Atar
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Atar () is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire" (Mirza, 1987:389). It is considered to be the visible presence of Ahura Mazda and his Asha through the eponymous Yazata. The rituals for purifying a fire are performed 1,128 times a year.
Key facts
- Deity.type
- Zoroastrian
- Deity.deity_of
- God of Fire
- Deity.image
- 250px
- Deity.caption
- Fire bowl on a coin of the Sasanian emperor Ardashir Babakan.
- Deity.other_names
- Ataxsh, Atash, Atarsh, Adar, Adur, Azar
- Deity.script_name
- Avestan
- Deity.script
- Ātar 𐬁𐬙𐬀𐬭
- Deity.gender
- Male
- Deity.attributes
- Guardian of Fire, Giver of Warmth
- Deity.symbol
- Fire, Light and Illumination
- Deity.affiliation
- The Thirty-Three Deities, Guardians of the Days of the Month, The Twelve Deities, Four Elements
- Deity.day
- 9th of each month in the Iranian calendar
- Deity.associated_deities
- Asha Vahishta, Verethragna, Sraosha
- Deity.sacred_flower
- Sunflower
- Deity.festivals
- Azargān
- Deity.Greek_equivalent
- Hephaestus
- Deity.Roman_equivalent
- Vulcan
- Deity.equivalent1_type
- Indian
via Wikipedia infobox
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Article
13 sectionsContents
- In scripture
- In the Gathic texts
- In later texts
- In culture and tradition
- As a divinity
- The cult of fire
- In mythology and folklore
- As a royal symbol
- In technology
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- Further reading
Atar () is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire" (Mirza, 1987:389). It is considered to be the visible presence of Ahura Mazda and his Asha through the eponymous Yazata. The rituals for purifying a fire are performed 1,128 times a year.
In the Avestan language, ātar is an attribute of sources of heat and light, of which the nominative singular form is ātarš, source of Persian ātaš (fire). It was once thought to be etymologically related to the Avestan āθrauuan / aθaurun (Vedic atharvan), a type of priest, but that is now considered unlikely (Boyce, 2002:16). The ultimate etymology of ātar, previously unknown (Boyce, 2002:1), is now believed to be from the Indo-European *hxehxtr- 'fire'. This would make it a cognate to Latin ater (black) and to Albanian vatër (definite form: vatra) "hearth", "fireplace", which was loaned to Romanian vatră "hearth", "fireplace", and thereafter spread to Serbo-Croat vatra "fire" and Ukrainian vatra "bonfire".