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Anahita
Anahita /ɑːnəˈhiːtə/ is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as Aradvi Sura Anahita (Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" (Aban) and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom. There is also a temple named Anahita in Iran. Aredvi Sura Anahita is Ardwisur Anahid (اردویسور آناهید) in Middle and Modern Persian, and Anahit in Armenian. An iconic shrine sects of Aredvi Sura Anahita was, together with other shrine sects, "introduced apparently in the 4th century BCE and lasted until it was suppressed in the wake of an iconoclastic movement under the Sasanids." The symbol of goddess Anahita is the Lotus flower. Lotus Festival (Persian: Jashn-e Nilupar) is an Iranian festival that is held on the end of the first week of July. Holding this festival at this time was probably based on the blooming of lotus flowers at the beginning of summer.
The Greek and Roman historians of classical antiquity either refer to her as Anaïtis or identify her with one of the divinities from their own pantheons.[which?] 270 Anahita, a silicaceous S-type asteroid, is named after her. Based on the development of her sect, she was described as a syncretistic goddess, who was composed of two independent elements. The first is a manifestation of the Indo-Iranian idea of the Heavenly River who provides the waters to the rivers and streams flowing in the earth while the second is that of a goddess of uncertain origin, though maintaining her own unique characteristics, who became associated with the sect of the ancient Mesopotamian goddess Inanna-Ishtar. According to one theory, this arose partly from a desire to make Anahita part of Zoroastrianism following the diffusion of her sect from the extreme northwest into the rest of Persia.
According to Herman Lommel, the proper name of the divinity in Indo-Iranian times was Sarasvatī, which also means "she who possesses waters". In Avestan, the name 𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬛𐬎𐬎𐬍⸱𐬯𐬏𐬭𐬁⸱𐬀𐬥𐬁𐬵𐬌𐬙𐬀 (Arəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā) means "of the waters, mighty, and immaculate". Like the Indian Sarasvatī, Anāhitā nurtures crops and herds; and she is hailed both as a divinity and as the mythical river which she personifies, "as great in bigness as all these waters which flow forth upon the earth" (Yasht 5.3).
Only Arədvī (a word otherwise unknown, perhaps with an original meaning "moist") is specific to the divinity. The words sūra and anāhīta are generic Avestan language adjectives, and respectively mean "mighty" and "pure". Both adjectives also appear as epithets of other divinities or divine concepts such as Haoma and the Fravashis. Both adjectives are also attested in Vedic Sanskrit.
As a divinity of the waters (Abān), the yazata is of Indo-Iranian origin, according to Lommel related to Sanskrit Sarasvatī that, like its Proto-Iranian equivalent *Harahwatī, derives from Indo-Iranian *Saraswatī. In its old Iranian form *Harahwatī, "her name was given to the region, rich in rivers, whose modern capital is Kabul (Avestan Haraxvaitī, Old Persian Hara(h)uvati-, Greek Arachosia)." "Like the Devi Saraswati, [Aredvi Sura Anahita] nurtures crops and herds; and is hailed both as a divinity and the mythical river that she personifies, 'as great in bigness as all these waters which flow forth upon the earth'." Some historians note that despite Anahita's Aryan roots and the way she represented the commonly shared concept of the Heavenly River, which in the Vedas was represented by the goddess Sarasvatī (the later heavenly Ganga), she had no counterpart in the ancient text who bear the same name or one that remotely resembled hers.
In the (Middle-)Persian texts of the Sasanid and later eras, Arədvī Sūra Anāhīta appears as Ardwisur Anāhīd. The evidence suggests a western Iranian origin of Anāhīta. (see borrowing from Babylonia, below).
At some point prior to the 4th century BCE, this yazata was conflated with (an analogue of)[α] Semitic Ištar, likewise a divinity of "maiden" fertility and from whom Aredvi Sura Anahita then inherited additional features of a divinity of war and of the planet Venus or "Zohreh" in Arabic. It was moreover the association with the planet Venus, "it seems, which led Herodotus to record that the [Persis][γ] learnt 'to sacrifice to "the heavenly goddess"' from the Assyrians and Arabians." There are sources who based their theory on this aspect. For instance, it was proposed that the ancient Persians worshiped the planet Venus as *Anahiti, the "pure one", and that, as these people settled in Eastern Iran, *Anahiti began to absorb elements of the cult of Ishtar. Indeed, according to Boyce, it is "probable" that there was once a Perso–Elamite divinity by the name of *Anahiti (as reconstructed from the Greek Anaitis). It is then likely (so Boyce) that it was this divinity that was an analogue of Ishtar, and that it is this divinity with which Aredvi Sura Anahita was conflated.
The link between Anahita and Ishtar is part of the wider theory that Iranian kingship had Mesopotamian roots and that the Persian gods were natural extensions of the Babylonian deities, where Ahuramazda is considered an aspect of Marduk, Mithra for Shamash, and, finally, Anahita was Ishtar. This is supported by how Ishtar "apparently" gave Aredvi Sura Anahita the epithet Banu, 'the Lady', a typically Mesopotamian construct that is not attested as an epithet for a divinity in Iran before the common era. It is completely unknown in the texts of the Avesta, but evident in Sasanid-era middle Persian inscriptions (see Evidence of a cult, below) and in a middle Persian Zend translation of Yasna 68.13. Also in Zoroastrian texts from the post-conquest epoch (651 CE onwards), the divinity is referred to as 'Anahid the Lady', 'Ardwisur the Lady' and 'Ardwisur the Lady of the waters'.
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Anahita
Anahita /ɑːnəˈhiːtə/ is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as Aradvi Sura Anahita (Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" (Aban) and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom. There is also a temple named Anahita in Iran. Aredvi Sura Anahita is Ardwisur Anahid (اردویسور آناهید) in Middle and Modern Persian, and Anahit in Armenian. An iconic shrine sects of Aredvi Sura Anahita was, together with other shrine sects, "introduced apparently in the 4th century BCE and lasted until it was suppressed in the wake of an iconoclastic movement under the Sasanids." The symbol of goddess Anahita is the Lotus flower. Lotus Festival (Persian: Jashn-e Nilupar) is an Iranian festival that is held on the end of the first week of July. Holding this festival at this time was probably based on the blooming of lotus flowers at the beginning of summer.
The Greek and Roman historians of classical antiquity either refer to her as Anaïtis or identify her with one of the divinities from their own pantheons.[which?] 270 Anahita, a silicaceous S-type asteroid, is named after her. Based on the development of her sect, she was described as a syncretistic goddess, who was composed of two independent elements. The first is a manifestation of the Indo-Iranian idea of the Heavenly River who provides the waters to the rivers and streams flowing in the earth while the second is that of a goddess of uncertain origin, though maintaining her own unique characteristics, who became associated with the sect of the ancient Mesopotamian goddess Inanna-Ishtar. According to one theory, this arose partly from a desire to make Anahita part of Zoroastrianism following the diffusion of her sect from the extreme northwest into the rest of Persia.
According to Herman Lommel, the proper name of the divinity in Indo-Iranian times was Sarasvatī, which also means "she who possesses waters". In Avestan, the name 𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬛𐬎𐬎𐬍⸱𐬯𐬏𐬭𐬁⸱𐬀𐬥𐬁𐬵𐬌𐬙𐬀 (Arəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā) means "of the waters, mighty, and immaculate". Like the Indian Sarasvatī, Anāhitā nurtures crops and herds; and she is hailed both as a divinity and as the mythical river which she personifies, "as great in bigness as all these waters which flow forth upon the earth" (Yasht 5.3).
Only Arədvī (a word otherwise unknown, perhaps with an original meaning "moist") is specific to the divinity. The words sūra and anāhīta are generic Avestan language adjectives, and respectively mean "mighty" and "pure". Both adjectives also appear as epithets of other divinities or divine concepts such as Haoma and the Fravashis. Both adjectives are also attested in Vedic Sanskrit.
As a divinity of the waters (Abān), the yazata is of Indo-Iranian origin, according to Lommel related to Sanskrit Sarasvatī that, like its Proto-Iranian equivalent *Harahwatī, derives from Indo-Iranian *Saraswatī. In its old Iranian form *Harahwatī, "her name was given to the region, rich in rivers, whose modern capital is Kabul (Avestan Haraxvaitī, Old Persian Hara(h)uvati-, Greek Arachosia)." "Like the Devi Saraswati, [Aredvi Sura Anahita] nurtures crops and herds; and is hailed both as a divinity and the mythical river that she personifies, 'as great in bigness as all these waters which flow forth upon the earth'." Some historians note that despite Anahita's Aryan roots and the way she represented the commonly shared concept of the Heavenly River, which in the Vedas was represented by the goddess Sarasvatī (the later heavenly Ganga), she had no counterpart in the ancient text who bear the same name or one that remotely resembled hers.
In the (Middle-)Persian texts of the Sasanid and later eras, Arədvī Sūra Anāhīta appears as Ardwisur Anāhīd. The evidence suggests a western Iranian origin of Anāhīta. (see borrowing from Babylonia, below).
At some point prior to the 4th century BCE, this yazata was conflated with (an analogue of)[α] Semitic Ištar, likewise a divinity of "maiden" fertility and from whom Aredvi Sura Anahita then inherited additional features of a divinity of war and of the planet Venus or "Zohreh" in Arabic. It was moreover the association with the planet Venus, "it seems, which led Herodotus to record that the [Persis][γ] learnt 'to sacrifice to "the heavenly goddess"' from the Assyrians and Arabians." There are sources who based their theory on this aspect. For instance, it was proposed that the ancient Persians worshiped the planet Venus as *Anahiti, the "pure one", and that, as these people settled in Eastern Iran, *Anahiti began to absorb elements of the cult of Ishtar. Indeed, according to Boyce, it is "probable" that there was once a Perso–Elamite divinity by the name of *Anahiti (as reconstructed from the Greek Anaitis). It is then likely (so Boyce) that it was this divinity that was an analogue of Ishtar, and that it is this divinity with which Aredvi Sura Anahita was conflated.
The link between Anahita and Ishtar is part of the wider theory that Iranian kingship had Mesopotamian roots and that the Persian gods were natural extensions of the Babylonian deities, where Ahuramazda is considered an aspect of Marduk, Mithra for Shamash, and, finally, Anahita was Ishtar. This is supported by how Ishtar "apparently" gave Aredvi Sura Anahita the epithet Banu, 'the Lady', a typically Mesopotamian construct that is not attested as an epithet for a divinity in Iran before the common era. It is completely unknown in the texts of the Avesta, but evident in Sasanid-era middle Persian inscriptions (see Evidence of a cult, below) and in a middle Persian Zend translation of Yasna 68.13. Also in Zoroastrian texts from the post-conquest epoch (651 CE onwards), the divinity is referred to as 'Anahid the Lady', 'Ardwisur the Lady' and 'Ardwisur the Lady of the waters'.
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