* Darius styles Ahura-mazdâ, mathishta bagânâm, the
greatest of the gods, and Xerxes invokes the protection of
Ahura-mazdâ along with that of the gods. The classical
writers also mention gods alongside of Ahura-mazdâ as
recognised not only among the Achæmenian Persians, but also
among the Parthians. Darmesteter considers that the earliest
Achæmenids worshipped Ahura-mazdâ alone, “placing the other
gods together in a subordinate and anonymous group: May
Ahura-mazdâ and the other gods protect me.”
Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Dieulafoy.
The most powerful among his ministers were originally nature-gods, such as the sun, the moon, the earth, the winds, and the waters. The sunny plains of Persia and Media afforded abundant witnesses of their power, as did the snow-clad peaks, the deep gorges through which rushed roaring torrents, and the mountain ranges of Ararat or Taurus, where the force of the subterranean fires was manifested by so many startling exhibitions of spontaneous conflagration.* The same spiritualising tendency which had already considerably modified the essential concept of Ahura-mazdâ, affected also that of the inferior deities, and tended to tone down in them the grosser traits of their character. It had already placed at their head six genii of a superior order, six ever-active energies, who, after assisting their master at the creation of the universe, now presided under his guidance over the kingdoms and forces of nature.**
* All these inferior deities, heroes, and genii who presided
over Persia, the royal family, and the different parts of
the empire, are often mentioned in the most ancient
classical authors that have come down to us.
** The six Amesha-spentas, with their several
characteristics, are enumerated in a passage of the De
Iside. This exposition of Persian doctrine is usually
attributed to Theopompus, from which we may deduce the
existence of a belief in the Amesha-spentas in the
Achsemenian period. J. Darmesteter affirms, on the contrary,
that “the author describes the Zoro-astrianism of his own
times (the second century A.D.), and quotes Theopompus for a
special doctrine, that of the periods of the world’s life.”
Although this last point is correct, the first part of
Darmesteter’s theory does not seem to me justified by
investigation. The whole passage of Plutarch is a well-
arranged composition of uniform style, which may be regarded
as an exposition of the system described by Theopompus,
probably in the eighth of his Philippics.
