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Zoroastrian Doctrine of Formation of Heavenly Bodies in Pahlavi Texts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Amir Ahmadi
Amir Ahmadi*
Affiliation:
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
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Abstract

This article is about the doctrine of the formation of celestial bodies in Pahlavi texts. The doctrine is peculiar. It clashes not only with the accounts of the Gāϑā and the Younger Avesta but also with the general cosmology of Pahlavi literature. Nonetheless it must be authoritative since it is found in our main sources of Zoroastrian (Pahlavi) cosmogony and there does not seem to be an alternative account of the formation of celestial bodies. It thus prompts us to look for its background. This article presents and discusses the texts that contain the Pahlavi doctrine, examines its Avestan roots, and shows the influence of Presocratic cosmogonic speculations on the doctrine. Further, comparative material allows us to propose a conceptual genealogy of the basic constituents of the doctrine.

Keywords

Zoroastrian Doctrine of CreationAvestaPahlavi LiteratureCosmologyPresocratic Natural Philosophy
Type
Hermeneutics and Religious Texts
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 54 , Issue 3-4 , July 2021 , pp. 453 - 484
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2021

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Footnotes

The author wishes to thank the editors and the anonymous reviewers of Iranian Studies for their helpful comments, suggestions, and criticisms on an earlier version of this article.

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