You can mark you interesting snippets of text that will be available through a unique link in your browser.


Zurvanism

Translation
Zurvanism
—Zurvanite, n.
/zerr"veuh niz'euhm/, n.
a Zoroastrian heresy that developed during the late Achaemenian period according to which both Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu were offspring of Zurvan.
Also, Zervanism.
[ZURVAN + -ISM]

* * *

also spelled  Zervanism,  

      modified form of Zoroastrianism that appeared in Persia during the Sāsānian period (3rd–7th century AD). It was opposed to orthodox Zoroastrianism, which by that time had become dualistic in doctrine. According to Zurvanism, time alone—limitless, eternal, and uncreated—is the source of all things.

      Zurvān, god of time and fate, remotely influences human destinies, appearing under two aspects: Limitless Time (i.e., eternal lord; Zurvān Akarana) and Time of Long Dominion (i.e., lord of the existing world; Zurvān Dareghō-Chvadhāta). His worship is bound up with speculations about astrology and the world-year. He bears the epithets ashōqar, frashōqar, and zarōqar (meanings disputed), and the qualities these apparently indicate were construed as concrete, Zurvān being worshipped in four forms.

      In later writings Zurvān is seen as the father of Ormazd and Ahriman (see Ahura Mazdā), perhaps a result of contact between Zoroastrianism and Greco-Babylonian astrological speculations. (Zurvanism appears to have had its stronghold in western Persia, bordering Babylonia.) Some scholars seek an origin for Zurvanism outside Zoroastrianism, in the worship of an ancient Median or pre-Iranian god. Although in its fatalism and pessimism Zurvanism is basically opposed to true Zoroastrianism, it seems probable that in cult and in a large body of doctrine it made few breaks with orthodoxy. It was in Zurvanite form that Zoroastrianism influenced Mithraism (in which Zurvān was an important deity) and Manichaeism.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

  
Share  

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Zurvanism — is a now extinct branch of Zoroastrianism that had the divinity Zurvan as its First Principle (primordial creator deity). Zurvanism is also known as Zurvanite Zoroastrianism.In Zurvanism, Zurvan is the hypostasis of Time (and Space). The name, as …   Wikipedia

  • Zurvanism — Религия: зерванизм …   Универсальный англо-русский словарь

  • Zurvan (In Zurvanism, god of time and fate) — Религия: Зурван …   Универсальный англо-русский словарь

  • Eastern philosophy — Philosophy ( …   Wikipedia

  • Monster Magnet — live in Spain, 2008. Background information Origin New Jersey, United States …   Wikipedia

  • Ahura Mazda — Ormuzd redirects here. For the kingdom of Ohrmuzd, see Ormus. Hormazd redirects here. For the Sassanid rulers, see Hormizd. Mobed (right, with high crown) invests Ardashir I (left) with the ring of kingship. (Naqsh e Rustam, 3rd c. CE) Ahura… …   Wikipedia

  • Evil twin — Evil twins are antagonists found in many different fictional genres. They are physical copies of protagonists, but with radically inverted moralities. In filmed entertainment, they can have obvious physical differences with the protagonist such… …   Wikipedia

  • Zurvan — is the Avestan language word for time, with the same range of meaning as in the English language. Zurvan is a creator deity characterized by passionlessness, aloofness and unimpeachability in several different religious systems: * in Zurvanism… …   Wikipedia

  • Zoroastrians in Iran — have had a long history, being the oldest religious community of that nation to survive to the present day. Prior to the Muslim Arab invasion of Persia (Iran), Zoroastrianism had been the primary religion of the Persian people.Since the fall of… …   Wikipedia

  • Kartir — Hangirpe (alternatively, Karder or Kirdir) was a highly influential Zoroastrian high priest of the late 3rd century CE and served as advisor to at least three Sassanid emperors. Kartir was probably instrumental in promoting the cause of Mazdaism… …   Wikipedia