Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...

mythology, Axtya, also spelt Akhtya or Axt ( ae, axtya, pal, Axt), is an evil sorcerer and an opponent of the religion, known for killing those who were not able to answer his

riddles A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requ ...

. There is a mention of him in the

Avesta The Avesta () is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language. The Avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialect, or by usage. The principal text in the lit ...

, where the hero Yōišta of the Fryāna family (Middle Persian: ') performs a sacrifice to the goddess

Aredvi Sura Anahita Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ('), the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" (Aban) and hence associate ...

, who grants him the boon of being able to answer Axtya's 99 questions. This story is elaborated at greater length in the mediaevalThe main manuscript that the English translation was made from, dates from the 14th century . Pahlavi text '. There Axtya threatens to destroy a certain city unless a righteous man comes out and solves his riddles. Yōšt steps forward for this task, and with some divine assistance manages to answer all of Axtya's 33 questions, after which he asks three questions of his own. Unable to answer them, Axtya seeks help from

Ahriman Angra Mainyu (; Avestan: 𐬀𐬢𐬭𐬀⸱𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎 ''Aŋra Mainiiu'') is the Avestan-language name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the ...

, who refuses to reveal the answers. Axtya then admits defeat and is ritually slain by Yosht. This story is likely to be of an

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

origin as there are broad parallels in

Nordic mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

, particularly in the wisdom contest between Odin and the giant

Vafþrúðnir Vafþrúðnir (Old Norse: ; "mighty weaver"Orchard (1997:170).) is a wise jötunn in Norse mythology. His name comes from ''Vaf'', which means weave or entangle, and ''thrudnir'', which means strong or mighty. Some interpret it to mean "mighty in ...

in the

Vafþrúðnismál ''Vafþrúðnismál'' (Old Norse: "The Lay of Vafþrúðnir") is the third poem in the ''Poetic Edda''. It is a conversation in verse form conducted initially between the Æsir Odin and Frigg, and subsequently between Odin and the jötunn Vafþr ...

poem of the Poetic Edda, as well as the contest described in chapter 10 of the 13th-century Hervarar Saga.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * {{cite encyclopedia, last = Kanga, first = M.F., title =

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

, entry = Axt, year = 2011, section-url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/axt-av Zoroastrianism Persian mythology