Concept
Avestan period
Related concepts (6)
Pishdadian dynasty
The Pishdadian dynasty (دودمان پیشدادیان) is a mythical line of primordial kings featured in Zoroastrian belief and Persian mythology, who are presented in legend as originally rulers of the world but whose realm was eventually limited to Ērānshahr or Greater Iran. Although there are scattered references to them in the Zoroastrian scriptures the Avesta and later Pahlavi literature, it is through the 11th century Iranian national epic, the Shahnameh, that the canonical form of their legends is known.
Avestan geography
Avestan geography refers to the investigation of place names in the Avesta and the attempt to connect them to real-world geographical sites. It is therefore different from the cosmogony expressed in the Avesta, where place names refer to mythical events or a cosmological order. Identifying such connections is important for localizing the people of the Avesta and is therefore crucial for understanding the early history of Zoroastrianism and the Iranian peoples.
Yaz culture
The Yaz culture (named after the type site Yaz-Tappe, Yaz Tepe, or Yaz Depe, near Baýramaly, Turkmenistan) was an early Iron Age culture of Margiana, Bactria and Sogdia (1500–500 BC, or 1500–330 BC). It emerges at the top of late Bronze Age sites (BMAC), sometimes as stone towers and sizeable houses associated with irrigation systems. Ceramics were mostly hand-made, but there was increasing use of wheel-thrown ware. There have been found bronze or iron arrowheads, also iron sickles or carpet knives among other artifacts.
Kayanian dynasty
The Kayanians (Persian: دودمان کیانیان; also Kays, Kayanids, Kaianids, Kayani, or Kiani) are a legendary dynasty of Persian/Iranian tradition and folklore which supposedly ruled after the Pishdadians. Considered collectively, the Kayanian kings are the heroes of the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, and of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran. As an epithet of kings and the reason the dynasty is so called, Middle 𐭪𐭣 and New Persian kay(an) originates from Avestan 𐬐𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬌 kavi (or kauui) "king" and also "poet-sacrificer" or "poet-priest".
Vishtaspa
Vishtaspa (𐬬𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬁𐬯𐬞𐬀 ; 𐎻𐏁𐎫𐎠𐎿𐎱 ; گشتاسپ ; Ὑστάσπης ) is the Avestan-language name of a figure of Zoroastrian scripture and tradition, portrayed as an early follower of Zoroaster, and his patron, and instrumental in the diffusion of the prophet's message. Although Vishtaspa is not epigraphically attested, he is – like Zoroaster – traditionally assumed to have been a historical figure, although obscured by accretions from legend and myth. In Zoroastrian tradition, which builds on allusions found in the Avesta, Vishtaspa is a righteous king who helped propagate and defend the faith.
Aryan
Aryan or Arya (ˈɛəriən; Indo-Iranian arya) is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (an-arya). In Ancient India, the term ā́rya was used by the Indo-Aryan speakers of the Vedic period as an endonym (self-designation) and in reference to a region known as Āryāvarta ('abode of the Aryas'), where the Indo-Aryan culture emerged.