Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Flandin and Coste.
He remained under ordinary circumstances invisible to mortal eyes, and he could conceal his identity even from the highest gods, but he occasionally manifested himself in human form. He borrowed in such case from Assyria the symbol of Assur, and the sculptors depict him with the upper part of his body rising above that winged disk which is carved in a hovering attitude on the pediments of Assyrian monuments or stelæ.
In later days he was portrayed under the form of a king of imposing stature and majestic mien, who revealed himself from time to time to the princes of Iran.*
* In a passage of Philo of Byblos the god is described as
having the head of a falcon or an eagle, perhaps by
confusion with one of the genii represented on the walls of
the palaces.
He was named Ahurô-mazdâo or Ahura-mazdâ, the omniscient lord,* Spento-mainyus, the spirit of good, Mainyus-spenishtô** the most beneficent of spirits.
* Ahura is derived from Ahu = Lord: Mazdâo can be
analysed into the component parts, maz = great, and dâo
= he who knows. At first the two terms were
interchangeable, and even in the Gâthas the form Mazda Ahura
is employed much more often than the form Ahura Mazda. In
the Achsemenian inscriptions, Auramazdâ is only found as a
single word, except in an inscription of Xerxes, where the
two terms are in one passage separated and declined Aurahya
mazdâha. The form Ormuzd, Ormazd, usually employed by
Europeans, is that assumed by the name in modern Persian.
** These two names are given to him more especially in
connection with his antagonism to Angrômainyus.
Himself uncreated, he is the creator of all things, but he is assisted in the administration of the universe by legions of beings, who are all subject to him.*