fered to Ahurani cause joy to Ahura Mazda and the Aumesha Spentas.[1]
Zam
The earth deified. The Avestan term for earth is zam, from which the angel Zam, or Zamyat, derives her name. Her personality is very insipid as compared with Armaiti, who, as we have seen, has the earth under her care and is, in fact, a more active guardian genius of the earth than Zamyat. The twenty-eighth day of every month is sacred to Zamyat.[2] The poet who composed the Yasht in honour of Zamyat does not sing the glory of his heroine, but occupies himself rather with a description of the mountains of the world,[3] and with the celebration of the Divine Glory that descends upon the Aryan race, symbolizing the greatness of the kings and the consecrated piety of the sainted souls.[4] Cyrus, says Xenophon, sacrificed animals to the earth as the Magians directed.[5]
