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Exegesis in Ancient Iran and Its Influence on Artwork Interpretation
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Neda Akhavan Aghdam *   |
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Abstract: (16006 Views) |
| The history of the Zoroastrian religion, from the
viewpoint of documentations, is not quite a rich
one and it shortcomings can be observed in written
as well as pictorial resources. Many of the
writings, relative to this epoch, are not survived
and the major portion that is remained has been
long preserved in oral tradition and only written
in followed centuries. On the other hand, due the
Zoroastrian religious opposition to image worship,
the remained pictorial resources of this period are
extremely insignificant. The Zoroastrians believed
that an icon is a place for the settlement of evil
power, hence the prohibition of icon making and
image worshipping. As a result, in Zoroastrianism
the interpretation is fundamentally relevant
to Avesta exegesis. It seems that this tradition was
common even before the times that Avesta appeared
in the written form.
This article initially intends to revolve around
the beliefs of the ancient Iranians about icon creating
and image worshipping in order to determine
what the reasons of scarcity of pictorial resourcesmay be. It follows to introduce the common tradition
of exegesis in ancient Iran that is the interpretation
and translation of Avesta which was
of validity and importance for the Zoroastrians.
Eventually, a plaque relevant to the 7th and 8th
Centuries AD with an image of “Zurvan” is interpreted
with the help of the exegesis of Avesta.
This method guides us to ask a question: could a
correlation be found between the interpretations
of a religious text and that of an artwork? Since
our findings from Avesta text are improved as a
result of modern linguistics it seems sensible to
ask whether this can elevate our understanding of
cultural and artistic works of the era or not? |
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| Keywords: exegesis in ancient Iran, Zand, Avesta, image worship in Zoroastrianism, Zurvan |
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Full-Text [PDF 2608 kb]
(3434 Downloads)
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2014/02/24 | Accepted: 2014/02/24
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