Anahita : a history and reception of the Iranian water goddess / Manya Saadi-nejad.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Saadi-nejad, Manya, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Anahita (Iranian deity).

Anahita.

Mythology, Iranian.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

[London, England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020

Place of Publication:

[London England] : I B Tauris, 2020.

Summary:

"Anahita was the most important goddess of pre-Islamic Iran. From her roots as an ancient Indo-European water deity her status was unrivalled by any other Iranian goddess throughout the course of three successive Iranian empires over a period of a thousand years. The first scholarly book on Anahita, this study reconstructs the Indo-European water goddess through a comparison of Celtic, Slavic, Armenian and Indo-Iranian myths and rituals. Anahita's constantly-evolving description and functions are then traced through the written and iconographic records of Iranian societies from the Achaemenid period onwards, including but not limited to the Zoroastrian texts and the inscriptions and artistic representations of the great pre-Islamic Iranian empires. The study concludes by tracing survival of the goddess in Islamic Iran, as seen in new Persian literature and popular rituals. Manya Saadi-nejad demonstrates the close relationship between Iranian mythology and that of other Indo-European peoples, and the significant cultural continuities from Iran's pre-Islamic period into the Islamic present."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Acknowledgements

A Note on Transcriptions

Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter One: Goddesses in the Ancient World

Chapter Two: Indo-European Water Goddesses

Chapter Three: Areduui Sura Anahita in the Avesta

Chapter Four: Other Iranian Goddesses: Comparisons with Anahita

Chapter Five: Anahita: A Composite Goddess

Chapter Six: Anahita in the Historical Period

Chapter Seven: Anahita in the Pahlavi Texts

Chapter Eight: Traces of Anahita in Islamic Iran

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781838601560

1838601562

9781838601584

1838601589

OCLC:

1220979791