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Revision as of 16:50, 2 August 2006 by Fullstop (talk | contribs) (made disambig as per talk.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Zurvan is the name of the first principle (creator deity) in several different religious systems:
- In Zurvanism (Zurvanite Zoroastrianism) as Zurwān Akarāna, the progenitor of Ohrmuzd and Ahriman.
- In Manichaeism, where Zurvan is the Middle Persian name that Mani used in his Shapurgan to signify his "Father of Greatness" (Aramaic: Abbā dəRabbūṯā), the primordial deity of light.
- In Sogdian Buddhism, as ʔzrwʔ (where both instances of ʔ represent some vowel) referred to the high deity Brahmā.
- In Mithraism, where the adherents of the Roman cult applied the Persian word for 'time' to their Causa Prima (creator god). The Mithraic use of Zurvan is a translation of Greek Cronus/Aeon - conceptually, the Mithraic deity was a conflation of Hellenic Cronus and Roman Saturnus.
- In Theosophy, which incorporated elements of Zurvanite Zoroastrianism.