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Zandik
Zandik (Middle Persian: 𐭦𐭭𐭣𐭩𐭪) is a Zoroastrian term conventionally interpreted as heretic in a narrow sense, or, in a wider sense, for a person with any belief or practice that ran contrary to Sassanid-mediated Zoroastrian orthodoxy. The Middle Persian term engendered the better-attested Arabic زنديق ''zindiq'', with the same semantic field but related to Islam rather than Zoroastrianism. In the Islamic world, including Islamic-era Iran, the term was also variously assigned to Manichaeans, Mandaeans, Mazdakites, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Christians, and free-thinkers in general, including Muslims.. Whether ''zandik'' was also used in any of these ways in Zoroastrian times is unknown; in that context, the term is only attested in three texts (two from the same author), and in all three appears as a hapax legomenon used in a pejorative way, but with no additional hints from which to infer a meaning. In several now-obsolete studies related to Zoroastrianism, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zindiq
Zindīq (pl. zanādiqa) is a medieval Islamic term applied by Muslims to individuals who are considered to hold views or follow practices that are contrary to central Islamic dogmas.. Zandaqa is the noun describing these views. Zanadiqa is usually translated as "heresy" and often used to "underscore the seriousness" of the religious error of the accused Muslim. It originally referred to the Manichaean Religion, but "soon came" to be applied to Muslims who concealed their deviant beliefs. Under the Abbasids The Arabic ''zindīq'' is a loan word from pre-Islamic Middle Persian 𐭦𐭭𐭣𐭩𐭪 ''zandik'', a Zoroastrian term of uncertain etymology and meaning (for a discussion of the term in a pre-Islamic context, see ''zandik''). Zindīq (زنديق) or Zandik (𐭦𐭭𐭣𐭩𐭪) was initially used to negatively denote the followers of the Manichaeism religion in the Sasanian Empire. By the time of the eighth-century Abbasid Caliphate however, the meaning of the word zindī ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a Monotheism, monotheistic ontology and an eschatology which predicts the ultimate conquest of evil by good. Zoroastrianism exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom known as ''Ahura Mazda'' () as its supreme being. Historically, the unique features of Zoroastrianism, such as its monotheism, messianism, belief in Free will in theology, free will and Judgement (afterlife), judgement after death, conception of heaven, hell, Angel, angels, and Demon, demons, among other concepts, may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including the Abrahamic religions and Gnosticism, Southern, Eastern and Northern Buddhism, Northern Buddhism, and Ancient Greek philosoph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atheism
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists. The first individuals to identify themselves as atheists lived in the 18th century during the Age of Enlightenment. The French Revolution, noted for its "unprecedented atheism", witnessed the first significant political movement in history to advocate for the supremacy of human reason.Extract of page 22 In 1967, Albania declared itself the first official atheist coun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nasorean
The Nazarenes (or Nazoreans; Greek: Ναζωραῖοι, ''Nazōraioi''). were an early Jewish Christian sect in first-century Judaism. The first use of the term is found in the Acts of the Apostles () of the New Testament, where Paul the Apostle is accused of being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes ("") before the Roman procurator Antonius Felix at Caesarea Maritima by Tertullus. At that time, the term simply designated followers of Jesus of Nazareth, as the Hebrew term ('), and the Arabic term نَصَارَى ('), still do. As time passed, the term came to refer to a sect of Jewish Christians who continued to observe the Torah along with Noachide gentiles who were grafted in to the covenant, in contrast to gentile Christians who eschewed Torah observance. They are described by Epiphanius of Salamis and are mentioned later by Jerome and Augustine of Hippo. The writers made a distinction between the Nazarenes of their time and the "Nazarenes" mentioned in Acts 24:5. N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
The Ka'ba-ye Zartosht ( fa, کعبه زرتشت), or the Cube of Zarathustra, is a stone quadrangular stepped structure in the Naqsh-e Rustam compound beside Zangiabad village in Marvdasht county in Fars, Iran. The Naqsh-e Rustam compound also incorporates memorials of the Elamites, the Achaemenids and the Sasanians. The Ka'ba-ye Zartosht is from the mountain, situated exactly opposite Darius II's mausoleum. It is rectangular and has only one entrance door. The material of the structure is white limestone. It is about high, or if including the triple stairs, and each side of its base is about long. Its entrance door leads to the chamber inside via a thirty-stair stone stairway. The stone pieces are rectangular and are simply placed on top of each other, without the use of mortar; the sizes of the stones varies from to , and they are connected to each other by dovetail joints. Etymology The structure was built in the Achaemenid era and there is no information of the name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kartir
Kartir (also spelled Karder, Karter and Kerdir; Middle Persian: 𐭪𐭫𐭲𐭩𐭫 ''Kardīr'') was a powerful and influential Zoroastrian priest during the reigns of four Sasanian kings in the 3rd-century. His name is cited in the inscriptions of Shapur I (as well as in the ''Res Gestae Divi Saporis'') and the Paikuli inscription of Narseh. Kartir also had inscriptions of his own made in the present-day Fars Province (then known as Pars). His inscriptions narrates his rise to power throughout the reigns of Shapur I (), Hormizd I (), Bahram I (), and Bahram II (). During the brief reign of Bahram II's son and successor Bahram III, Kartir was amongst the nobles who supported the rebellion of Narseh, who overthrew Bahram III and ascended the throne. During Narseh's reign, Kartir faded into obscurity. Name Kartir's name is spelled in several ways in the engravings; Middle Persian , Parthian , Greek ''Karteir'', and Coptic ''Kardel''. The name was also used in the northeastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aniran
Anērān (Middle Persian, ) or Anīrân (Modern Persian, ) is an ethno-linguistic term that signifies "non-Iranian" or "non-Iran" (non-Aryan). Thus, in a general sense, 'Aniran' signifies lands where Iranian languages are not spoken. In a pejorative sense, it denotes "a political and religious enemy of Iran and Zoroastrianism." The term 'Aniran' derives from Middle Persian ''anērān'', Pahlavi ''ʼnyrʼn'', an antonym of '' ērān'' that in turn denoted either the people or the Sasanian Empire.. However, "in Zoroastrian literature and possibly in Sasanian political thought as well, the term has also a markedly religious connotation. An ''anēr'' person is not merely non-Iranian, but specifically non-Zoroastrian; and ''anēr'' designates also worshipers of the ''dēws'' ("demons") or adherents of other religions." In these texts of the ninth to twelfth century, "Arabs and Turks are called ''anēr'', as are Muslims generally, the latter in a veiled manner." In inscriptions In of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arsacid Empire
The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (r. c. 171–132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce. The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Letter Of Tansar
The Letter of Tansar ( fa, نامه تنسر) was a 6th-century Sassanid propaganda instrument that portrayed the preceding Arsacid period as morally corrupt and heretical (to Zoroastrianism), and presented the first Sassanid dynast Ardashir I as having "restored" the faith to a "firm foundation." The letter was simultaneously a declaration of the unity of Zoroastrian church and Iranian state, "for church and state were born of the one womb, joined together and never to be sundered." The document seems to have been based on a genuine 3rd-century letter written by Tansar, the Zoroastrian high priest under Ardashir I, to a certain Gushnasp of Parishwar/Tabaristan, one of vassal kings of the Arsacid Ardavan IV. This original missive was apparently written not long after Ardashir had overthrown Ardavan, and Tansar appears to have been responding to charges levelled at Ardashir, and the delay in accepting Ardashir's suzerainty. Representative of those charges is the accusation that Ard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ardashir I
Ardashir I (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥, Modern Persian: , '), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new empire. After defeating the last Parthian shahanshah Artabanus IV on the Hormozdgan plain in 224, he overthrew the Parthian dynasty and established the Sasanian dynasty. Afterwards, Ardashir called himself "shahanshah" and began conquering the land that he called Iran. There are various historical reports about Ardashir's lineage and ancestry. According to Al-Tabari's History of the Prophets and Kings, Ardashir was son of Papak, son of Sasan. Another narrative that exists in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan and Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh'' also states it says that Ardashir was born from the marriage of Sasan, a descendant of Darius III, with the daughter of Papak, a local governor in Pars. According to Al-Tabari's report, Ardashir was born ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denkard
The ''Dēnkard'' or ''Dēnkart'' (Middle Persian: 𐭣𐭩𐭭𐭪𐭠𐭫𐭲 "Acts of Religion") is a 10th-century compendium of Zoroastrian beliefs and customs during the time. The Denkard is to a great extent considered an "Encyclopedia of Mazdaism" and is a valuable source of information on the religion especially during its Middle Persian iteration. The ''Denkard'' is not considered a sacred text by a majority of Zoroastrians, but is still considered worthy of study. Name The name traditionally given to the compendium reflects a phrase from the colophons, which speaks of the ''kart''/''kard'', from Avestan ''karda'' meaning "acts" (also in the sense of "chapters"), and ''dēn'', from Avestan ''daena'', literally "insight" or "revelation," but more commonly translated as "religion." Accordingly, ''dēn-kart'' means "religious acts" or "acts of religion." The ambiguity of ''-kart'' or ''-kard'' in the title reflects the orthography of Pahlavi writing, in which the letter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pazand
Pazend () or Pazand ( pal, 𐭯𐭠𐭰𐭭𐭣; ae, 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 𐬰𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬙𐬌) is one of the writing systems used for the Middle Persian language. It was based on the Avestan alphabet, a phonetic alphabet originally used to write Avestan, the language of the Avesta, the primary sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. Pazend's principal use was for writing the commentaries (''Zend'') on and/or translations of the Avesta. The word "Pazend" ultimately derives from the Avestan words ''paiti zainti'', which can be translated as either "for commentary purposes" or "according to understanding" (phonetically). Pazend had the following characteristics, both of which are to be contrasted with Pahlavi, which is one of the other systems used to write Middle Persian: * Pazend was a variant of the Avestan alphabet (''Din dabireh''), which was a phonetic alphabet. In contrast, Pahlavi script was only an abjad. * Pazend did not have ideograms. In contrast, ideograms were an identi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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