. In another legend he tried to thwart Ahura Mazda by sending a flood to destroy the world. Also recog nized in Roman Mithraism. Rituals included ani mal sacrifice. Also ARIMANIUS (Roman).... |
God name "Angru Mainyu (evil spirit)" | Persian / Iran | Chthonic underworld god of darkness. The original Zoroastrian name of the chief antagonist of AHURA MAZDA.See also AHRIMAN.... |
God name "Areimanios" | Roman | The Hellenistic form of Ahriman, a god of the Zarathushtrian faith, being a sacred, unspeakable name within Roman Mithraism and this name's etymological correspondence to the Zoroastrian Ahriman. |
God name "Areimanios" | Greek | Chthonic underworld god. Probably derived from the Persian deity AHRIMAN. Plutarch identifies him as the embodiment of HADES.... |
God name "MITHRA (friend)" | Persian / Iran | God of the upper air. Originating in India, Mithra is a god of light who was translated into the attendant of the god AHURA MAZDA in the light religion of Persia; from this he was adopted as the Roman deity Mithras. He is not generally regarded as a sky god but a personification of the fertilizing power of warm, light air. According to the Avesta, he possesses 10,000 eyes and ears and rides in a chariot drawn by white horses. In dualistic Zoroastrianism, which effectively demoted him, Mithra is concerned with the endless battle between light and dark forces; he represents truth. He is responsible for the keeping of oaths and contracts. He was born from a rock and, according to legend, engaged in a primeval struggle with Ahura Mazda's first creation, a wild bull, which he subdued and confined to a cave. The bull escaped, but was recaptured by Mithra, who slit its throat. From the blood sprang plant life on earth. His chief adversary is AHRIMAN, the power of darkness. Mithra is not generally worshiped on his own, but as an integral part of the Mithraic worship of Ahura Mazda, where he acts as an intercessor between gods and men. In the Hellenic period he was transformed more closely to the role of a Sun god. See also AHURA MAZDA.... |
God name "Zurvan" | Persian / Iran | God of temporal time and fate. Once the focus of a cult of Zervanism in which he appeared as the father of AHURA MAZDA, the god of light, and AHRIMAN, god of darkness, in Zoroastrianism. He is perceived as a god of destiny and the controller of all roads which mankind may take, leading ultimately to the otherworld. He was adopted into Manichaean religion. Also Zervan.... |