Samra Azarnouche

A silver plate from the Wyvern Collection depicting a Sasanian king hunting ostriches has posed identification problems. It has so far been dated to the 5th-6th centuries. On the basis of stylistic arguments, this paper suggests that it should be attributed to the 4th century and that the king should be identified with Shāpūr II (309-379), depicted in his minority and wearing the crown of his father Hormizd II (302-309). This would be the earliest Sasanian royal plate depicting a reigning ruler. The image was intended to overshadow the intrigues and machinations of the nobility for the succession of Hormizd II, and perhaps to symbolically represent the first military operations of the young Shāpūr II against the Arabs.

Être de transition et de médiation avec le surnaturel, le cheval de la mythologie iranienne joue un rôle d’intermédiaire entre la lumière et les ténèbres, le ciel et la terre, le monde immatériel et le monde terrestre. Les récits de l’Iran ancien le mettent en scène tantôt comme avatar ou attribut des dieux (Mithra, Tištriia, Vǝrǝthragna), tantôt comme fondateur de temples ou encore comme passeur entre les générations ou les frontières. Le rôle divinatoire et oraculaire du cheval se manifeste aussi bien par son hennissement que par ses di昀昀érentes robes et les épis qui les constellent. Aux côtés de la littérature zoroastrienne, des traités mé- diévaux persans moins connus tels que le Nowrūz-nāme attribué à Omar Khayyām (xiie s.), le Faras-nāme de Qayyem Nahāvandi (xiie s.) et le Ādāb al-ḥarb wa al-šajāʿa de Fakhr-e Modabber (début du xiiie s.) qui décrivent en détails des présages bons ou mauvais associés à ses caractéristiques physiques nous aident à percevoir la continuité de l’image du cheval en tant que vecteur du surnaturel.

How did ancient Iranian religion represent the wolf? Between the mythological data, the realities of the agro-pastoral world, and the symbolism of exegetical tradition, Late Antique Zoroastrianism considered the wolf as primarily a species to kill. In reality, much more than the Canis lupus hides behind the word 'wolf ' (Middle Persian gurg), including most nocturnal predators but also devastating illnesses, a monster whom the Savior will destroy at the end of time, and finally heretics who renounce or deform the Good Religion. However, this negative image is nuanced by the recognition of the strong ties between the she-wolf and wolf cubs, both in texts where the protective qualities of this large predator are evoked, and in iconography, namely magic seals, where one finds the image of the nourishing she-wolf, perhaps connected to perinatal magic.

Traversant l'ensemble de la tradition zoroastrienne, la Dēn (avestique daēnā « vision ») est une notion polysémique qui peut désigner soit une divinité aurorale psychopompe, soit la doctrine religieuse, soit la parole sacrée de l'Avesta. Combinant ces différentes acceptions, le passage du Dēnkard III.225, commenté ici pour la première fois, apporte non seulement la preuve directe d'une continuité du sens originel de « vision » entre l'Avesta et sa strate exégétique en moyen-perse (pehlevi), mais également celle du développement de spéculations métaphysiques (avec un arrière-plan néoplatonicien) sur la vision transcendantale à laquelle accède le mage. Des sources matérielles (iconographiques et épigraphiques) contribuent elles aussi à mettre en évidence que la Dēn est l'entité divine que l'on regarde les yeux dans les yeux.

The Zoroastrian Vision, Straigth in the Eyes. Commentary on the Dēn according to Dēnkard III.225
In the Zoroastrian tradition, the Dēn (Avestan daēnā "vision") is a polysemic notion that denotes either an auroral psychopompic deity, or the religious doctrine, or again the sacred word of the Avesta. Passage 225 of the Dēnkard III, commented here for the first time, combines these different concepts, thereby not only bringing direct proof for the continuity of the word's original meaning-"vision"-between the Avestan textual layer and the Middle Persian (Pahlavi) exegetic layer, but also testifying to the development of metaphysical speculation (with a neo-platonic backdrop) concerning the transcendental vision acquired by the magi. Material sources (iconographic as well as epigraphic) also contribute to highlighting the notion that the Dēn is the divine entity that one looks at straight in the eyes.

How did ancient Iranian religion represent the wolf? Between the mythological data, the realities of the agro-pastoral world, and the symbolism of exegetical tradition, Late Antique Zoroastrianism considered the wolf as primarily a species to kill. In reality, much more than the Canis lupus hides behind the word 'wolf ' (Middle Persian gurg), including most nocturnal predators but also devastating illnesses, a monster whom the Savior will destroy at the end of time, and finally heretics who renounce or deform the Good Religion. However, this negative image is nuanced by the recognition of the strong ties between the she-wolf and wolf cubs, both in texts where the protective qualities of this large predator are evoked, and in iconography, namely magic seals, where one finds the image of the nourishing she-wolf, perhaps connected to perinatal magic.