Persian Mythology - Religious Background

Religious Background

The characters of Persian mythology almost always fall into one of two camps. They are either good, or they are evil. The resultant discord mirrors the ancient conflict, which in Persian mythology is based on the Zoroastrian concept of the dual emanation of Ahura Mazda (Avestan, or Ormuzd in later Persian). Spenta Mainyu is the source of constructive energy, while Angra Mainyu is the source of darkness, destruction, sterility, and death.

Found in abundance in Persian mythology are the daēva (Avestan, Persian: div), meaning 'celestial' or 'bright'. These divinities were worshipped in pre-Zoroastrian Mazdaism, and as in Vedic religions, the adherents of the pre-Zoroastrian form of Mazdaism considered the daēva holy and sacred beings. It is only after the religious reforms of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) that the term daēva became associated with demons. Even then the Persians living south of the Caspian Sea continued to worship the daeva and resisted pressure to accept Zoroastrianism, and legends that involve daēva survive to this day. For instance, that of the legend of the Div-e Sepid (white daēva) of Mazandaran.

Moreover, Angra Mainyu or Ahriman in Persian, once the Zoroastrian epitome of evil, lost its original Zoroastrian/Mazdaist identity in later Persian literature, and was ultimately depicted as a div. Religious depictions of Ahriman made in the era following the Islamic invasion show Ahriman as a giant of a man with spotted body and two horns.