Imagining the End: Visions of

Zand-i Wahman Yasn

, which received its

final redaction in written form in the ninth or tenth century 



, but which

the German scholar nevertheless held to represent a very ancient Iranian

tradition.

Long before Reitzenstein’s time, the parallel between the biblical Book of

Daniel

 



:

 



–



 and the account of  the ‘metallic ages’ found in the 

Zand-i

Wahman Yasn

 had been noted,

4

 and some scholars thought that the biblical

passage depended on the tradition represented by the Iranian text.

As a result of  the prominence of  such ideas in the views of  historians of

religion in earlier decades, both the 

Zand-i Wahman Yasn

 and the concept of

‘apocalyptic’ traditions came to play a greater role in the study of  Zoroastrian

teachings on future world history, millennialism and eschatology, than might

otherwise have been the case. In fact, while few modern Iranists would now

subscribe to the crucial premise that the myth of  the ‘metallic ages’ is of

ancient Iranian origin,

5

 a special interest in the question as to whether or not

Zoroastrian teaching inspired Mediterranean and Near Eastern apocalyptic

traditions continues to inform the scholarly debate down to the present.

6

Not only has this had the effect of  unduly narrowing the focus of  Iranian

studies in the field of  millennialism and eschatology, but it has in some cases

threatened to distort these studies, since general definitions of  apocalypticism

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34

Origins

based largely on other traditions were used prescriptively in the interpretation

of  the Zoroastrian sources.

7

 The range of  questions and topics relevant to

such a restricted treatment of  the ancient Iranian tradition, moreover, would

now seem to have been examined from all sides without bringing specialists

closer to a consensus.

It may therefore be more profitable at this stage to seek to understand

ancient Iranian ideas about eschatology and millennialism within the context

of  Zoroastrianism, and its textual tradition, as a whole. In tracing the possible

development of  eschatological and millenarian ideas there, some emphasis

will be laid on one of  the distinguishing characteristics of  this tradition,

namely the fact that writing played at most a minor role there until well into

the Islamic era. While it is recognized in most modern publications on

Zoroastrianism that the tradition is based on long oral transmission, the

practical implications of  this are often ignored.

A Survey of Zoroastrian Beliefs on Eschatology

and Millennialism

The most elaborate account of  the Zoroastrian teachings on the creation,

progress and end of  the world are found in the ‘Pahlavi Books’,

8

 works that

were written down in their final redaction in the ninth and tenth centuries

CE, in most cases after a long period of  oral transmission. The accounts they

contain thus represent Zoroastrian teachings as they have developed until

then, i.e. essentially in their final form.

9

 The essential elements of  the history

and future of  the world as described there are as follows.

10

Cosmogony and eschatology: their moral purpose and implications

In

the beginning God (Pahlavi [Phl.] Ohrmazd; Avestan [Av.] Ahura Mazda,

11

‘Lord Wisdom’), created the world because, being all-good and omniscient,

he was aware of  the presence in the universe of  his antagonist, the evil

Ahriman (Av. Angra Mainyu, ‘Evil Spirit’). At that stage the universe was a-

dynamic, nothing moved and time did not exist. Ohrmazd knew that it would

be impossible to rid the universe of  Ahriman unless the forces of  good and

evil could do battle in a dynamic world which was limited as to both time and

place.

Ohrmazd therefore created the world, first in an ideal, non-material state;

then in material, but still ideal, form. This ideal world was contained by the

sky as the contents of  an egg in its shell. Inside this ‘egg’ the earth – small

and flat – floated on a limited mass of  water; on it stood one bull, one plant

and a single human. Thus six of  the seven ‘creations’ (man, animal, plant,

metal, water, earth) were present in the ideal material creation.

12

 The seventh,

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35

Millennialism in the Zoroastrian Tradition

fire, may have been represented by the sun, but does not appear to be

mentioned in this context.

13

 Fire, which was thought to make movement

possible, is said to have entered the world when its dynamic stage began.

14

Time had been created at this stage, but did not progress, and the sun

always stood at its zenith. In order to be armed for battle Ohrmazd had

created seven

15

 divine helpers, the Amesha Spentas or ‘beneficent immortals’:

‘Beneficent Spirit’; ‘Righteousness’; ‘Good Thought’; ‘Beneficent Devotion’;

‘the Power that should be chosen’;

16

 ‘Wholeness’; and ‘Immortality’. Each of

these in a sense represents an ‘abstract’ force that is operative in the universe

and also has a connection with a material ‘creation’.

17

Ahriman, whose first attempt to conquer the world had been repulsed,

created his own demons (Phl.