Fire, the Greatest God (ātarš … mazišta yazata)

The Cult of the “Eternal” Fire in the Rituals in Avestan

Bibliographic Data

ID17226992
AuthorsAlberto Cantera (0000-0003-1905-2145, 1 FU Berlin Institut für Iranistik, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume62
Issue1
Pages19-61
Publication date2019-03-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndo-Iranian Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0019-7246 • E-ISSN: 1572-8536
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/15728536-06201004
OpenAlexW2923834271
LanguageEN
References cited9

The lack of evidence for the existence of fire temples in ancient Iran has been used as an argument for the absence of the concept of the “eternal fire” in the Avestan texts. However, a new analysis of the final section of the Long Liturgy shows that the fire was usually removed from the sacrificial area before the recitation of Yasna 62.7 and transported back to the “house of men” from which it had been taken. As such, the Long Liturgy partly appears as a functional equivalent of the bōy dādan ceremonies performed for the feeding of the fire at the fire temples in later times. This new reading of the final section of the liturgy is the result of a re-evaluation of the manuscripts, highlighting the shortcomings of previous editions of the Long Liturgy. Furthermore, the new interpretation approaches the Long Liturgy from a non Yasna-centric perspective, taking into account the Yasna as well as the Visperad (and other variants)

Archaeology · Argument (complex analysis) · Art · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Literature · Liturgy · Reading (process) · Section (typography) · Theology · Ancient Near East History · Computer Science · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Linguistics and language evolution · Medicine · Philosophy