Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/29

 even father and daughter; and, most repugnant of all to the common inclinations of humanity, the nuptials of mother and son were expressly enjoined as a righteous act by the Avesta. This anomalous association of the sexes was justified partly by the false analogy of certain physiological facts supplied by the animal kingdom, and partly by an appeal to precedents to be found in the Iranian mythology. Hybrids were notoriously infertile, and the congress of horses with asses engendered mules who were impotent to propagate their kind. Hence the mingling of family blood was indicated as essential to preserving the integrity of the race. Further, it was pointed out that the primaeval man, Gaya Maretan, impregnated Spenta Aramaiti; that is, his mother earth, the result of this conjunction being a son and a daughter. By this union the brother and sister became the progenitors of the whole human race. At least one Parthian, and probably several of the Achaemenian and Sassanian kings, may be noted as having chosen their own mother for their consort on the throne. Such marriages were not merely ceremonial, although in some instances the chief inducement may have been to insure the support of the Magi for a disputed succession. Incestuous offspring were*