Memorials of Balkhī Gods Based on Legal and Economic Documents

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Religions and Mysticism, Fārābī Campus, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 PhD Graduate in Ancient Culture and Languages, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Balkh has always been the focus of researchers, and one of the political, commercial and economic centers and an important stop on the Silk Road. Balkhi is one of the Middle Eastern Iranian languages ​​and the documents obtained in this language contain precise information about the religious, social, and economic conditions of the people of this region. In this article, which is written on the basis of legal and economic documents, we intend to deal with the religious system and the memorials of the gods of this area and determine what relationship these gods had with each other. We also try to show whether their belief system has had an impact on their economic and legal system; and whether the deity worshiped in these documents correspond to the orthodox beliefs of Zoroastrianism. The method of this article is descriptive-analytical using Balkhi legal and economic documents (from the fourth to the eighth century AD).

Keywords


Azarpay, G. 1967. “Nana, the Sumero-Akkadian Goddess of Transoxiana”. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society, no.96, pp.536-542.
Baghdādī, Abūmanṣūr. 1987. The Difference between Sects (Al-Farq bayn al-Firaq), Researched by Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn ʻAbdulḥamīd, Beirut: n.pub. [in Arabic]
Gershevitch, I. 1954. Avestan Hymn to Mithra, London: Cambridge University.
Grenet, F. 1984. "Notes sur le Panthéon Iranien des Koucha". In: Studia Iranica, no.13, pp.253-261.
Grenet, G.; Marshak, B. 2001. "Une Nouvelle Peinture Murale Sogdienne dans le Temple de Džartepa II". In: Studia Iranica, no.30, pp.45-66.
Ḥimawī, Yāqūt. 1965. Dictionary of Countries (Muʻjam al-Buldān), Resaerched by Wūstenfeld, Tehran: Asadī. [in Arabic]
Livshits, V. 1962. Yuridiceskie Dokumenty i Pisma, Sogdiiskie Dokumenty c Gory Mug 2, Moskva.
Markwart, J. 1938. Wehrot und Arang, Leiden: E. J. Brill
Markwart, Joseph. 1989. Wihrūd wa Arang, Translated by Dāwūd Munshī-zādih, Tehran: Endowments of Dr. Maḥmūd Afshār Yazdī. [in Farsi]
Montazeri, S. S. R.; Sadri, A. E. 2016. "An Investigation into the Pantheon in Bactrian Economic Documents". In: Religious Inquiries, yr.5, no.9, pp.95-104.
Panaino, A. 1995. Tištrya II: the Iranian Myth of the Star Sirius, Roma: Instituto Italiano per Il Medio ed Estremo Oriente.
Sims-Williams, N. 2000. Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan I: Legal and Economic Documents, Oxford (=BD1).
Sims-Williams, N. 2001. "Bactrian Legal Documents from 7th-8th Century Guzgan". In: Bulletin of the Asia Institute, no.15, pp.9-29.
Sims-Williams, N. 2007. Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan II: Letters and Buddhist Texts, London (=BD2).
Sims-Williams, N. 2010. Bactrian Personal Names (Iranisches Personennamenbuch, Band II Faszikel 7), Wien.
Sims-Williams, N.; Cribb, Joe. 1996. “A New Bactrian Inscription of Kanishka the Great”. In: Silk Road Art and Archeology, no.4, pp.75-142.
Sims-Williams, N.; de Blois, F. 2005. “The Bactrian Calendar: New Material and New Suggestions”. In: D. Weber (ed.), Languages of Iran: Past and Present, Wiesbaden, pp.185-196.
Sims-Williams, Nicholas. 2000. “Decoding from Balkhi Language: A New Ray on Ancient Afghanistan”, Translated by Maḥmūd Jaʻfarī Dihaqī. In: Linguistics, yr.15, no.15, pp.83-107. [in Farsi]
Staviskij, B. JA. 1986. La Bactriane sous les Kushans, Traduite du Russe par P. Bernard- M. Budra- F. Grenet- P. Leriche, Paris: Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient.