Ahriman

Angra Mainyu is an avestan term that represents destruction or the destructive in Zoroastrian theology. In the Middle Persian texts of the Zoroastrian tradition, the name appears for the first time as Ahriman . The name Black Diw can also be found as a personification of Ahriman .

Word meaning

Angra is the opposite of Spenta , which is why the translation of Angra Mainyu is highly dependent on the translation of Spenta Mainyu . Mainyu means something like "mind, thought, imagination"; Spenta is translated as “uplifting, generous, holy”, among other things.

As an antonym, Angra Mainyu could thus be translated as "destructive spirit". This is also often the case, because the idea of the destructive represents one aspect of the core philosophy of Zoroastrianism: the involvement of the universe in a struggle between asha ("truth, order, being, existence") and druj ("lie, chaos, Destruction of Being ”).

However, this verbatim translation only applies to the oldest instances of the term. Over time, abstraction turned into a proper name, representing an allegory for destruction.

Due to the development of language, the Avestan Angra Mainyu changed to Middle Persian Ahriman and thus lost the literal meaning of the name for good.

In the Avesta

In the gathas

In the Gathas , the oldest part of the Avesta, the term Angra Mainyu occurs only once. At this point, in Yasna 45.2, the term, like most other terms of the Gathas, is only a regular pair of adjectives and nouns. Here "angra mainyu" is declared by the "generous of the two" (Spenta Mainyu) as an adversary in all matters.

A similar expression appears elsewhere in the Gathas, but there is not angra mainyu , but aka mainyu ("evil spirit") the adversary of Spenta Mainyu. In other places the akem manah “bad thinking” and the daebaaman “deceiver” are mentioned.

In the younger Avesta

Only in the younger Avesta is Angra Mainyu clearly representative of the destructive.

While Angra Mainyu and Spenta Mainyu are still at war in the older texts of the younger Avesta, the situation suddenly changes in Vendidad. In these very late texts of Vendidad 1 (4th century BC it is generally accepted) the battle is no longer fought by Angra Mainyu and Spenta Mainyu, but by Angra Mainyu and Ahura Mazda themselves. Here the figure of Mazdas has that of des Spenta Mainyus completely assimilated. This change is evidenced by a quote from Aristotle in Diogenes Laertios (1.6), in which the opponents Ariemanios and Oromazdes are mentioned.

In tradition

In Zurvanism

The zurvanism , an extinct form of Zoroastrianism, was based on a twin brothers Doctrine, after Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu actual twin sons of the "father" Zurvan ( "Time") were.

Although Zurvanism died out in the 10th century at the latest, the anti-Zurvanist polemics were the first to reach the West and thus significantly shaped the understanding of Zoroastrianism. This state of affairs continued, and although academically long outdated, it still shapes the general image of Zoroastrianism, including the fixed idea that Zoroastrianism has two gods or that Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu are direct opponents.

The commandment of Ahriman all others are evil spirits in subjection and the "evil creatures" - poisonous snakes, predators, rats, mice, vermin - were he created .

In the religious books of the 9./10. Century

According to the information in the Middle Persian religious books of the 9th / 10th Century, for which the bases are already given in the Avesta and in the reports of the Greeks, world history runs in four cycles of 3000 years each. With the third cycle begins the struggle between Ahriman and the creatures of the good spirit, which lasts 6,000 years. Then Ahriman will be destroyed and a new immortal and glorious world will be created.

In anthroposophy

The anthroposophy sees Ahriman a spirit that gives man structuring, materializing forces in opposition to the resolution, moving forces of Lucifer . Ahriman is said to have a penetrating, cold intelligence, which he, however, eagerly closes up. In contrast to Lucifer, he therefore appears as the “prince of darkness” who wants to make access to the spiritual world impossible for the human soul. 1919 said Rudolf Steiner in a lecture them, Ahriman that in the third millennium after the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ in a human incarnate must.

Ahriman in Shahname

In Shāhnāme , the life's work of the Persian poet Abū ʾl-Qāsim Firdausī (940 / 41-1020) and at the same time the national epic of the Persian-speaking world , Ahriman is the opponent and enemy of kings and heroes. He commands a host of submissive spirits, called Dewen or Divs .

Corresponding to the central importance of Ahriman as the representative of evil, Firdausi already introduces him in the first saga of Schahname about Gayomarth :

"No enemy lives on the earth's floor
as secretly an angry Ahriman."

Firdausi directly addresses the basic conflict in Iranian mythology between good and evil, represented by the Shah and Ahriman. Ahriman's son wants to kill the Shah's son, Sijamak , in order to gain control of the world:

“The world before Dewsohn's gaze was black.
Above the Shah and Sijamak's happiness.
...
He threw the Shah's son to the bottom,
And with his claws it sore his switches. Sijamek was
robbed of life by the fierce enemy
, and the people without a head. "

In the end, Hushang , the son of Sijamak, succeeds in avenging his father, killing Ahriman's son and securing his rule and throne:

“The hand swung like a lion Hoscheng,
He makes the world narrow for Dewen.
He pulled him from head to foot into the Riem, cut
his head without resembling him;
Threw him to the ground and frizzled,
his fur was torn, it was over with him. "

However, after Ahriman's defeat, evil does not disappear from the world. In the following sagas, too, Ahriman will try to implement his mean plans.

literature

Ulrich Hannemann (Ed.): The Zend-Avesta. Volume 1: General Part. Revised new edition of the edition from 1776. Weißensee-Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-89998-199-5 .
Firdausi: Stories from the Schahnameh (= Diederichs pocket editions . 21, ZDB -ID 255192-5 ). Selected and transferred by Uta von Witzleben . Eugen Diederichs, Düsseldorf et al. 1960, p. 13 ff. (On Ahriman).

Individual evidence

↑ Walther Bühler : Anthroposophy as a requirement of our time. An introduction based on a spiritual view of nature. Novalis-Verlag, Schaffhausen 1987, ISBN 3-7214-0589-7 , Chapter 10: The riddle of evil: Lucifer and Ahriman. , P. 137 ff.
↑ 11th lecture from November 1, 1919. In: Rudolf Steiner: Social understanding from knowledge of the humanities. Fifteen lectures, given in Dornach between October 3 and November 15, 1919. 3rd edition, photomechanical reprint. Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach 1989, ISBN 3-7274-1910-5 .
^ Friedrich Rückert (translator): Firdosi's book of king (Schahname). Say I-XIII. Georg Reimer, Berlin 1890, p. 4 .
^ Friedrich Rückert (translator): Firdosi's book of king (Schahname). Say I-XIII. Georg Reimer, Berlin 1890, p. 4 f.
^ Friedrich Rückert (translator): Firdosi's book of king (Schahname). Say I-XIII. Georg Reimer, Berlin 1890, p. 7 .

[1] Walther Bühler : Anthroposophy as a requirement of our time. An introduction based on a spiritual view of nature. Novalis-Verlag, Schaffhausen 1987, ISBN 3-7214-0589-7 , Chapter 10: The riddle of evil: Lucifer and Ahriman. , P. 137 ff.

[2] 11th lecture from November 1, 1919. In: Rudolf Steiner: Social understanding from knowledge of the humanities. Fifteen lectures, given in Dornach between October 3 and November 15, 1919. 3rd edition, photomechanical reprint. Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach 1989, ISBN 3-7274-1910-5 .

[3] Friedrich Rückert (translator): Firdosi's book of king (Schahname). Say I-XIII. Georg Reimer, Berlin 1890, p. 4 .

[4] Friedrich Rückert (translator): Firdosi's book of king (Schahname). Say I-XIII. Georg Reimer, Berlin 1890, p. 4 f.

[5] Friedrich Rückert (translator): Firdosi's book of king (Schahname). Say I-XIII. Georg Reimer, Berlin 1890, p. 7 .