distinguish the one from the other. It is not so much Havarekhshaeta in the capacity of an angel that figures here, as does Hvarekhshaeta, the sun itself. The writer of the hymn in honour of Hvarekhshaeta is more interested in depicting the movements of the sun itself as the orb of day than in giving any account of the Yazata, or presiding genius of the sun. We have a vivid picture of the sun's movements, its rising and setting, its power to rout the fiends of uncleanness and impurity, but we have hardly anything which treats of the spiritual personality behind this great luminary of nature. The worship of the brilliant sun must have preceded the period of its deification, and the poet cannot quite rid himself of the fascination of the primitive form of nature-worship. The physical phenomenon of the sun is always present before the mind of the writer; and there is very little attempt to address the presiding genius through his visible image, the concrete representative being the direct object of praise and glorification. The sun rises up above the mountain Hara Berezaiti and enters upon his daily career.[1]
Hvarekhshaeta is invoked by his name, and his standing epithets are 'the imperishable, radiant, and the swift-horsed.' Ovid attests that a horse was consecrated to the sun for the reason that the sun itself was swift moving like the horse.[2] Several classical writers write about the homage and sacrifice offered by the Persians to the sun. A white horse of the best Nisaean breed was selected for the sacrifice to the sun.[3] A white chariot, covered with garlands was sacred to the sun.[4] A temple consecrated to the sun, with a priestess of the royal family at its head, is mentioned.[5]
The Amesha Spentas are all of one accord with the sun.[6] When the sun warms with its light, a hundred and a thousand spiritual Yazatas gather its glory and distribute it upon the earth for the furtherance of the world of righteousness.[7] When the sun rises up, purification comes unto the earth and unto the standing and flowing waters and unto the waters of the wells{{smallrefs|Dio Chrysostom]], Orationes, 36, 39.</ref> A temple consecrated to the sun, with a priestess of the royal family at its head, is mentioned.[8]
The Amesha Spentas are all of one accord with the sun.[9] When the sun warms with its light, a hundred and a thousand spiritual Yazatas gather its glory and distribute it upon the earth for the furtherance of the world of righteousness.[10] When the sun rises up, purification comes unto the earth and unto the standing and flowing waters and unto the waters of the wells{{smallrefs]]
- ↑ Yt. 10. 118; Vd. 21. 5.
- ↑ Fasti, 1. 385, 386.
- ↑ Gray, op. cit., p. 85, 86; Fox and Pemberton, op. cit., p. 16, 41, 67.
- ↑ [[Author:Xenophon}}, Cyropaedia, 8. 3. 12; Author:Dio Chrysostom, Orationes, 36, 39.
- ↑ Flavius Vopiscus, Aurelianus, 5. 5.
- ↑ Ny. 1. 1.
- ↑ Yt. 6. 1; Ny. 1. 11.
- ↑ Flavius Vopiscus, Aurelianus, 5. 5.
- ↑ Ny. 1. 1.
- ↑ Yt. 6. 1; Ny. 1. 11.
