According to the Avesta tradition, the first period of the millennium of Zaraθuštra (1-300) will end with a catastrophic event, the onslaught of a mairya.
Vohumanah: Artaxšaçā
Of the rulers who arrived after the time of Vīštāspa, the Daēnā (the Scripture) mentions Vohumanah: «Such as Vohumanah son of Spǝṇtōδāta among the kings, about whom it is said in the Avesta this: Vohumanah the straight, the most efficient in challenging among the Mazdayasnians.»
This king is identified with an Achaemenian king, one Artaxarxes (probably Artaxšaçā abiyātaka (OPers. artaxšaçā abiyātaka ≈ Gr. ᾽Αρταξέρξς μνήμων). There was a chief town, in the Sasanian times, called Vahman-Ardašēr (From vohumanah-artaxšaθrā-). Vohumanah reigned over the Aryan land for 112 years. Tabarī, Ḥamza and others, influenced by foreign traditions, especially Jewish, identified this kavi with the Achaemenian king Artaxerxes Longimanus (Mακρόχειρ), son of Xerxes.
Humāyā
According to the Drvāspā Yašt, two girls Humāyā and Vāriδkanā were prisoners in the country of the Hiyonians; Kavi Vīštāspa conducted battle with the Hiyonian bad man, Arǝja.aspa; and after his victory, he brought them back home. One “Parthian” fragment of the epic cycle, the Memorial of the Zairivari family that relates the war of Vīštāspa against the Hiyonians, tells of Humāyā thus:
+Humāy ī man duxt … kē andar hamāg šahr ērān zan-ē az ōy huzihrdar nēst.
—AZ 77
‘Humāyā, who is my (=Vīštāspa’s) daughter … a more beautiful woman than whom there is none in the whole land of the Aryans.’
The Dēnkird ix cites a lost passage of the translation of the Avesta about her:
ēn-z kū: kirbān abddum az nārīgān, Humāy ī āzāttōhmag ī Vištāspān.
—Dk ix M 815.
‘And this, too, (has been said in the Avesta): The most wonderful of shapes of women is Humāyā of the noble seed of Vīštāspa.’
Humāyā (and, probably also Vāriδkanā) shares the epithets of “the most beautiful body” (kǝhrp sraēštā) and “the most wonderful” (abdō.tǝmā) with the two beloved women of Θraētaona, Arǝnavācī and Saŋhavācī, who were held captive by Aži Dahāka. She also shares the epithets “noble” (āzātā) and “of (wealthy) seed” (raēvasciθrā) with the Lady Anāhitā. She bears, in Pārsīg texts, the distinctive epithet āzāttōhmag (from Av. āzātǝm ciθrǝm*) / cihrāzād (from Av. ciθrǝm āzātǝm*) ‘of noble seed’.
The (lost) Pārsīg book entitled A Thousand Stories (hazār afsān*) had begun with the story of two women in the seraglio of a tyrant: one, Cihrāzād, a concubine of royal blood; the other, Dēnāzād, a head of the household. «It is said that this book was composed for Humāyā.»
The Book of Kings has told of “another” Humāyā, daughter of Vohumanah, who bears the surname of Cihrāzād, and reigns for 30 years. Ḥamza and some other chroniclers, influenced by foreign sources, identified Humāyā with Semiramis (Sa-am-mu-ra-mat) who had reigned a few years in Assyria (from 809 B.C. to 806 B.C.).
There is no Achaemenian “queen” corresponding to Humāyā, but Humāyā may correspond to the Lady Anāhitā, promoted by the Achaemenian king Artaxerxes Μνήμων.
Dārayavahu
After a reign of 30 years Humāyā was succeeded by two kings, who both were called Dārayavahu (Darius), one “the Great”, the other “the Second”. Dārayavahu the Great who was son of Humāyā reigned for 12 years. Dārayavahu the Second, son of Dārayavahu, reigned for 14 years till he was killed by Alexander the Greek.
Mairya : Alexander
The religious and royal traditions knew Alexander as a “bad man” (Av. mairya-) and “destroyer” (Pers. avīrāngarak*), who had devastated the Aryan land. «Such were, e.g. the calamities which Alexander and his Greek lieutenants brought upon them, further the conflagration of all fine arts which were the recreation and the desire of the people. And more than that. Alexander burned the greatest part of their religious codices, he destroyed the wonderful architectural monuments, e.g. those in the mountains of Staxr, …»
This synchronism of mairya and Alexander is the reason why in the Religious scripture (the Zand of the Avesta) and also in the Book of Kings (the Xvadāy-nāmag) the end of Kavi-dynasty is connected to the end of the Achaemenian kingship.
After the Greek invasion of the Aryan Land (/ Persia), with the butchery at Persepolis and other places, the huge plunder of the treasures of Pasargadae and other places, the widespread slaughter of priests, Alexander was logically identified, by the Magi, as corresponding to the “Bad Man” (Av. mairya-) of the end of the first period of the millennium of Zaraθuštra. It is but natural that the Magi should have synchronized the counter-action of the Mairya in the 300th year of the religion with Alexander’s invasion of Persia.
From the Dēnkird vii, M 650
az višuftārān Aleksander, cōn-š andar dēn ēn-z gōbed kū: ē hān ī zimestān ōy xēšm abar ped āz dāmān nihānīhā mar kuned ī dušfarr [Aleksander].
‘Of the devastators (of that period) is Alexander, as it is said this of him in the Scripture: In that winter (= year), Wrath fabricates, secretly, among the creatures of Greed the bad man of evil Fortune [Alexander].’
From the Dēnkird viii, M 679
pas az višōbišn ī mar ī dušfarr xēšmkird Aleksander mad, aziš būd ī ēdōn abāz nē vindād ī ped dastvar dāštan šāyist hē.
‘After the devastation which came on from the bad man, of evil Fortune, fabricated by Wrath, Alexander, it happened that some of (the Avesta texts) were not so recovered as would be possible to regard (them) canonical.’
From the Dēnkird iii, M 405-406
andar vizend ī az mar ī dušfarr Aleksander ō Ērān šahr dēn ud xvadāyīh mad, hān ī ped diz ī nibišt ō sōzišn, hān ī ped ganz ī šasabīgān dast ī hrōmīgān madan, u-š ō-z yōnāyīg uzvān vizārdan, ped āgāhīh ī pēšēnīgān peyvastag.
‘During the harm which came upon the religion and kingdom of the Aryan Land (/Persia) from the bad man, of evil Fortune, Alexander, (the copy of the Avesta) in the Record Fortress was burnt, and (the original text) in the Royal Treasury –connected with the Knowledge left from the Ancients – came into the hands of the “Greeks” who translated it into the Greek language.’
From the Ardā Vīrāz Nāmag 1.1-4
ēdōn gōbend kū: ēv-bār ī Zardušt dēn pedīrift ud andar gēhān ravāg bē kird dā bavandagīh ī si-sad sāl dēn andar abēzagīh, ud mardōm andar abēgumānīh būd hend. pas guzastag Gennāg Mēnōg ī durvand gumān kirdan ī mardōmān ped ēn dēn rāy ōy guzastag Aleksander ī hrōmāyīg ī muzrāyīg-mānišn viyābānēnīd ī ped grān sizd ud nibard ud višēg ō Ērānšahr āmad, u-š ōy ēran dahyubed ōzad, ud dar ud xvadāyīh višuft ud avīrān kird.
‘They say thus: Once the truthful Zaraθuštra accepted the religion and propagated it in the world and till the end of 300 years the religion was in purity and men were free from doubt. Afterwards the accursed Aŋra Mainyu (‘Evil Spirit’), possessed by Lie, to cause doubt of this religion among men deluded the accursed Alexander the Greek, who dwelt in Egypt, who came with grievous violence, quarrel, and terror to the Aryan Land (Persia). He slew the ruler (Av. dahu.paiti- ‘lord of land’) of the Aryans, and destroyed the palaces and Kingdom and laid (the Aryan Land) waste.’
From Chardin’s Travels in Persia
It would not be surprising to find the Pārsīs attributing to Alexander and Muḥammad two evil personae that caused the devastation of their countries and cities and the ruin of the illustrious and ancient Aryan community of Persia.
«Je n’ai rien trouvé de plus sensé dans leurs enseignemens, que le mal qu’ils disent d’Alexandre le Grand. Au lieu de l’admirer, & de révérer son nom, comme font tant d’autres Peuples, ils le méprisent, le détestent, & le maudissent, le regardant comme un Pirate, comme un Brigand, comme un homme sans justice & sans cervelle, né pour troubler l’ordre du Monde, & pour détruire une partie du Genre-humain. Ils se disent à l’oreille la même chose de Mahammed, & ils les mettent tous deux à la tête des méchants Princes; l’un, pour avoir été lui-même l’Instrument de tant de malheurs, comme sont l’Incendie, le Meurtre, le Viol, & le Sacrilege; l’autre, pour en avoir été la cause & l’occasion. Ils connoissent assez que leur perte vient de ces deux Usurpateurs, Alexandre & Mahammed; en quoi ils ne se trompent pas.»
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