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Zurvan is the Persian god of infinite time, space, and fate. In ancient times the deity was worshipped among other ancient Iranian peoples as well.
Etymology and derivatives
Zurvan represents Middle Persian zurwān, "time", corresponding to Avestan zruvā, stem zruvan-. In the Avesta the name is not used as the name of a deity. Zurwān was also called Akanārag, meaning "boundless" or "unlimited" in Middle Persian.
Among the East Iranian Sogdians, Zurvan's name was written with characters corresponding to ʔzrwʔ (where both instances of ʔ represent some vowel). This seems to have been the name of the highest deity among the Sogdians, for it was used by the Buddhist Sogdians to refer to the high deity Brahmā and by the Manichaean Sogdians to refer to their ultimate deity Abbā dəRabbūthā ("the Father of Greatness"). In both of these systems, ʔzrwʔ was senior to xwrmztʔ (the Sogdian equivalent of Ahura Mazda).
The Sogdian name was borrowed into Old Turkish as Äzrua, from which it passed into Mongolian as Esrua, where it is still used today by Mongolian Buddhists as a name for Brahmā.
Characteristics
The deity is represented as being nameless (the name Zurvan being an appellative title), without gender and passions, and neutral in regard to good and evil. In certain strains of Zoroastrianism, Zurvan is also the father of the good deity, Ahura Mazda, and the evil deity, Angra Mainyu.
Zurvan is often depicted as a winged figure with the head of a lion and a serpent wrapped around the body.
There are three different opinions among scholars regarding the origin of this teaching:
- Some assert that Zurvan was part of the original teachings of Zoroastrianism
- Some assert that Zurvan was a local deity who predated the Zoroastrian religion
- Some assert that Zurvan was a later addition to Zoroastrian belief
The earliest solid evidence for a belief in Zurvan seems to date from the Sassanid dynasty, which ruled Persia from 224 to 651.
Historians who differentiate between orthodox Zoroastrianism and the "Zurvanite heresy" sometimes refer to the latter as Zurvanism. Other scholars question whether or not "Zurvanism" can be considered a separate faith.
Zurvan in Western esoteric thought
The theosophist Helena Blavatsky asserted that Zoroaster taught that Zurvan was the father of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu.
External links
Additional Reading
- Zaehner, Robert Charles. Zurvan: A Zoroastrian Dilemma. Biblo-Moser (1972), ISBN 0819602809. The classic work examining the uncertain history of belief in Zurvan.
- Cumont, Franz. The Mysteries of Mithra. ISBN 0486203239