Ahura Mazda (right, with high crown) invests Ardashir I (left) with the ring of kingship. (Naqsh-e Rustam, 3rd c. CE)

Ahura Mazda (Persian: اهورا مزدا; Ahura Mazdā), (Armenian: Արամազդ; Aramazd), (also known as Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hourmazd, Hormazd, Hurmuz, and Azzandara) is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism. Ahura Mazda is described as the highest deity of worship in Zoroastrianism, along with being the first and most frequently invoked deity in the Yasna. The word Ahura means light and Mazda means wisdom. Thus Ahura Mazda is the lord of light and wisdom. Ahura Mazda is the creator and upholder of Arta (truth). Ahura Mazda is an omniscient (though not omnipotent) god, who would eventually destroy evil. Ahura Mazda's counterpart is Angra Mainyu, the "evil spirit" and the creator of evil who will be destroyed before frashokereti (the destruction of evil).

Ahura Mazda first appeared in the Achaemenid period (c. 550–330 BCE) under Darius I's Behistun Inscription. Until Artaxerxes II (405-04 to 359-58 BCE), Ahura Mazda was worshiped and invoked alone. With Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda was invoked in a triad, with Mithra and Apam Napat. In the Achaemenid period, there are no representations of Ahura Mazda other than the custom for every emperor to have an empty chariot drawn by white horses, to invite Ahura Mazda to accompany the Persian army on battles. Images of Ahura Mazda began in the Parthian period, but were stopped and replaced with stone carved figures in the Sassanid period.

Nomenclature[link]

Part of a series on Zoroastrianism

Portal

Primary topics

Zoroastrianism Ahura Mazda Zarathustra aša (asha) / arta

Angels and demons

Amesha Spentas · Yazatas Ahuras · Daevas Angra Mainyu

Scripture and worship

Avesta Gathas · Yasna Vendidad · Visperad Yashts · Khordeh Avesta Ab-Zohr The Ahuna Vairya Invocation Fire Temples

Accounts and legends

Dēnkard · Bundahišn Book of Arda Viraf Book of Jamasp Story of Sanjan

History and culture

Zurvanism Calendar · Festivals Marriage Eschatology

Adherents

Zoroastrians in Iran Parsis · Iranis • • • Persecution of Zoroastrians

See also

Index of Related Articles

This box: view talk edit

"Mazda", or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå, reflects Proto-Iranian *Mazdāh (female). It is generally taken to be the proper name of the deity, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means "intelligence" or "wisdom". Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European *mn̩sdʰeh₁, literally meaning "placing (*dʰeh₁) one's mind (*mn̩-s)", hence "wise".^[1]

"Ahura" was originally an adjective meaning ahuric, characterizing a specific Indo-Iranian entity named *asura.^[2][3][4] Although traces of this figure are still evident in the oldest texts of both India and Iran,^[5] in both cultures the word eventually appears as the epithet of other divinities.

Previously, the transliteration Ahuramazda (Old Persian) was used during the Achaemenid era, Hormazd/Aramazd (Middle Persian) during the Parthian era and Ohrmazd (New Persian Hormoz) was used during the Sassanian era.^[6]

Characteristics[link]

Even though Ahura Mazda was a deity in the Old Iranian religion, he had not yet been given the title of "uncreated God". This title was given by Zoroaster who proclaimed Ahura Mazda as the uncreated God, wholly wise, benevolent and good, as well as the creator and upholder of Arta ("truth"). As Ahura Mazda is described as the creator and upholder of Arta, he is a supporter and guardian of justice, and the friend of the just man. Zoroaster stated that Ahura Mazda was not an omnipotent God, but one that could destroy evil eventually. While Ahura Mazda was not omnipotent, Zoroaster stated that Ahura Mazda was still omniscient.^[1]

Zoroaster also spoke of a rival to Ahura Mazda, who was similarly uncreated. This rival was the evil spirit, Angra Mainyu. One of Ahura Mazda's objectives is to destroy Angra Mainyu and create a universe which is completely good. To achieve such a universe, Ahura Mazda initially offered Angra Mainyu peace, which Angra Mainyu refused. Ahura Mazda then set out to establish a spiritual army. One of his first acts was the creation of the seven Amesha Spentas, who were spirits to monitor and protect each of the seven creations.^[1]

Zoroaster's revelation[link]

At the age of 30, Zoroaster received a revelation. While Zoroaster was fetching water from dawn for a sacred ritual, he saw the shining figure of the yazata, Vohu Manah, who led Zoroaster to the presence of Ahura Mazda, where he was taught the cardinal principles of the Good Religion. As a result of this vision, Zoroaster felt that he was chosen to spread and preach the religion.^[7] The Old Iranian Religion worshiped many gods called daevas, along with three greater gods, each bearing the title Ahura. Zoroaster proclaimed that only one of these three gods, Ahura Mazda was the sole uncreated creator of the universe. He stated that this source of all goodness was the only Ahura worthy of the highest worship. He further stated that Ahura Mazda created spirits known as yazatas to aid him, who also merited devotion. Zoroaster proclaimed that all of the Iranian daevas were demons and deserved no worship. These demons were created by Angra Mainyu, the hostile spirit. The existence of Angra Mainyu was the source of all sin and misery in the universe. Zoroaster claimed that Ahura Mazda was not an omnipotent God, but used the aid of humans in the cosmic struggle against Angra Mainyu. Nonetheless, Ahura Mazda is Angra Mainyu's superior, not his equal. Angra Mainyu and his daevas which attempt to afflict humans away from the path of righteousness (asha) would eventually be destroyed.^[8]

History[link]

Achaemenid Empire[link]

The Behistun Inscription contains many references to Ahura Mazda.

Whether the Achaemenids were Zoroastrians is a matter of much debate. However, it is known that the Achaemenids were worshipers of Ahura Mazda.^[9] The representation and invocation of Ahura Mazda can be seen on royal inscriptions written by Achaemenid kings. The most notable of all the inscriptions is the Behistun Inscription written by Darius I which contain many references to Ahura Mazda. Beginning from Darius' reign until Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda is invoked alone^{[dubious – discuss]}. Under the reign of Artaxerxes II, royal inscriptions stopped the sole invocation of Ahura Mazda and began invoking a triad of divinities, Ahura Mazda, Mithra, and Anahita. An inscription written in Greek was found in a late Achaemenid temple at Persepolis which invoked Ahura Mazda and two other divinities, most likely Mithra and Anahita. On the Elamite Persepolis Fortification Tablet 377, Ahura Mazda is invoked along with Mithra and Voruna (Apam Napat). Artaxerxes III makes this invocation to the three divinities again in his reign.

The early Achaemind period contained no representation of Ahura Mazda. The winged symbol with a male figure who was formerly regarded by European scholars as Ahura Mazda has been shown to represent the royal xvarənah, the personification of royal power and glory. However, it was customary for every emperor from Cyrus until Darius III to have an empty chariot drawn by white horses to accompany the Persian army on battles. The use of images of Ahura Mazda began in the western satraps of the Achaemenid Empire in the late 5th century BCE. Under Artaxerxes II, the first literary reference as well as a statue of Ahura Mazda was built by a Persian governor of Lydia in 365 BCE.^[10]

Parthian Empire[link]

It is known that the reverence for Ahura Mazda, as well as Anahita and Mithra continued with the same traditions during this period. The worship of Ahura Mazda with images is noticed, but it stopped with the beginning of the Sassanid period. Zoroastrian iconoclasm, which can be traced to the end of the Parthian period and the beginning of the Sassanid, eventually put an end to the use of all images of Ahura Mazda in worship. However, Ahura Mazda remained a dignified male figure, standing or on horseback which is found in Sassanian investiture.^[10]

Sassanid Empire[link]

Investiture scene: Anahita on the left as the patron yazata of the Sassanian dynasty behind Emperor Khosrau Parviz with Ahura Mazda presenting the diadem of sovereignty on the right. Taq-e Bostan, Iran.

Investiture of Sassanid emperor Shapur II (center) with Mithra (left) and Ahura Mazda (right) at Taq-e Bostan, Iran.

During the Sassanid Empire, a heretical^[11][12][13] form of Zoroastrianism, termed Zurvanism, emerged. It gained adherents throughout the Sassanid Empire, most notably the royal lineage of Sassanian emperors. Under the reign of Shapur I, Zurvanism spread and became a widespread cult. Zurvanism revokes Zoroaster's original message of Ahura Mazda as the uncreated God, and the "uncreated creator" of all, and reduces him to a created deity, one of two twin sons of Zurvan, their father and the primary deity. Zurvanism also makes Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu of equal strength and only contrasting divinities.

Other than Zurvanism, the Sassanian kings demonstrated their devotion to Ahura Mazda in other fashions. Five kings took the name Hormizd and Bahram II created the title of "Ohrmazd-mowbad" which was continued after the fall of the Sassanid Empire and through the Islamic times. All devotional acts in Zoroastrianism originating from the Sassanian period begin with homage to Ahura Mazda. The five Gāhs begin with the declaration in Middle Persian, that "Ohrmazd is Lord" and incorporate the Gathic verse "Whom, Mazda hast thou appointed my protector". Zoroastrian prayers are to be said in the presence of light, either in the form of fire or the sun. In the Iranian dialects of Yidḡa and Munǰī, the sun is still called "ormozd".^[10]

Present-day Zoroastrianism[link]

In 1884, Martin Haug proposed a new interpretation of Yasna 30.3 that subsequently influenced Zoroastrian doctrine to a significant extent. According to Haug's interpretation, the "twin spirits" of 30.3 were Angra Mainyu and Spenta Mainyu, the former being literally the "Destructive Spirit"^{[n 1]} and the latter being the 'Bounteous Spirit' (of Mazda). Further, in Haug's scheme Angra Mainyu was now not Ahura Mazda's binary opposite, but—like Spenta Mainyu—an emanation of Him. Haug also interpreted the concept of a free will of Yasna 45.9 as an accommodation to explain where Angra Mainyu came from since Ahura Mazda created only good. The free will made it possible for Angra Mainyu to choose to be evil. Although these latter conclusions were not substantiated by Zoroastrian tradition,^[1] at the time Haug's interpretation was gratefully accepted by the Parsis of Bombay since it provided a defense against Christian missionary rhetoric,^{[n 2]} particularly the attacks on the Zoroastrian idea of an uncreated Evil that was as uncreated as God was. Following Haug, the Bombay Parsis began to defend themselves in the English language press; the argument being that Angra Mainyu was not Mazda's binary opposite, but his subordinate, who—as in Zurvanism also—chose to be evil. Consequently, Haug's theories were disseminated as a Parsi interpretation, also in the West, where they appeared to be corroborating Haug. Reinforcing themselves, Haug's ideas came to be iterated so often that they are today almost universally accepted as doctrine.^{[10][14][n 3]}

In other religions[link]

In Manichaeism, the name Ohrmazd Bay ("god Ahura Mazda") was used for the primal figure Nāšā Qaḏmāyā, the "original man" and emanation of the Father of Greatness (in Manicheism called Zurvan) through whom after he sacrificed himself to defend the world of light was consumed by the forces of darkness. Although Ormuzd is freed from the world of darkness his "sons", often called his garments or weapons, remain. His sons, later known as the World Soul after a series of events will for the most part escape from matter and return again to the world of light where they came from. Manicheans often identified many of Mani's cosmological figures with Zoroastrian ones. This may be in part because Mani was born in the greatly Zoroastrian Parthian Empire. However another reason for why this may be is that, in Manichaeism, the religions of Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Buddhism were in fact deviations of the true religion that Mani taught and in a way they were the same religion, hence making it easier to identify the cosmological figures of Mani with the cosmological figures of Zoroastrianism.^[15]

In Sogdian Buddhism, Xwrmztʼ (Sogdian was written without a consistent representation of vowels) was the name used in place of Ahura Mazda.^[16][17] Via contacts with Turkic peoples like the Uyghurs, this Sogdian name came to the Mongols, who still name this deity Qormusta Tengri; Qormusta (or Qormusda) is now a popular enough deity to appear in many contexts that are not explicitly Buddhist.^[18]

The Urartians had Aramazd as principal deity in their pantheon of gods. He is thought to be a syncretic deity, a combination of the autochthonous Urartian figure Ara and the Iranic Ahura Mazda.

In popular culture[link]

• Ormazd and Ahriman feature in the 2008 video game, Prince of Persia.

Notes[link]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

Further reading[link]

Zoroastrianism portal

• Ahuramazda and Zoroastrianism
• Dhalla, Maneckji Nusservanji (1938), History of Zoroastrianism, New York: OUP, ISBN 0-404-12806-8 
• Boyce, Mary (2001), "Mithra the King and Varuna the Master", Festschrift für Helmut Humbach zum 80., Trier: WWT, pp. 239–257 
• Humbach, Helmut (1991), The Gathas of Zarathushtra and the other Old Avestan texts, Heidelberg: Winter, ISBN 3-533-04473-4 
• Kent, Roland G. (1945), "Old Persian Texts", Journal of Near Eastern Studies 4 (4): 228–233, DOI:10.1086/370756 
• Kuiper, Bernardus Franciscus Jacobus (1983), "Ahura", Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1, New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 682–683 
• Kuiper, Bernardus Franciscus Jacobus (1976), "Ahura Mazdā 'Lord Wisdom'?", Indo-Iranian Journal 18 (1-2): 25–42 
• Ware, James R.; Kent, Roland G. (1924), "The Old Persian Cuneiform Inscriptions of Artaxerxes II and Artaxerxes III", Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association (The Johns Hopkins University Press) 55: 52–61, DOI:10.2307/283007, JSTOR 283007 
• Kent, Roland G. (1950), Old Persian: Grammar, texts, lexicon, New Haven: American Oriental Society, ISBN 0-940490-33-1 
• Andrea, Alfred; James H. Overfield (2000), The Human Record: Sources of Global History : To 1700, 4 (Illustrated ed.), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, ISBN 978-0-618-04245-6, http://books.google.com/?id=tiz6jbjgSjEC&pg=PA87&dq=ahura+mazda&cd=15#v=onepage&q= 
• Schlerath, Bernfried (1983), "Ahurānī", Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1, New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 683–684 
• The Gathas application for IPhone & IPad
• 101 Names of Dadar Hormazd Android Application

 id:canvas  value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97)
 id:white  value:rgb(1,1,1)
 id:subtitle  value:gray(0.8)
 id:grid1   value:gray(0.7)
 id:grid2   value:gray(0.88)
 id:black   value:rgb(0,0,0)
 id:events value:rgb(0.75,1,0.75)
 id:mark1   value:rgb(0,0.7,0)
 id:mark2    value:rgb(0.7,0,0)
 id:years    value:gray(0.5)
 id:lives    value:gray(0.5)
 id:mediterr    value:rgb(0.8,0.6,0.4)
 id:eba  value:rgb(0.45,0.4,0.25)
 id:mba  value:rgb(0.67,0.6,0.375)
 id:lba  value:rgb(0.9,0.8,0.5)
 id:eia  value:rgb(1,0.6,0.5)
  

 bar:periods
 bar:egypt
 bar:mesopot
 bar:assyria
 bar:canaan
 bar:anatolia
 bar:mediterr

 barset:events

 mark:(line,black)
 fontsize:S
 shift:(5,-6)

 barset:events
 barset:break
 width:8
 at:-3300 text:Kish tablet
 at:-3100 text:Warka Vase
 at:-3050 text:Narmer Palette
 from:-2620 till:-2560 color:lives shift:(25,-6)  text:Great Sphinx
 from:-2400 till:-2350 color:lives shift:(17,-6)  text:Ur-Nanshe
 from:-2285 till:-2250 color:lives shift:(12,-6) text:Enheduanna
 from:-2144 till:-2124 color:lives shift:(10,-6) text:Gudea
 at:-2050 text:Code of Ur-Nammu
 from:-1970 till:-1830 color:lives shift:(46,-6) text:Kültepe texts
 at:-1900 text:Linear A 
 at:-1800 text:introduction of chariot warfare
 at:-1700 text:Code of Hammurabi
 at:-1500 text:Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
 at:-1457 text:Battle of Megiddo
 from:-1352 till:-1335 color:lives shift:(10,-6)  text:Akhenaten
 at:-1312 text:Mursili's eclipse
 at:-1274 text:Battle of Kadesh
 from:-1250 till:-1150 color:lives shift:(35,-6)  text:Bronze Age collapse
 at:-1190 text:Troy VIIa
 from:-1186 till:-1156 color:lives shift:(14,-6) text:Ramesses III
 from:-1115 till:-1076 color:lives shift:(14,-6)  text:Tiglath-Pileser I
 at:-1050 text:Phoenician alphabet
 from:-884 till:-859 color:lives shift:(10,-6) text:Ashur-nasir-pal II
 at:-813 text:Carthage
 at:-750 text:Greek alphabet
 from:-745 till:-727 color:lives shift:(10,-6) text:Tiglath-Pileser III
 at:-612  shift:(-75,-6)  text:Fall of Nineveh

 width:15
 bar:periods
 from:-3300 till:-3000 shift:(10,-3) color:eba text:EBA I
 from:-3000 till:-2700 shift:(10,-3) color:eba text:EBA II
 from:-2700 till:-2200 shift:(10,-3) color:eba text:EBA III
 from:-2200 till:-2000 shift:(10,-3) color:eba text:EBA IV
 from:-2000 till:-1750 shift:(10,-3) color:mba text:MBA I
 from:-1750 till:-1550 shift:(2,-3) color:mba text:MBA II-III
 from:-1550 till:-1400 shift:(10,-3) color:lba text:LBA I
 from:-1400 till:-1200 shift:(10,-3) color:lba text:LBA II
 from:-1200 till:-1000 shift:(10,-3) color:eia text:Iron Age I
 from:-1000 till:-586 shift:(10,-3) color:eia text:Iron Age II

 bar:egypt
 from:start till:-3200 shift:(2,-2) color:yellow text:Pre-,
 from:-3200 till:-3000 shift:(0,-2) color:yellow text:Protodynastic
 from:-2920 till:-2686 shift:(2,-2) color:yellow text:Early Dynastic
 from:-2686 till:-2183 shift:(10,-2) color:yellow text:Old Kingdom
 from:-2030 till:-1650 shift:(10,-2) color:yellow text:Middle Kingdom
 from:-1650 till:-1540 shift:(0,-2) color:yellow text:Hyksos
 from:-1540 till:-1077 shift:(10,-2) color:yellow text:New Kingdom
 from:-1070 till:end shift:(10,-2) color:yellow text:3rd Intermediate Period

bar:mesopot
 from:-3300 till:-2900 shift:(2,-2) color:orange text:Uruk III-IV
 from:-2900 till:-2334 shift:(2,-2) color:orange text:Early Dynastic Sumer
 from:-2333 till:-2150 shift:(2,-2) color:orange text:Akkad
 from:-2150 till:-2050 shift:(0,-2) color:orange text:Gutian
 from:-2050 till:-1940 shift:(2,-2) color:orange text:Ur III
 from:-1894 till:-1595 shift:(2,-2) color:orange text:Old Babylonian
 from:-1595 till:-1155 shift:(2,-2) color:orange text:Kassites
 from:-1155 till:-1025 shift:(2,-2) color:orange text:Isin
 from:-911 till:-626 shift:(-4,-2) color:red text:
 from:-626 till:end shift:(0,-2) color:orange text:Kaldu

bar:assyria
 from:-2400 till:-2240 shift:(2,-2) color:red text:Ebla
 from:-1900 till:-1600 shift:(2,-2) color:red text:Old Assyrian
 from:-1600 till:-1240 shift:(2,-2) color:red text:Hurrians
 from:-911 till:-612 shift:(2,4) color:red text:Neo-Assyrian

bar:canaan
 from:-1800 till:-1600 shift:(4,-2) color:purple text:"Amorites"
 from:-1450 till:-1200 shift:(4,-2) color:purple text:Ugarit
 from:-1030 till:-587 shift:(4,-2) color:purple text:Israel and Judah

bar:anatolia
from:-2100 till:-1950 shift:(4,-2) color:green text:Troy IV
from:-1750 till:-1550 shift:(4,-2) color:green text:Old Hittite
from:-1400 till:-1160 shift:(4,-2) color:green text:New Hittite
from:-1160 till:-700 shift:(4,-2) color:green text:Syro-Hittite polities, Urartu

 bar:mediterr
from:-1900 till:-1700 shift:(2,-2) color:mediterr text:Protopalatial
from:-1700 till:-1450 shift:(2,-2)  color:mediterr text:Neopalatial
from:-1450 till:-1100 shift:(2,-2)  color:mediterr text:Mycenaean Greece
from:-1100 till:-750 shift:(2,-2)  color:mediterr text:Greek Dark Ages
from:-750 till:end shift:(2,-2)  color:mediterr text:Archaic Greece

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Its only attribution is to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for biographical information. Please help by adding additional, reliable sources for verification. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2009)

Diana Uribe (born October 8, 1976) is a television and film actress, best known for her work as "Lorena Costa" on the television series California Dreams, on which she appeared from 1994 to 1996. Uribe went on to play temporary supporting roles on Nash Bridges and Strong Medicine, but has not acted on television since 2001.

She has since married and had two children.

External links[link]

• Diana Uribe at the Internet Movie Database

This article about a film and TV actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e