Ahmadi - The Daēva Cult in the Gāthās

Addressing the question of the origins of the Zoroastrian religion, this book argues that the intransigent opposition to the cult of the davas, the ancient Indo-Iranian gods, is the root of the development of the two central doctrines of Zoroastrianism: cosmic dualism and eschatology (fate of the soul after death and its passage to the other world).

The dava cult as it appears in the Gths, the oldest part of the Zoroastrian sacred text, the Avesta, had eschatological pretensions. The poet of the Gths condemns these as deception. The book critically examines various theories put forward since the nineteenth century to account for the condemnation of the davas. It then turns to the relevant Gthic passages and analyses them in detail in order to give a picture of the cult and the reasons for its repudiation. Finally, it examines materials from other sources, especially the Greek accounts of Iranian ritual lore (mainly) in the context of the mystery cults. Classical Greek writers consistently associate the nocturnal ceremony of the magi with the mysteries as belonging to same religious-cultural category. This shows that Iranian religious lore included a nocturnal rite that aimed at ensuring the souls journey to the beyond and a desirable afterlife.

Challenging the prevalent scholarship of the Greek interpretation of Iranian religious lore and proposing a new analysis of the formation of the Hellenistic concept of magic, this book is an important resource for students and scholars of History, Religion and Iranian Studies.

Amir Ahmadi is an Adjunct Researcher at the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University, Australia. He has published in Philosophy, History of Religions and Iranian Studies.

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The Dava Cult in the Gths
An ideological archaeology of Zoroastrianism
Amir Ahmadi

The Dava Cult in the Gths

An ideological archaeology of
Zoroastrianism

Amir Ahmadi

First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2015 Amir Ahmadi

The right of Amir Ahmadi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Ahmadi, Amir.
The Dava cult in the Gths: an ideological archaeology of
Zoroastrianism / Amir Ahmadi.
pages cm. (Iranian studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Avesta. Yasna. GathasCriticism, interpretation, etc.
2. Zoroastrian gods. I. Title.
BL1515.5.Y3A73 2015
295dc23
2014035443

ISBN: 978-1-138-84766-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-72661-8 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Out of House Publishing

PART 1
Preamble

PART 2
Preamble

PART 3
Preamble

I warmly thank Almut Hintze for her encouragement, advice and support. She generously shared with me her thorough knowledge of the Avesta. I am grateful to Antonio Panaino for his enthusiastic engagement with the arguments of this book. Almut and Antonio each read a version of this monograph and offered many helpful comments. Responsibility for any error of fact or interpretation is, of course, mine alone. I am indebted to the editors of the Iranian Studies Series at Routledge, Homa Katouzian and M. Tavakoli-Targhi, for including this monograph in their series. Finally, my thanks go to Joe Whiting at Routledge for his support of this project, and to Kat Rylance for overseeing the publication.

This book could not have been written without the loving support of my partner Alison Ross.

Certain sections of this book have been previously published. is a shorter version of Ahmadi, A 2014, The