on the authority of Theopompus (400 b.c.), the loss of whose excursus dealing with Zoroastrianism in antiquity is still to be deplored, that the good God ruled for three thousand years, and the Evil One for another three thousand years. At the expiration of six thousand years, they entered into a conflict which goes on, and which will end in the final annihilation of the field.[1] Diogenes confirms this statement.[2] All this has its historic bearing upon the whole realm of Zoroastrianism in its relation to the great religions of the world, for each and all of them have had to deal with the problem of evil in its application to the life of man.
Angra Mainyu
The titles of the Evil Spirit. The Gathic epithet angra is turned into a proper name. Angra Mainyu is the Demon of Demons,[3] who has crept into the creation of the Good Spirit.[4] His standing epithet is 'full of death.'[5] He is all death.[6] He is deadly.[7] He is of evil glory.[8] He is the worst liar.[9] He is a tyrant,[10] of evil creation,[11] of evil religion,[12] and of evil knowledge,[13] and of malignity,[14] as well as inveterately wicked.[15] He is the doer of evil deeds.[16] The north is the seat of Angra Mainyu,[17] where he lives with his evil brood in the bowels of the earth to make onslaughts on the world of righteousness.[18]
The counter-creations of Angra Mainyu. The Avestan texts persistently speak of the creations of the two spirits, Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu;[19] moreover the first chapter of the Vendidad contains a list of the good places created by Ahura Mazda, over against which the Evil One counter-created various physical and moral evils to thwart the peace and happiness of the good creation. It is the Evil Spirit who has infected
- ↑ Is. et Os. 47.
- ↑ Prooem. 9.
- ↑ Vd. 19. 1, 43.
- ↑ Yt. 13. 77.
- ↑ Ys. 61. 2; Yt. 3. 13; 10. 97; 13. 71; 15. 56; 17. 19; 18. 2; 24. 43; Vd. 1. 3; 19. 1, 43, 44; 22. 2; Aog. 4, 28.
- ↑ Yt. 13. 71.
- ↑ Yt. 22. 2.
- ↑ Yt. 24. 43.
- ↑ Yt. 3. 13.
- ↑ Vd. 19. 3.
- ↑ Ys. 61. 2; Vd. 19. 6.
- ↑ WFr. 4. 2.
- ↑ Aog. 4.
- ↑ Yt. 17. 19; Vd. 11. 10; 19. 1, 5, 9, 12, 44.
- ↑ Ys. 27. 1; Yt. 10. 118; 13. 71, 78.
- ↑ Yt. 19. 97.
- ↑ Vd. 19. 1.
- ↑ Yt. 19. 44.
- ↑ Ys. 57. 17; Yt. 11. 12; 13. 76; 15. 3, 43, 44; Vd. 3. 20; 13. 1, 2, 5, 6, 16.
