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Zoroastrianism in Azerbaijan goes back to the first millennium BC or earlier and was the predominant religion of Greater Iran before the conversion to Islam. [1]
Today the religion, culture, and traditions of Zoroastrianism remain highly respected in Azerbaijan, and the new year Nowruz continues to be one of the main holidays in the country. Zoroastrianism has left a deep mark on the history of Azerbaijan. Traces of the religion are still visible in Surakhany, [2] Khinalyg, and Yanar Dag.[ citation needed ]
One of the world's oldest religions, Zoroastrianism was also practiced in the territory of Azerbaijan in ancient times. Zoroastrianism, sharing its name with its founder Iranian prophet Zoroaster (also known as Zarathustra), was one of the first monotheistic beliefs in the world and the official religion in Persia from 600 BCE to 650 CE.
Zoroastrians believe in one God, whom they call Ahura Mazda created the universe. The Avesta, the sacred book of Zoroastrianism, consists of two main sections: the oldest section contains the Gathas, including seventeen hymns, and the younger Avesta, containing commentaries to the older one. It also includes myths, stories, and details of ritual observances. Fire is the most important symbol of purity in Zoroastrianism. [3] Zoroastrians are wrongly believed to worship fire, but they believe fire represents the symbol of Ahura Mazda. [4]
Regarding the date of birth of Zoroaster, historians mostly agree upon the dates of 660-583 BCE.
Around 550 BCE, Cyrus II integrated the area of southern Azerbaijan into the Achaemenid Empire. During his reign, Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion in the Empire, but he did not make any attempt to impose Zoroastrianism on the people of his subject territories.
During the rule of Darius I, Zoroastrianism was the official religion of the Achaemenid Empire, including Azerbaijan. Darius I also allowed moderate religious freedom in the satrapies.
Alexander the Great defeated Darius III in 331 BCE. During this period Zoroastrianism began to weaken. Many priests were killed and many sacred texts of Zoroastrianism were destroyed and lost forever. [5]
Around 328 BC, Atropates, the satrap of Media, formed the independent entity of Atropatena. The state was situated in Iranian Azerbaijan, and also included a minor part of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan (i.e. Arran). As Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion in Atropatena, its capital, Ganzak, became a religious center. Zoroastrian temples were fueled by the region's rich oil deposits. In accordance with many historian sources, the name "Azerbaijan" is attributed to the Persian word for fire "Azar", because of the popularity of Zoroastrianism in the region. [6]
In the fourth century BC, in the north of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan and partially in southern Dagestan, the entity of Caucasian Albania was established. Under Achaemenid, Parthian, and especially Sassanid influence, Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion in the country.
Armenian historian Movses Kaghankatvatsi investigating the political line of Yazdegerd II (438-457) in Albania noted that "During the reign of sinner Yezdeghird, devil instigated him to destroy Christian religion", so he ordered to reject Christianity in Albania and obey fire-worshippers-magicians (Zoroastrianism).
As a result of excavations on the territory of Caucasian Albania, many cultural finds, indicating the spreading of Zoroastrianism in the region, were found. [7]
Zoroastrianism's traces can be found in Baku, Shamakha, Nakhchivan, Mingechaur, and the Talysh-Mugan areas. The Absheron Peninsula and Baku were centers of Zoroastrianism in ancient times. The Absheron Peninsula was rich in natural undamped torches of natural gas on the shore and in the sea. In the Sassanid era (3rd-7th centuries), when Zoroastrianism had risen to the level of state religion, Baku entered a new stage in its urban development. The most popular architectural monument of the city is the Maiden's Tower and ancient city walls and towers that are being preserved as historical monuments that belong to that time. [8]
Ateshgah, one of the popular ancient monuments in Azerbaijan belonging to the seventeenth century CE is located in the village of Surakhani, fifteen km west of the capital Baku on the coast of the Caspian Sea. In some sources, this monument is called the fire worshippers' temple. The Ateshgah monument traces its origins to Zoroastrianism, which was the dominant religion in ancient Azerbaijan. Ateshgah temple has been designated as a world heritage site by UNESCO. The temple is not used since 1883 CE.[ citation needed ]
The village of Khinalig (Khinalug, Khinalyg) located in the west of the Guba district of Azerbaijan is also famous for its Zoroastrian temples. Burj sanctuary, reflecting Zoroastrian traces was built in the 7th century in the oldest part of Khinalig. There are many caves, pirs ('a holy place' or a 'shrine' in Azerbaijani) around the district. [9] [10]
In the 7th century, the Arabs conquered Persia including Azerbaijan. During this period many Zoroastrian temples and libraries were destroyed and burned, [11] [12] and many Zoroastrian texts were lost. [11] [12] Zoroastrians were treated as dhimmis (People of the Book) as well as Jews and Christians by the Arabs. [11] It means that they could retain their religious practices, but must pay the jizya. Despite all the difficulties Iranians did convert, and Zoroastrianism became a minority religion in Iran. [7]
The six Gahambar festivals and Novruz are the seven important Zoroastrian festivals. All Novruz traditions are rooted in Zoroastrianism. These festivals occur at the spring equinox. According to Mary Boyce "It seems a reasonable surmise that Novruz, the holiest of them all, with deep doctrinal significance, was founded by Zoroaster himself".
The Persian historian Gardizi, in his work titled Zayn al-Akhbār, mentions Novruz among Zoroastrian festivals and points out that Zoroaster highly emphasized the celebration of Novruz.
Usually, preparation begins a month prior to Novruz holiday in Azerbaijan. People celebrate the last four Tuesdays prior to the festival being the day of one of the four elements – water, fire, earth, and wind. As a tribute to Zoroastrianism beliefs, every Tuesday during four weeks children jump over small bonfires. [13]
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 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 and judgement after death, conception of heaven, hell, angels, and demons, among other concepts, may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including the Abrahamic religions and Gnosticism, Northern Buddhism, and Greek philosophy.
Zoroaster, also known as Zarathustra, is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. He is said to have been an Iranian prophet who founded a religious movement that challenged the existing traditions of ancient Iranian religion, and inaugurated a movement that eventually became a staple religion in ancient Iran. He was a native speaker of Avestan and lived in the eastern part of the Iranian plateau, but his exact birthplace is uncertain. He founded the first monotheistic religion in the world and also had an impact on Plato, Pythagoras, and the Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Ahura Mazda, also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ormusd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Harzoo, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity and god of the sky in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the Yasna. The literal meaning of the word Ahura is "lord", and that of Mazda is "wisdom".
Apam Napat is a deity in the Indo-Iranian pantheon associated with water. His names in the Vedas, Apām Napāt, and in Zoroastrianism, Apąm Napāt, mean "child of the waters" in Sanskrit and Avestan respectively. Napāt is cognate with Latin nepos and English nephew. In the Rig Veda, he is described as the creator of all things. It is considered to originate from the Proto-Indo-European Hepom Nepōts.
Atropatene, also known as Media Atropatene, was an ancient Iranian kingdom established in c. 323 BC by the Persian satrap Atropates. The kingdom, centered in present-day northern Iran, was ruled by Atropates' descendants until the early 1st-century AD, when the Parthian Arsacid dynasty supplanted them. It was conquered by the Sasanians in 226, and turned into a province governed by a marzban ("margrave"). Atropatene was the only Iranian region to remain under Zoroastrian authority from the Achaemenids to the Arab conquest without interruption, aside from being briefly ruled by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great.
The Faravahar, also known as the Foruhar (فروهر) or the Farre Kiyâni, is one of the best-known symbols of Zoroastrianism, an Iranian religion. There are various interpretations of what the Faravahar symbolizes, and there is no concrete universal consensus on its meaning. However, it is commonly believed that the Faravahar serves as a Zoroastrian depiction of the fravashi, or personal spirit.
The culture of Azerbaijan combines a diverse and heterogeneous set of elements which developed under the influence of Turkic, Iranic and Caucasian cultures. The country has a unique cuisine, literature, folk art, and music.
Zoroastrianism is the oldest remaining religion in Iran. Founded around the middle of the second millennium BCE, the religion spread through the Iranian area through conversions and eventually became state religion in the Achaemenian Empire in the 6th century BCE. The religion still survives to this day in small communities, mostly located in present Iran and India. The Zoroastrians in India are called Parsis.
The Ateshgah of Baku, often called the "Fire Temple of Baku", is a castle-like religious temple in Surakhany town, a suburb in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Yanar Dagh is a natural gas fire which blazes continuously on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Flames jet into the air 3 metres (9.8 ft) from a thin, porous sandstone layer. Administratively, Yanar Dagh belongs to Absheron District of Azerbaijan.
Khinalug, Khynalyg, or Khinalyg, is an ancient Caucasian village going back to the Caucasian Albanian period. It is located high up in the mountains of Quba District, Azerbaijan. It is also a municipality in Quba District, which consists of the villages of Khinalug and Galaykhudat.
Hinduism in Azerbaijan has been tied to cultural diffusion on the Silk Road. One of the remnants of once-dominant Hindu and Buddhist culture in the Caucasus is Surakhani, the site of the Ateshgah of Baku. As of 2020, there were about 500 Hindus in Azerbaijan.
Atashgah or Ateshgah may refer to:
The Fire Temple of Isfahan is a Sassanid-era archaeological complex located on a hill of the same name about eight kilometers west of city center of Isfahan, Iran.
Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as Aredvi Sura Anahita, the Avestan name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of "the Waters" (Aban) and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom. There is also a temple named Anahita in Iran. Aredvi Sura Anahita is Ardwisur Anahid or Nahid (ناهید) in Middle and Modern Persian, and Anahit in Armenian. An iconic shrine cult of Aredvi Sura Anahita was, together with other shrine cults, "introduced apparently in the 4th century BCE and lasted until it was suppressed in the wake of an iconoclastic movement under the Sassanids." The symbol of goddess Anahita is the Lotus flower. Lotus Festival is an Iranian festival that is held on the end of the first week of July. Holding this festival at this time was probably based on the blooming of lotus flowers at the beginning of summer.
Tourism in Azerbaijan has been an important sector of the Azerbaijani economy since the 1990s. According to Azerbaijan's Center for Economic and Social Development, the country is in 39th place among 148 countries in tourism competitiveness indicators. The World Travel and Tourism Council reported that Azerbaijan is among the top ten countries with the greatest increase in visitor exports from 2010 to 2016. The country had the world's fastest-developing travel and tourism economy in 2017. To promote tourism, Azerbaijan sponsored Atlético Madrid jerseys reading "Azerbaijan – Land of Fire". In 2018, a new tourism brand and a slogan "take another look" were introduced.
The Atashgah, also transcribed as 'Ateshgah is an ancient Zoroastrian fire temple in Tbilisi, Georgia. It was built when Georgia was a part of Persian Empire in Sasanian era. It is described as the "northernmost Zoroastrian fire-temple in the world."
Ancient Iranian religion or Iranian paganism was the ancient beliefs and practices of the Iranian peoples before the rise of Zoroastrianism. The religion closest to it was Hinduism that is practiced in India. The major deities worshipped were Varuna and Mithra from Iran to Rome, but Agni was also worshipped, as names of kings and common public showing devotion to these three exist in most cases. But some sects, the precursors of the Magi, also worshipped Ahura Mazda, the chief of the Asuras. With the rise of Zoroaster and his new, reformatory religion; Ahura Mazda became the principle deity and the Devas were relegated to the background. A lot of the attributes and commandments of Varuna, called Fahrana in Median times, were later attributed to Ahura Mazda by Zoroaster.