Māh ī Frawardīn Rōz ī Hordād: Alternative Insights to Ancient Myths

Māh ī Frawardīn Rōz ī Hordād is a short Middle Persian text in epic poetry style, originally from late Sasanian times. This text, which was most probably destined for oral communication is centered on Ahura Mazda’s answer to Zoroaster’ question on why people hold the day Hordād of the month Frawardīn important, and it reviews the mythical past and future events that happened or will happen on this day. Jamaspji Minochehrji Jamasp-Asana published this text in his Corpus of Pahlavi Texts in 1913. The present author is preparing a critical edition of this text with commentary to be published shortly. In this presentation I will demonstrate that the Māh ī Frawardīn Rōz ī Hordād offers interesting deviations from established priestly traditions and it contains some of less known ancient myths. For example, it is the only Middle Persian text in which Āraš, the famous Iranian archer has been mentioned.