Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/27

 13 History of Art in Antiquity^ Dualism proper, the religion of the ancient Persians, is embodied in the AvesUt, their sacred book/ - Our translation dates from the reign of Shapur or Sapor II., fourth king of the Sassanian djmasty. It was in the nature of things that, in the long ^)ace comprised between the seventh century B.C. and the fourth A.D., manifold rehandlings of a radical nature should have crept in the A vesta. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the book, or rather collection of books, contains very ancient fragments which intelligent criticism often succeeds in distinguishing from later interpolations.* A complete exposition of Mazdaism would be out of place in this history, the more so that we should have to face very great and real difficulties in disentangling the ancient doctrine from the mass added thereto by consecutive schools. It will be sufficient for our pur[)ose to point out the leading features and fundamental ideas that had a decisive influence in shaping the art and social condition of the peoples of Iran. In the system that bears the name of Zarathustra (on wliat authority and whence it sprang up we know not), which the Greeks turned into Zoroaster, this world is the scene where Ahuri- Mazda, the wise spirit, and Angr6-Mainy<is, the destroyer, are opposed to each other; but in the end good prevails. It is possible that the violent contrasts Nature offers to man on the Iran plateau may have had something to do in suggesting dualism proper, or the two independent principles. Nowhere in the habitable world ' J. Darmbsteter, Introduction (cii. pages) to his versions of the Veniidad^ vol. iv., Collect, of Sacred Books of the East, publislied by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, under the direction of Professor Max Miiller. Interesting also will be found A. Hovelacque's Z'^tKir/a, Zoroastre et U Madiiismey 8vo, 1880, Maisonneuve, Farifc Avesta^ Uw, which is bat a dialectical fonn of the Fernan word iAofM, kw, strictly speaking designates the '^sacied book." The term Z^nd-Avtsta, in use since the time of Anquetil_ Duperron, is faulty and should be discarded. Zend signiHes "commentary," the glosses that were added from time to time to the sacred hooka. The fonn wesia and »aid is often employed in the Pehlevi commentaries, toexpceaa '*law, text, with its traditional and revealed explanation." Hence the language in which the Avesta is written should not lie railed ZrW, but Medic, Median. A complete list of the principal works dealing with the history of Mazdaism, published within the present century, will be found in Tiele, Manuel dc Fhistoire da r^un*^ and edit^ 1885, pp^ ssf^js. ' *' The most ancient only," says Dr. Haug, "the so-called Githds, songs amnged in five small collections, ran be ascribed to Zarathustra. This portion compared with the whole book of the Avesta fragments is very small, but easily recognized by the difference of dialect"— Trs. Digitized by Google