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Zurvanism Again

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2011

Richard N. Frye
Richard N. Frye
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Extract

The scholar concerned with the pre-Islamic religious history of Iran is beset with many difficulties, not the least of which is the great paucity of native sources. Consequently, he frequently must have recourse to India for parallels in the early period, and to Classical, Syriac and Armenian sources for much of his material in Parthian and Sassanian times. Furthermore, the temptation to import whole patterns of religious thought from neighboring religions, and to interpret earlier information from conditions obtaining in Iran at later periods of its history, is at times very strong indeed. With the fragmentary, often contradictory, data about Iranian religions at hand, there is also a tendency to fill in the blanks, and by so doing to create a finished and consistent whole picture of the pre-Islamic religions of Iran. It may be commendable to have a large canvas with bold, sweeping strokes, but when the details are so uncertain one may be understandably cautious in accepting the theories of even such eminent scholars as Herzfeld, Nyberg, and others.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , April 1959 , pp. 63 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1959

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References

1 Duchesne-Guillemin, J., “Notes on Zervanism,” JNES, 15 (1956), 108–112.Google Scholar

2 Cf. Tavadia, J., Die Mittelpersische Sprache und Literatur der Zarathustrier (Leipzig, 1956), 83–86.Google Scholar

3 Zaehner, R., “Postscript to Zurvān,” BSOAS, 17 (1955), 236.Google Scholar

4 Ibid.

5 Accepted by Boyce, M., “Some Reflections on Zurvanism,” BSOAS, 19 (1957), 305–306.Google Scholar

6 Ibid., 308.

7 Ibid., 308–309.

8 This is not only proved by the books themselves; cf. E. West in Grundriss der iranischen Philologie II, 91, 100, 103, etc., but also by Muslim writers; cf. Spuler, B., Iran in früh-islamischer Zeit (Wiesbaden, 1952), 191–192.Google Scholar Compare Die Vita des Scheich Abū Ishāq al-Kāzarūnī, ed. Meier, F. (Leipzig, 1948), 20–21, 40.Google Scholar

9 E.g. the Ṧkand-Gumānīk Vicčār ed. de Menasce, P. J. (Fribourg, 1945).Google Scholar

10 Cf. the Jātaka, Vessantara, Benveniste, E. (Paris, 1946)Google Scholar, in the glossary under ‘zrw’. For the Nisa inscriptions the oral communication of I. M. Djakonov at the 24th International Congress of Orientalists at Munich, September 1957, was far more complete than previous publications. Cf. also von Wesendonk, O., Das Weltbild der Iranier (Munich, 1933), 266–267.Google Scholar

11 Cf. Sadighi, G., Les mouvements religieux Iraniens (Paris, 1938), 123, 167, 197.Google Scholar

12 I use here Mazdaism and Zoroastrianism as synonyms.

13 Cf. his “Notes on Zervanism,” JNES, 15 (1956), 108–109Google Scholar, his Ormazd, et Ahriman, (Paris, 1953), 132–133.Google Scholar

13a Cf. Klima, O., Mazdak, , Geschichte einer sozialen Bewegung im sassanidischen Persien (Prague, 1957).Google Scholar Naturally the sides were not so clearly drawn as presented here, but the basic argument holds.

14 E.g. Shahristānī in Zaehner's book, 433; Mas'ūdī, Ibid., 443.

15 “Notes on Zervanism,” op. cit., 108.

16 Op. cit., 306–308.

17 All page citations are from the offprint of his “Stand und Aufgaben der iranischen Religionsgeschichte,” Numen (1955).

18 Cf. his “Persische Weisheit in Griechischem Gewande?,” The Harvard Theological Review, 49 (1956), 115–122.Google Scholar

19 Puech, H. C. in Cross, F. L., The Jung Codex (London, 1955), 76–77.Google Scholar

20 Duchesne-Guillemin in “Notes,” op. cit., III.

21 By “to the fore” I mean “to the attention of outside sources”; rather one should say, “Zurvanism dropped out of the picture.”

22 After writing this in the autumn of 1957 I had the opportunity of discussing some of the problems of this paper with colleagues in Germany. Although some of the statements above might be modified I am convinced the thesis is correct. More material on the fate of the dihqāns and mobads in Islamic times will be found in my article “Irans kulturelle Wiedergeburt um die Jahrtausendwende,” in a forthcoming issue of Der Islam.