On the Issue of Zurvanism in Sughd
- № 29 2020
Страницы:
23
–
32
Язык: английский
Аннотация
This article is devoted to zurvanism, one of the ideological trends of the ancient and early medieval East.
Researchers ambiguously evaluate Zurvanism, some of them consider it to be heresy, others as a separate current
within Zoroastrianism, the remnants of an older religion, and others as a whole see it only as scholastic
conclusions of magicians, inspired by the fatalism and astral teachings of the Babylonian priests. It is believed
that Zurvanism arose 8th or at the beginning of 7th centuries BC in Media, and the area of its distribution was
associated mainly with Western Iran. Recently, however, a number of finds, including from Sogd, allow us to
talk about veneration of Zrvan much further east from Western Iran. Of particular interest in this regard are
two types of sealings from the burnt archive from the site Kafirkala in the enviros of Samarkand. One of them
is a male bust (Sogdian) with sogdian inscription – the name of the owner is “ZrvanB(ag)”. The second type is
represented by a sealing with the image of a two-headed character under the arch, which, most likely, depicted
the deity Zrvan, personifications of unlimited time, creator, bearer of fate and guarantor of friendship and
union. His images are rare and the religious texts dedicated to him are almost not preserved. Apparently, in the
era of the early Middle Ages, his visual image was affected by the processed images of Janus. Perhaps, in Sogd,
a group of terracottas with the image of a male character with branches in his hands or a crown of branches
on his head is also associated with the image of Zrvan. All this shows that Zrvan played a role in the religious
views of the population of Sogd.