Anahita
Like the Indian Sarasvatī, Anāhitā nurtures crops and herds; and she is hailed both as a divinity and as the mythical river which she personifies, "as great in bigness as all these waters which flow forth upon the earth" (Yasht 5.3).
[1][12][13] In its old Iranian form *Harahwatī, "her name was given to the region, rich in rivers, whose modern capital is Kabul (Avestan Haraxvaitī, Old Persian Hara(h)uvati-, Greek Arachosia).
"[1] "Like the Devi Saraswati, [Aredvi Sura Anahita] nurtures crops and herds; and is hailed both as a divinity and the mythical river that she personifies, 'as great in bigness as all these waters which flow forth upon the earth'."
It was moreover the association with the planet Venus, "it seems, which led Herodotus to record that the [Persis][γ] learnt 'to sacrifice to "the heavenly goddess"' from the Assyrians and Arabians.
"[27][δ][28] The cosmological qualities of the world river are alluded to in Yasht 5 (see in the Avesta, below), but properly developed only in the Bundahishn, a Zoroastrian account of creation finished in the 11th or 12th century CE.
The cosmological legend runs as follows: All the waters of the world created by Ahura Mazda originate from the source Aredvi Sura Anahita, the life-increasing, herd-increasing, fold-increasing, who makes prosperity for all countries.
The water, warm and clear, flows through a hundred thousand golden channels towards Mount Hugar, "the Lofty", one of the daughter-peaks of Hara Berezaiti.
Through that channel, which is at the height of a thousand men, one portion of the great spring Aredvi Sura Anahita drizzles in moisture upon the whole earth, where it dispels the dryness of the air and all the creatures of Mazda acquire health from it.
According to Nyberg[31] and supported by Lommel[32] and Widengren,[33] the older portions of the Aban Yasht were originally composed at a very early date, perhaps not long after the Gathas themselves.
In the Aban Yasht, the river yazata is described as "the great spring Ardvi Sura Anahita is the life-increasing, the herd-increasing, the fold-increasing who makes prosperity for all countries" (5.1).
The association between water and wisdom that is common to many ancient cultures is also evident in the Aban Yasht, for here Aredvi Sura is the divinity to whom priests and pupils should pray for insight and knowledge (5.86).
It was clear that these do not know the animal given the fact that the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) were found in the Caucasus but did not range south of the Caspian Sea nor the rivers and lakes of the Aral-Caspian steppe.
[3] The earliest dateable and unambiguous reference to the iconic cult of Anahita is from the Babylonian scholar-priest Berosus, who – although writing in 285 BCE, over 70 years[η] after the reign of Artaxerxes II Mnemon[θ] – records that the emperor had been the first to make cult statues of Aphrodite Anaitis and place them in the temples of many of the empire's major cities, including Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, Bactria, Persepolis, Damascus and Sardis.
[38] A share of this income called the quppu ša šarri or "kings chest" – an ingenious institution originally introduced by Nabonidus – was then turned over to the ruler.
[c5] The massive stone lion on the hill there (said to be part of a sepulchral monument to Hephaestion[ψ]) is today a symbol that visitors touch in hope of fertility.
Plutarch records that Artaxerxes II had his concubine Aspasia consecrated as priestess at the temple "to Diana of Ecbatana, whom they name Anaitis, that she might spend the remainder of her days in strict chastity.
Despite archaeological findings that refute a connection with Anahita,[42] remains of a 2nd-century BCE Hellenic-style edifice at Kangavar continue to be a popular tourist attraction.
[c7][43] During the Hellenistic Parthian period, Susa had its "Dianae templum augustissimum"[c8] far from Elymais where another temple, known to Strabo as the "Ta Azara", was dedicated to Athena/Artemis[c9] and where tame lions roamed the grounds.
There, Anahita continued to be venerated in her martial role and it was at Istakhr that Sasan, after whom the Sasanid dynasty is named, served as high priest.
"By this time (the beginning of the 3rd century), Anāhita's headgear (kolāh) was worn as a mark of nobility", which in turn "suggests that she was goddess of the feudal warrior estate.
[46] So also the popular shrines to Mehr/Mithra which retained the name Darb-e Mehr – Mithra's Gate – that is today one of the Zoroastrian technical terms for a fire temple.
"[47] Anahita has also been identified as a figure in the investiture scene of Khusrow Parvez (Khosrau II, r. 590-628 CE) at Taq-e Bostan, but in this case not quite as convincingly as for the one of Narseh.
[50] In addition, Sasanid silverware depictions of nude or scantily dressed women seen holding a flower or fruit or bird or child are identified as images of Anahita.
Pliny reports that Mark Antony's soldiers smashed an enormous statue of the divinity made of solid gold and then divided the pieces amongst themselves.
[c24] In 69 BCE, the soldiers of Lucullus saw cows consecrated to 'Persian Artemis' roaming freely at Tomisa in Sophene (on the Euphrates in South-West Armenia), where the animals bore the brand of a torch on their heads.
[25][ρ] Similarly, one of the "most beloved mountain shrines of the Zoroastrians of Yazd, set beside a living spring and a great confluence of water-courses, is devoted to Banu-Pars, "the Lady of Persia".
"[56][57] However, and notwithstanding the widespread popularity of Anahita, "it is doubtful whether the current tendency is justified whereby almost every isolated figure in Sasanid art, whether sitting, standing, dancing, clothed, or semi-naked, is hailed as her representation.
[60]: 104–105 In his Life of Johnson, James Boswell tells the story of Donald McQueen, who believed a building near Dunvegan Castle to be the ruins of a temple to Anahita.
[citation needed] In Tad Williams' Bobby Dollar Series, Anahita is referred to as Anaita, a powerful goddess turned angel who acts as one of five members of a judgement collective known as the Ephorate.
The shrine, which legend attributes to the eldest daughter of Yazdegerd III, continues to be a pilgrimage site (by women only, through a concession by male descendants of Mohammed) even in Islamic times.
