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Ahura Mazda, The Rock-Cut Tombs of Qizqapan
Two close-up images of “Ahura Mazda” at the façade of the rock-cut tombs of Ashkawt-i Qizqapan (Kurdish: The Cave of the Ravisher or the Cave of the Raped/Abducted Girl). The upper image dates to June 14, 1999, while the lower one was shot...
Definition
Mithra
Mithra is the Persian god of the rising sun, contracts, covenants, and friendship. He also oversaw the orderly change of the seasons, maintained cosmic order, and was responsible for bestowing divine grace on kings, legitimizing their rule...
Definition
Achaemenid Empire
East of the Zagros Mountains, a high plateau stretches off towards India. While Egypt was rising up against the Hyksos, a wave of pastoral tribes from north of the Caspian Sea was drifting down into this area and across into India. By the...
Definition
Ancient Persian Culture
Ancient Persian culture flourished between the reign of Cyrus II (The Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE), founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, and the fall of the Sassanian Empire in 651 CE. Even so, the foundations of Persian culture were already...
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Monotheism in the Ancient World
Monotheism is simply defined as the belief in one god and is usually positioned as the polar opposite of polytheism, the belief in many gods. However, the word monotheism is a relatively modern one that was coined in the mid-17th century...
Definition
Parthian Religion
Parthian religion might be best described with two words: inclusive and evolving. As Parthia's empire held within it a variety of cultures, the Parthians wisely left each to their own beliefs and traditions, like the Seleucid Empire and the...
Definition
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE, also given as Sassanian, Sasanid or Sassanid) was the last pre-Islamic Persian empire, established in 224 CE by Ardeshir I, son of Papak, descendant of Sasan. The Empire lasted until 651 CE when it was overthrown...
Definition
Religion in the Ancient World
Religion (from the Latin Religio, meaning 'restraint,' or Relegere, according to Cicero, meaning 'to repeat, to read again,' or, most likely, Religionem, 'to show respect for what is sacred') is an organized system of beliefs and practices...
Definition
Shapur II
Shapur II (r. 309-379 CE, also Sapur II) was the tenth monarch of the Sassanian Empire (224-651 CE) and among the most successful. Under his reign – which lasted his entire life – the Avesta (Zoroastrian scripture) was committed to writing...
Definition
Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam (also given as Umar Khayyam, l. 1048-1131 CE) was a Persian polymath, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher but is best known in the West as a poet, the author of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. His famous work has been embraced...