THE ZOROASTRIAN INCESTUOUS UNIONS IN CHRISTIAN SOURCES AND CANONICAL LAWS: THEIR (DISTORTED) AETIOLOGY AND SOME OTHER PROBLEMS 

Antonio PANAINO 
University of Bologna at Ravenna 

RESUME 

Les unions incestueuses zoroastriennes dans les 
sources chretiennes et les lois canoniques : etiologie 
(deformee) et autres problemes 

Cette contribution concerne les polemiques entre Chretiens et mazdeens a propos des lois 
de mariage, et surtout des unions incestueuses, avec une discussion du mythe zurvanite sur le 
pretendu inceste primordial d'Ohrmazd avec sa mere, sa sceur et sa fille. 

SUMMARY 

The present contribution focus on the Christian polemics against the Sasanian right in 
matters concerning family law, particularly in the case of the so-called next-of-kin marriage; it 
also deals with the Zurvanite version of the myth concerning the primordial incest performed 
by Ohrmazd as reported in Christian sources. 

The controversial Mazdean custom of the x v aetvada0a-, in Pahlavi 
xwedodah or xwedodad, 1 was critically focused on by Christian writers since 

On this tradition see in particular Macuch 1991, whose reconstruction I substantially 
accept and follow; cf. also d'Arx 2005; Bartholomae 1904, col. 1860; Bucci 1978; 
Cumont 1924; Dalla Volta 1925-26; Goodenough 1951; Herrenschmidt 1994; 
Hiibschmann 1899; Aly-Akbar Mazaheri 1938; Sidler 1971; Slotkin 1947; Spooner 
1966. The most important passages concerning the family laws in Sasanian Iran have 

69 CAHIERS DE STUDIA IRANICA 36, 2008, p. 69-87. 

70 A. PANAINO 

they recognized its consistence and structural function in the framework of 
the Iranian society. This peculiar form of marriage soon became a matter of 
radical polemics between Christians and Zoroastrians, and its compelling 
refusal by the Christian Church involved also a difficult legal controversy 
and, to a certain extent, it assumed a complex political meaning in the 
relations between the two religious communities. Among the first Christians 
to react against such a matrimonial habit we shall mention St. Basil of 
Cesarea, in Cappadocia, who in A.D. 377 wrote in one letter addressed to 
Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis, Cyprus, about the magousavwn e[qno~, "the 
Nation of the Magousaioi", clearly referring to their "unlawful" marriages 
(gavmoi- ejpimaivnontai paranovmoi-). 2 

The same attitude is visible also in the Armenian sources; we note that 
the xwedodah was also strongly forbidden by a prominent figure in fourth- 
century Armenia such as St. Nerses, the great- great- grandson of St. Gregory 
the Illuminator, during his travel to Cesarea; we cannot avoid mentioning that 
Nerses was consecrated bishop by the same Basil of Cesarea. According to 
The Epic Histories (Buzandaran Patmut c iunk c ) by P c awstos Buzand (alias 
Faustos of Byzantium), ch. IV, 4, St. Nerses: 3 

"also [taught] that marriage should be lawful, and neither to deceive 

nor betray one's spouse, and above all to refrain from incestuous 

marriages with close *family relations within the *clan, especially 

from intimacy with daughters-in-law or anything of the kind, as had 

once been [the custom]". 

This source is confirmed by another brief reference given by Moses 

Khorenats c i in his History of the Armenians, 3, 20, stating that the same St. 

Nerses abolished two traditional customs from the princely families: "the 

marriage of close relatives, which they practice to restrict the noble class" 4 

and some mourning rites. It is interesting to note that, here, the focus was 

concentrated on the highest ranks of society, a statement, which probably 

means the prevalence of such a tradition among nobles, while its explanation, 

i.e. that it aimed to restrict the number of nobles seems peculiar. Probably the 

practice was maintained, as Russell assumes on the basis of the sources, 

because this was a way to preserve the property within the family. 5 I would 

also like to insist on the fact that the regulations expressed by St. Nerses 

appear to be wider and more precise, because the marriage interdiction 

involved also the daughters-in-law. In any case, as Nina Garsoi'an has 

been edited and discussed by Macuch 1981, p. 7-10, p. 69-120; 1993, p. 320, p. 626, 

p. 647, p. 654. 
2 See Russell 1987, p. 5 15. 

Garsoi'an 1989, p. 114; cf. also the Italian translation by G. Uluhogian 1997, p. 84. 

Moses Khorenats'i (tr. by Thomson), 1978, p. 275. 
5 See Russell 1987, p. 95. 

THE ZOROASTRIAN INCESTUOUS UNIONS 71 

noted, 6 they surely were meant to fight the diffusion of underlying Mazdean 
practices, which were strictly condemned by St. Nerses during the 
Ecclesiastical Council of Astisat, in A.D. 365, although, as Russell 
suggests, 7 the Council "did not prescribe any penalty for those who persisted 
in the practice of x v aetvadatha-, perhaps because it was in no position to 
dictate to the naxarars it implicated". During the Canonical Council of 
Sahapivan, held in A.D. 444 (precisely in the Canons XII and XIII) 8 new 
and more severe prescriptions were introduced. 

Thus, it is not by chance that the incest was frequently referred to, not 
only in the Syriac Canonical Laws, but also in the Armenian Kanonagirk c , as 
also Thomson has rightly recalled. 9 But in particular in the Armenian area, 
the practice of next-of-kin marriages was not eradicated, although 
Christianity took a firm position, and very interestingly Russell has 
underlined 10 the fact that down to the period of the Soviet Revolution such a 
union was still preserved among the Armenian melixs of the Caucasus, who 
in some respects continued the customs of the previous naxarars; the 
preference for marriages between first cousins has been documented in the 
Surmalu area, and also in the town of Tiflis the incest between sisters and 
brothers was known. 

Remaining in the Armenian context, we may quote, for instance, also the 
Armenian historian Elise Vardapet, who, in his History ofVardan, described 
the imposition of incestuous unions reintroduced by the Mazdean clergy in 
the V th century, writing as follows: 11 

"Furthermore the wives of the princes shall receive the magi's 

instruction. Sons and daughters of the nobility and peasantry shall 

study the precepts of the same magi. The laws of holy matrimony 

which they received from their forefathers according to Christian 

ritual shall be abrogated and abolished; instead of one wife they shall 

take many, so that the Armenian nation may increase and multiply. 

Daughters shall be [wives] for fathers, and sisters for brothers. 

Mother shall not withdraw from sons, and grandchildren shall 

ascend the couch of grandparents". 

What is most interesting here is the explicit reference to potential incest 

between grandchildren and grandparents, a kind of union which cannot be 

rejected as a polemical exaggeration, but that, contrariwise, was expressly 

forbidden in the Christian Canonical sources. 

See Garsoi'an, 1976, p. 184, and p. 220, n. 60. 

Russell 1987, p. 95. 

See Garsoi'an, 1976, p. 184, and p. 220, n. 60. 

See footnote 7 in Elishe (tr. Thomson), 1982, p. 104. 

See Russell 1987, p. 95-96. 

Elishe (tr. Thomson), 1982, p. 103-104. 

72 A. PANAINO 

Another important witness about the Christian refusal of the Mazdean 
traditions is attested in a less known source, written in Georgian about the 
end of the VI th century, the Martyrologium of Eustathius of Mcxeta {alias, 
before the baptism, Gvirobandak', the son of a Persian mowbed, coming 
from Ganjak, who emigrated to Mcxeta in Iberia). This relevant document 
has been recently translated and commented by B. Martin-Hisard, 12 who has 
convincingly demonstrated that the death of such a martyr, as happened on 
20 th December 547, was not due to a general persecution ordered by Xusraw 
in the framework of the Byzantine-Sasanian conflict for the control of the 
Lazica area, but it can be explained as the result of an isolated trial against an 
ex-Zoroastrian converted to Christianity. 13 Chapters 60-62 of his Martyrdom 
deal with the Zoroastrian religion, and in particular in chapter 60 we can 
read: 14 

"En outre, nous les hommes, creatures de Dieu, nous sommes 
devenus semblables aux betes muettes. Ainsi, de meme que les 
animaux ne reconnaissent en matiere de parente ni les geniteurs dont 
ils sont nes ni leur progeniture, et rejettent done en s'accouplant leurs 
liens de parente, de meme nous, les hommes, etres raisonnables, 
nous sommes devenus semblables a ces animaux muets, nous qui ne 
reconnaissons ni notre geniteur ni notre progeniture et nous rejetons, 
en nous unissant, notre nature. Mais maintenant, par la grace de 
Dieu, depuis qu'il y a le bapteme et que les hommes connaissent la 
loi du christianisme, les hommes savent, ils ont abandonne ces actes 
impies qui ont disparu". 

We cannot be stupefied if also in various Acts of the Christian Martyrs in 
Persia we find a good number of direct critical references to this matrimonial 
tradition. We may recall, for instance, the Syriac Martyrologium of St. 
Pethion (second half of the V th century), where a strong polemic against this 
form of marriage was manifested. This attack is inserted in the section 
dedicated to the Martyrdom of the ex-mowbed Adurhormizd and his 
daughter Anahid, and its importance results from the fact that in particular it 
mentions an Iranian myth stating that the luminaries were created by means 
of an incest performed by Ohrmazd with his mother. More precisely, 
according to the Armenian version by Eznik in his De Deo, known also with 
the denomination of Against the Sects, book II, ch. 8, we deduce that the Sun 
was generated thanks to the incest of Ohrmazd with his mother, the Moon 

12 Martin-Hisard 1998. 

13 Martin-Hisard 1998, p. 493-504. 

14 

Martin-Hisard 1998, p. 5 16. 

THE ZOROASTRIAN INCESTUOUS UNIONS 73 

by that with his sister. 15 As we can assume from another statement attested 
in the Acts of Pusai, precisely formulated in one of his answers to Sabuhr the 
Great, 16 a tradition existed according to which Ohrmazd had generated also 
the stars thanks to an incest, in this case, presumably with his own daughter. 
These statements are implicitly confirmed in the Martyrdoms of 
Adurhormizd, a mowbed from Wehsabuhr, and of his daughter Anahid. 17 
We start with the first text, where Adurhormizd 18 actually attacks the 
Zoroastrian priest who was accusing him, and insists on the fact that being 
Ohrmazd incapable to enlighten the creation, he needed Ahreman's advice, 19 
thus behaving like a student with his master. In this very context, he sharply 
introduces the mythical and cosmogonical aetiology 20 of the xwedodah with 
the purpose to ridicule it. But it is better to quote in extenso this relevant 
passage in the translation by de Menasce, 21 who improved the one offered 
by Noldeke 22 and (earlier) by Nau. 23 

"Ne conviendra-t-il pas de s'adresser a Ahriman qui, d'apres ses 
ceuvres, selon ce que vous dites, parait sage et puissant, Hormizd, 
par contre, faible et insense, lui qui ne sait rien faire avant de l'avoir 
appris des disciples d'Ahriman. En effet, lorsqu'il a cree ce monde, 
selon ce que vous dites, il l'a laisse dans les tenebres jusqu'a ce qu'il 
ait ete instruit par les disciples d'Ahriman : alors il fit la lumiere. 
Hormizd dormit une fois avec sa mere et le soleil naquit qui est si 
lumineux. Et les chiens, les pores, les anes et les bceufs qui font le 
xvetodat 24 tous les jours n'ont pas reussi a faire le soleil ; pas meme 
les boeufs qui sont des justes, ni les chiens purs et purificateurs, 
gardiens des portes du Vahist". 

15 Eznik 1959, p. 609 (H, 8); p. 610 (II, 9). Cf. also Zaehner 1972, p. 63-64, p. 438-439. 
Another legend concerning the origin of the Sun appears in Eznik (II, ch. 9; see Eznik 
1959, p. 610); here the Sun is created by the son of Ohrmazd and the son of Ahreman, 
during a competition. 

16 Zaehner, 1972, p. 151, p. 432; cf. Braun 1915,p. 69; Widengren 1938,p. 301. 

Large fragments of the story of Pethion, Adurhormizd and Anahid survive also in a 
Sogdian version, masterly edited by Sims-Williams (1985, p. 31-64). 

18 Noldeke 1893, p. 34-38; Bidez/Cumont 1938, II, p. 109; Zaehner 1974, p. 435-436. Cf. 
Nau 1927, p. 184-189. 

19 See also the Arabic text by Theodore Abu Qurra, bishop of Harran (about 740-820) 
belonging to his treaty About the True Religion, edited by P. Cheikho in 1912 and 
translated into German by G. Graf, which de Menasce (1937-39, p. 600-601) 
republished as an appendix to his article. 

20 The same expression was already proposed by de Menasce 1937-39, p. 595. 

21 See de Menasce 1937-39, p. 493-594. 

22 Noldeke 1893, p. 36-37. 

23 Nau 1927, p. 187-188. Syriac text in Bedjan 1891, p. 578. 

24 Nau (1927, p. 188) does not understand the word and reads "Koutouroutieh (?)". 

74 A. PANAINO 

As M. Macuch has noted, 25 following de Menasce, 26 in this very source, 
the Pahlavi word xwedodad was no doubt introduced as a fitting technical 
term for incest. In the same Acts, few chapters after, Holy Anahid resumes 
most of the same arguments used by her father, declaring that Ohrmazd 
fathered the luminaries from his mother, daughter, and sister. Also in this 
case, it will be useful to quote extensively the relevant passage from the 
Martyrdom of St. Anahid, when she answers the mowbed: 

"Alas for old age" — she said — "when it grows foolish and is given to 
senseless speech, thus becoming the object of laughter — and here you are 
in your venerable old age yourself talking nonsense by introducing the 
subject of fire and the luminaries. O chief among the Magians, do you say 
that these children of Hormizd were conceived and given birth to by 
Hormizd of by someone else? On the basis of observation we can see that 
those who father children or give birth to them do so as a result of 
cohabitation of two persons, a male and a female; a person cannot achieve 
this on his or her own accord. If Hormizd on his own conceived in his own 
belly and gave birth to children, like his father Zurwan, then he is 
androgynous — as the Manichaeans say. But if he fathered them from his 
mother, daughter, and sister, as your crazy and senseless teaching maintains, 
how is it he does not resemble us in everything? For God has no mother, 
daughter, or sister, since he is one and he alone is God, having control over 
all his treasure stores. But Zurwan and Xwasizag his mother 27 testify that 
Hormizd is like us, subject to a beginning, an end, and corruption: for just as 
they ceased from life, so too will their children and grandchildren (...)". 28 

The same polemic was endorsed by Mar Aba, Katholikos of the Persian 
Church, contemporaneous of Xusraw I (531-578), 29 who systematically 
contested the Zoroastrian praxis of the consanguineous marriage, as we 
know in details from his treaty on the Matrimonial Right. 30 His juridical 
arguments will be confirmed by Jesuboht in the last part of the VIII th 
century, in the framework of his famous Corpus Juris, where the practice of 

26 
27 

1991, p. 147. 

See de Menasce 1937-39, p. 594. 

I cannot enter into the discussion about this tradition concerning the existence of a 
mother of Ohrmazd here; see Noldeke 1893, p. 37-38; Maries 1924, p. 41-47; 
Benvenistel928,p. 182-185; Zaehner 1972, p. 61-65, 155-158. 

Translation according to Brock / Ashbrook Harvey 1987, p. 91-92 with minor 
differences in the transcription of the Pahlavi names; cf. also Noldeke 1893, p. 34-38; 
Nau 1927, p. 189; Bidez / Cumont 1938, II, p. 110-111; Zaehner 1974, p. 436-437. 
Syriac text in Bedjan 1891, p. 592. For the corresponding Sogdian fragments see Sims- 
Williams 1985, p. 40-41, and p. 58 (translation of the Syriac passage). 
Peeters 1946. See also Panaino 2004. 
Edited and translated by Sachau, 1914, p. 258-285. 

THE ZOROASTRIAN INCESTUOUS UNIONS 75 

the next-of-kin marriage was still a serious target. 31 Already in his treaty Mar 
Aba mentioned not only the three basic forms of incest, with the mother, the 
father or the sister, directly referring to the Mazdean habit, 32 but also with a 
short reference to the Cananeans, 33 underlying this way its "unnatural" 
peculiarity, but he was also focusing on some contradictions attributed to the 
Mazdean doctrine. In addition, in the framework of chapter 2, (end of par. 6) 
of his treaty, 34 he dedicated a detailed discussion regarding the Zurvanite 
version of the myth describing the creation of the heavenly bodies. We may 
follow his arguments based on some strict syllogisms: 35 

"The particular Tightness of the Mazdeans (lit. 'of the followers of the 
house of Hormizd') comes into being in this way, that anybody has pursued 
a sexual commerce with his mother, his daughter, and his sister. If this is the 
Tightness, then, the person who has no intercourse with these 
(consanguineous women) cannot be a righteous, even though he has recited 
the entire Magism and has practiced all the virtues existing in mankind. 
Therefore, they want to tell us of the mother and sister and daughter of 
Zerdust or of Westasp or of Kaikusrau, who was decorated with children, or 
of Farkhun Bar Artabagan, who at the same time were their wives (the wives 
of men), whom they regarded as righteous. Otherwise, they want to mention 
others among their peoples, who have become righteous through the 
marriage with such (consanguineous) women. But if they cannot 
demonstrate (it), then, what they mention is foolish and they try to prove a 
dirty thing, abominated by the entire nature, by means of trivial talks. 

The Magi tell about Zerwan, the father of their god, that he had practiced 
the Magism 1000 years long, in order to get a son, and that he was yielded 
because of his Tightness. Now, they (the Magi) want to demonstrate to us 
who was mother, sister and daughter of this Zerwan, who was the husband 
of his mother and the father of his sister, who was his wife or the mother or 
the father of his mother. If they cannot produce nothing about this (Zerwan), 
then, how do they talk about Hormizd? From where do these women of 
Hormizd come from, since they still teach that he was given birth to neither 
by himself nor by his father, nor by anybody else? 

31 

See in particular Sachau, 1914, p. 34, 35. 

Cf. Sachau 1914, p. 265, lines 16-32. 

See Sachau 1914, p. 263, lines 13-16. 

This chapter concerns the copulatio naturalis, but performed "with the purpose of 

fornication", as explained in the introductory paragraph (Sachau 1914, p. 259). 

I offer here for the sake of the readers an English translation of the entire passage strictly 

referring to the Mazdean customs, following Sachau's German version (1914, p. 265, 

lines 16-58, 267, lines 1-5). Part of this text was earlier translated by Braun (1903, 

p. 564 and p. 565). The entire chapter starts at p. 263. 

76 A. PANAINO 

But, furthermore, how was it possible that through such a bed the 
heavenly bodies were created, as they say? What is unlikely and incredible 
can be demonstrated through what is likely and visible. Now, they have to 
bring us a sure evidence for this story about Hormizd. As a result of their 
current doctrines they marry their mothers, sisters and daughters. 
Henceforth, if such peoples are able to perform a miracle and a new creation, 
and to obtain a new wisdom through the sexual commerce with such 
women, then, the manking believes also in this unlikely story about 
Hormizd, so as it is narrated. But if they cannot prove such a thing, then, 
how should we believe about Hormizd, that he might have been able to 
acquire the knowledge for the creation of the heavenly bodies through such a 
dirty sexual union, he who is a pupil of Satan, for whom Satan is a fellow 
and with whom he shares the same dispositions. But, if Hormizd, who has 
received these teachings about this peculiar sexual union with mother, sister 
and daughter neither from himself, nor from his divine nature, neither from 
that of his father nor of his forefathers, but from Satan, how should it not be 
clear and said loudly that everybody who for the sake of his god Hormizd 
wants to marry such (consanguineous) women, is a pupil and a slave of 
Satan, not of the true God?" 

We may note that in his attack Mar Aba mentioned Zoroaster, probably 
assuming — as suggested already by Sachau 36 — that he married only his 
youngest daughter Porucast (Pourucista), who, in any case, was also the 
wife of Jamaspa Huuouua; 37 this one, as the following mention of Wistasp, 
who married Hutos (Hutaosa), 38 his sister, perhaps derives from a source, 
attested also in the tradition of the ninth book of the Denkard, ch. 45, 4-5, 39 
where both women are mentioned in a context connected with Zardust. If the 
reference to Kay Xusraw involves a legendary figure of the heroic Iranian 
past, 40 more difficult to be identified is Farxun Bar Artabagan, probably a 
person living during the Parthian period, as Braun 41 and Sachau already 
supposed. 42 It is possible that this passage contains, as de Menasce 
assumed, 43 a polemic remark concerning the fact that nobody among the 

ib 

Sachau 1914, p. 367. 

See now Remmer 2006, p. 130-132. 

See Remmer 2006, p. 132-138. 

West 1 892, p. 299-300. Cf. Sachau 1 9 14, p. 367. 

In any case, as already remarked by Sachau (1914, p. 367), the reference to the fact the he 

was "decorated by sons" is unclear. 

Braun 1903, p. 564, n. 2, tried to identify this person with king Artaban V, the father of 

the mother of Sabuhr I. 

Sachau 1914, p. 367. 

See de Menasce 1937-39, p. 595. 

THE ZOROASTRIAN INCESTUOUS UNIONS 77 

righteous persons there mentioned had actually consumed all the three forms 
of xwedodah, although such an assumption is, in my opinion, not 
particularly self-evident. 

Furthermore, we shall remark, following M. Macuch, 44 that in this 
relevant section dedicated to Zurwan and the creation of the astral bodies, 
Mar Aba was doubtless referring to an important Mazdean doctrine 
providing the xwedodah with a special intellectual force, as an instrument of 
deep spiritual insight, but also as a powerful creative instrument. Thus, the 
weakness of this assumption, which he tried to ridicule, was probably one 
among the main targets of the Katholikos. 

It is also important to underline that the mentioned Martyrdom of Anahid 
as well as the Canonical treaty by Mar Aba, and in general the polemical 
scripts against Mazdeism, do not specifically attack neither the myth of 
Gayomart nor that (necessarily stemming from it) of Masya and Masyani, 
that are systematically quoted in the Pahlavi texts in order to justify the origin 
of the xwedodah. 45 This evidence was noted already by de Menasce, who 
also underlined the fact that the myth of the incestuous birth of the luminaries 
as well as the same mention of Zurwan is always put into the mouths of 
Christians, never in those of the mowbeds. 46 The Christian sources, 
contrariwise, focus on the myth of Zurwan, and in particular on the oddities 
strictly connected with the story of the generation of the astral bodies. 

It was in particular R. Ch. Zaehner who tried to reconstruct the Zurvanite 
origin of this mythical cycle, noting also its possible impact on the Mandaean 
mythology. Notwithstanding some Christian distortions, Zaehner has shown 
that its basic elements are Iranian and substantially belong to the Zurvanite 
doctrine. Then, if we cannot contest the Zurvanite orientation of such a 
tradition, the reasons justifying the relevant preference for this story in the 
Christian sources still remain questionable and they need to be investigated. 
As you know, one possibility that has been raised sometimes, for instance 
by Sachau in his commentary 47 to Mar Aba's treaty, is the one assuming an 
overwhelming position and diffusion of Zurvanism in the Sasanian Mazdean 
culture. In crude terms, as it has been sometimes supposed, the Zurvanite 
"heresy" would be the leading doctrine in the Sasanian Iran. Various reasons 
against this extremist solution can be collected, and it is not necessary to 
repeat all of them in extenso. The simple fact that, also in the Christian 
scripts, no Zoroastrian was speaking about Zurwan, a fact confirmed also by 

44 Macuch 1991, p. 147; on this subject see also the anthropological considerations raised 
by Sidler 1971, p. 131-ff. and discussed by Macuch 1991, p. 149. 

45 A re-discussion of this myth, and in particular of the role played by Jeh, has been 
proposed by Panaino 2006, p. 233-246. 

46 de Menasce 1937-39, p. 592. 

47 See Sachau 1914, p. 368. 

78 A. PANAINO 

the Middle Persian inscriptions, shows that Zurvanism was certainly not the 
official theology during the Sasanian period, although its orientation was 
probably there, but with different nuances. 

A different possibility, which results to be more prudent, should be to 
assume, as already Schaeder, 48 Benveniste 49 and Bidez / Cumont 50 did, a 
very strong influence played on the Christian writers by a lost book by 
Theodore of Mopsuestia, entitled Peri; th'~ ejn Persivdi magikh'-. 51 This 
source, then, would be, at least for a significant extent, the Vorlage (thus 
already established in Parthian times) 52 placed behind all the later Christian 
descriptions of the Mazdean religion in Zurvanite theological terms, but also 
playing a certain impact on the Manichaean tradition. 

I do not want to deny the relevance of Theodore of Mopsuestia, whose 
theological and doctrinal prestige was extraordinarily significant in Eastern 
Christianity, particularly in the Iranian duophysite framework, but I seriously 
doubt that Christian authors of patent Persian and Mazdean origins, as in the 
fitting case of Mar Aba, but also in that of Adurhormizd, who was a 
mowbed, actually ignored the standard or, if you prefer, "orthodox" 
mythological version of the Zoroastrian creation as well as its seminal 
importance justifying the origin of the xwedodah. I am also very sceptical 
about the idea that it was because of their ignorance of the official 
cosmogony of the Zoroastrian religion that they simply quoted an earlier 
account taken from a lost work of Theodore of Mopsuestia concerning 
Zurwan and the birth of the luminaries. My assumption can be demonstrated 
thanks to the same passage written by Mar Aba; in fact, while the Katholikos 
in the framework of the description of the Zurvanite myth was noting the 
unlikely fact that all the women involved in the primordial consanguineous 
intercourses had a completely inexplicable origin, he also raised the peculiar 
objection that, according to the same Magi, Ohrmazd "was given birth to 
neither by himself, nor by his father, nor by anybody else." 53 This is a clear 
reference to the so-called orthodox Zoroastrian version, as that attested in the 
first chapter of the Bundahisn (I, l), 54 where Ohrmazd had no father and 
"was on high, in omniscience and goodness, (for) infinite time in the light" 
{Ohrmazd balistlg, pad harwisp-agdhih ud wehih, zamdn i akanarag andar 
rosnlh hame bud). Thus, it is evident that Mar Aba was using all his 
knowledge in order to put in contradiction the different versions concerning 

54 

Schaeder 1927, p. 141. 

Benveniste 1932, p. 173-176. 

Bidez /Cumont 1938, II, p. 107. 

Zaehner 1972, p. 419-428, p. 447. 

See Asmussen 1965, p. 30, but also passim; Asmussen 1983, p. 937-939. 

SeeSachau 1914, p. 265, lines 41-42. 

See now Cereti / MacKenzie 2003, p. 32. 

THE ZOROASTRIAN INCESTUOUS UNIONS 79 

the primordial creation regardless their derivation (whether official and 
"orthodox" or not). 

Thus, my impression is that the Christian authors in Persia, also in 
persianized countries, carefully knew both versions (and perhaps many 
others taken from the folklore), 55 and probably they also were in the actual 
condition to recognize the priority of Gayomart's cycle (for instance, the 
existence of Gayomart seems to have been implicitly known by Eznik [II, 
10], although his name is never mentioned). 56 It is more probable to assume 
that they preferred to attack the rationale of the xwedodah, starting from a 
more solid position. In fact, the Zurvanite version, in particular and more 
precisely that Zurvanite version which, apparently, attributed Ahreman with 
a higher degree of knowledge than Ohrmazd, consequently explaining the 
generation of the luminaries through an intercourse with god's mother, sister 
and daughter after a keen suggestion transmitted to an "ignorant" 57 Ohrmazd 
by Ahreman himself or through the help of a female messenger (as in the 
case of Mahmi), 58 was very weak from the theological point of view and 
well exposed to satirical criticisms by Christian authors. Actually such a 
Zurvanite version seems to have been practically obliterated and censured in 
the official Pahlavi sources, and survives mostly through external witnesses. 
We can imagine that also some Zoroastrians might consider such a 
mythological version as impious and foolish, in particular if the strong 
debasement of the role played by Ohrmazd is taken into consideration. 
Stories such as that concerning the robbery of the waters by Ahreman, and 
their reacquisition by Ohrmazd thanks to the help of some dews 59 should 
belong to a popular legendary stock, as de Menasce thought, 60 completely 
contrasting with the Mazdean theology. But from the point of view of a 
Christian polemist all these stories represented a very simple target to shot 
and certainly they did not constitute a theological, philosophical, or logical 
serious barrier; in few words, the game was very simple, and it became 
much simpler when the polemists freely used all the constrasting and 
contradictory Mazdean cosmogonic stories, as I already underlined, 
regardless their provenance. No doubt that the doctrinal respect of the alien 
religious "truth" was not in their agenda. Absolutely different would have 

." 

See de Menasce 1937-39, p. 593. Cf. Eznik 1959, p. 61 1, and the note at p. 73 1. 

See de Menasce 1937-39, p. 593; cf. Langlois, 1867-69, II, p. 381. 

Eznik, II, 4 (1959; 603), for instance, critically insists on the inexplicable decision taken 

by Ohrmazd to inform Ahreman about Zurvan's choice of the future king between his 

two sons. 

About Mahmi seeZaehner 1972, p. 63, 147-157. 

SeeNaul927,p. 188. 

This peculiar story is inserted in the Acts of St. Pethion; see de Menasce 1937-39, 

p. 591, n, 4. 

A. PANAINO 

been to attack the Zoroastrian aetiology of the incest as explained in the 
framework of the myth of Gayomart. In fact, here, it would have been 
inevitable to enter the tantalizing case of Masya and Masyani, the first two 
sinners, who were so similar in their consanguinity to the first Jewish, then 
Christian, human couple, Adam and Eve; this way, the embarrassment could 
became heavy and less effective from the perspective of a successful 
propaganda fidei. Thus, the first generation descending from Masya and 
Masyani inevitably practiced a next-of-kin union as well as that descending 
from Adam and Eve. Being impossible to deny or discredit the validity of the 
story concerning Adam and Eve, 61 it appeared as better to target the origin of 
the xwedodah starting from another myth, surely less defendable and 
convincing. Furthermore, the myth of the generation of the luminaries 
offered a fantastic argument to Christian polemists, because there the 
suggestion to perform a "creative" incest directly descended from Ahreman 
himself. There, as Mar Aba did, the possibility to demonstrate that Ohrmazd 
was a pupil and a fellow of Satan / Ahreman, and not a superior god, was 
very simple. 62 

I think it is important to analyze the propaganda strategy of the Persian 
Church and in particular that of Mar Aba. Recently, M. Flutter 63 has 
underlined the political importance of Mar Aba, whose difficult and long 
process was substantially due to his tremendous efforts in order to depurate 
the Christian Persian community from its Mazdean background. We shall 
consider also in this case that the situation shows an interesting and complex 
dialectic. On the one hand, two sources, i.e. the Acts of his life, 64 and one of 
his letters (the sixth one in Braun's list, where it was denominated About 
politeiva, 65 but probably the third, according to Chabot), 66 present us with an 
apparently radical Katholikos. In the first case, Mar Aba assumed an 
irreconcilable position during a discussion with a leading mowbed, who, 
contrariwise, was just trying to convince Mar Aba to accept with a sort of 
definitive sanatoria all the matrimonial unions formerly taken according to 
the Mazdean law by the new-converted Christian Persians. We shall recall 
that the Zoroastrian priest apparently was also ready to accept for the rest of 

61 

Adam and Eve are mentioned by Mar Aba only in order to justify the monogamy; see 

Braun 1900, p. 130; Nau 1900, p. 24; Chabot 1902, p. 335. 

See de Menasce 1937-39, p. 595. 

Hutter2003,p. 171. 

Braun 1915, p. 202 (end of par. 17). 

See Braun 1900, p. 127-133, in particular p. 131-132; cf. Nau 1900, p. 21-27, in 

particular p. 23-25; cf. Chabot 1902, p. 332-338, in particular p. 335-336. The Syriac 

text was already published by Bedjan 1895, p. 274-288, and re-edited with the support 

of new manuscripts by Chabot 1902. Cf. Sachau 1914, p. 365. 

For this different numeration see Chabot's arguments (1902, p. 332, n. 4 and n. 5). 

THE ZOROASTRIAN INCESTUOUS UNIONS 81 

the freshly converted Persians, 67 not yet married, the respect of the Christian 
Canonical laws. 68 In the already mentioned letter, the Katholikos explicitly 
forbids Christians to maintain unions with relatives just as it was possible 
according to the Zoroastrian customs, ordering a divorce in the time-span of 
one year or, in case of refusal, imposing the banishment from the community 
and the sacraments. These statements patently show the radical presence of 
next-of-kin marriages among the members of the VI th century Christian 
Persian Church, a fact which confirms Hutter's conclusion 69 focusing on 
the strong presence of higher-class converted, who probably tried to manage 
a form of zoroastrianized Christianity. The same Christian sources, in fact, 
do not deny that some martyrs, when they were still Mazdean, accepted next- 
of-kin marriages. 70 Against these attempts of mediation, based on a sort of 
consuetudinary habit, Mar Aba was reacting in a strong way. But, on the 
other hand, we cannot forget the political ability of the Katholikos as well as 
we cannot avoid a deeper insight in the Christian contemporary sources. In 
fact, the already mentioned Epistula about politeiva, 11 which was one of the 
few ecclesiastical texts written by the same Mar Aba for the Persian Synod 
held in 544 72 under his authority, 73 although it clearly and sharply criticises 
various forms of illegal unions (bigamy, incest, fornication), results 
extremely prudent and measured in the attacks against the Zoroastrian 
tradition. There is no doubt that, in that discourse, the xwedodah was mainly 
referred to, but the customs of the Magi are explicitly mentioned only once, 74 
while the most mentioned target is represented by the Jews and their custom 
to marry, under certain circumstances, the wife of their brother, 75 although, 
in that case, the problem was solved with a higher degree of tolerance, 76 

67 

Braunl915,p.202. 

Braun 1900, p. 143-144, n. 2 (in particular the Canon n. 38); Chabot 1902, p. 561. See 

also, here, note 78. 

Hutter2003,p. 172. 

See de Menasce 1937-39, p. 595-596 with reference to the pertinent examples of 

Giwargis (cf. also Hoffmann 1880, p. 95) and of the parents of Mar Benjamin. 

According to de Menasce (1937-39, p. 597) the xwedodah should become obsolete in 

later times, after the collapse of the Sasanian empire, an assumption that has been 

shown as very implausible by M. Macuch (1971, p. 147-148 and passim). 

See the third document in Chabot 1902, p. 332-338. Cf. Braun 1900, p. 127-133; Nau 

1900. See also here note 78. 

Braun 1900, p. 125, p. 126 (n. 1) and ff; cf. Nau 1900, p. 20-21; Chabot 1902, p. 332. 

Chabot 1902, p. 318-351. Cf. Dauvillier / De Clercq 1936, p. 127. See also Braun 1900, 

p. 138, in note 1, and Canon 38 at p. 143. See also here note 78. 

Braun 1900, p. 131; Nau 1900, p. 24; Chabot 1902, p. 335-336. 

Braun 1900, p. 131-133; Nau 1900, p. 25-26; Chabot 1902, p. 336-337. Cf. Dauvillier / 

De Clercq 1936, p. 140-141. 

We must recall that in Syriac Christianity the attempt to find out a mediation between 

the earlier Jewish observances and the new Christian rules was a problem taken 

seriously already at the time of Afraat; see Dauvillier / De Clercq 1936, p. 51. 

82 A. PANAINO 

because in some occasions (in particular for the laymen), these previously 
contracted marriages might be maintained. In any case, what is interesting is 
the fact that the Katholikos, for instance, wrote, in his introduction to the 
"Provincial Reforms", with a deep respect for the king Xusraw, named as 
the "new Cyrus", 77 and that in the framework of the following documents he 
limited his matrimonial polemics just mentioning the lists of the unions 
forbidden by the Church, as underlined in the Canon 38, 78 established by 
Mar Aba, where again we find only one direct reference to the Magi, 
immediately followed by a second to the Jews, and a third one to the 
Pagans. 79 In this case, the reference to the Zoroastrian customs is more 
explicit, but the context gave more room for this precise deliberation. This 
prudent attitude is visible, however, also in the already mentioned letter by 
Mar Aba, where the Katholikos did not forget to mention the protection 
received by Xusraw, 80 and explicitly attacked the Magi only once and in 
connection with the Jews. 81 It is clear that the customs of the Magi were 
more unacceptable than those of the Jews — and in fact the union with one's 
brother's wife was on certain conditions admitted, as it was noted before — 
, 82 but the language used in the official documents of the Persian Church 
with regard to the Zoroastrians, although clear and precise, remains more 
prudent and does not contain violent or explicitly offensive expressions. This 
means — as we can reasonably suppose — that some of the Christian 
documents were controlled and checked by Sasanian officers, with the 
potential risk of strong forms of censura and/or persecution. Some scattered 

82 

Chabot 1902, p. 320. The Sasanian king is also mentioned and honoured by Mar Aba in 
many of his letters and documents (Braun 1900, p. 124, p. 129, p. 134). 
Braun 1900, p. 143; Chabot 1902, p. 561. I quote, here, the entire chapter, which 
presents a lacuna. Chabot remarks (1902, p. 561, n. 2) that it was probably derived from 
the third letter of Mar Aba: " ...et pour les motifs indiques, il en est qui ont ose s'unir a 
la femme de leur pere, ou a la femme de leur oncle, frere de leur pere, ou a la femme de 
leur oncle, frere de leur mere, ou a leur tante, *sceur de leur pere, ou a leur tante, sceur de 
leur mere, ou a leur sceur, ou a leur bra, ou a la fille de leur fils, ou a la fille de leur fille, 
ou a la fille de la fille de leur femme, comme les mages ; ou a la femme de leur frere, 
comme les juifs ; ou a une infidele, comme les pai'ens. Relativement a ceux-ci et a ceux 
qui leur ressemblent, nous avons statue et defini, nous et les metropolitains et eveques 
qui sont avec nous, que : maintenant et desormais, les clercs ou les laics, hommes ou 
femmes, qui oseraient pratiquer cette ceuvre ignoble et impudique, et ceux qui les 
aideraient et leur preteraient la main, seront censures et excommunies au ciel et sur terre, 
(prives) de l'entree a l'eglise, de la reception des saints mysteres et de la communication 
avec les fideles ; que la colere du ciel vienne sur eux, du consentement de toute la 
chretiente. Qu'aucun des clercs ou des fideles laics, etc. ...et qu'elle le protege 
continuellement". 

About these "Pagans" (kumre) see the note by Sachau 1914, p. 366. 
Braun 1900, p. 129; Nau 1900, p. 23; Chabot 1902, p. 334. 
Braun 1900, p. 131; Nau 1900, p. 24; Chabot 1902, p. 335. 
Braun 1900, p. 132; Nau 1900, p. 26; Chabot 1902, p. 337. 

THE ZOROASTRIAN INCESTUOUS UNIONS 83 

attacks are probably hidden behind various references to the sexual 
behaviour of the animals, 83 which implicitly could be connected with the 
polemics against the myth of the generation of the astral bodies, as developed 
in the Zurvanite framework. Thus, the order, established by Mar Aba, that 
those who have contracted illegal unions, just like animals without reason, 
must be buried like the donkeys, 84 recalls us the mention of the other animals 
(e.g. bulls and dogs) which have been evoked in the Martyrdoms of 
Adurhormizd through the paradoxical comparisons with the incestuous 
Mazdean unions. 85 

In the framework of these polemics we cannot avoid considering the fact 
that probably incest produced some manifestations of resistance also among 
Zoroastrians, which might produce a sensible stress. A propos, it is very 
important to recall that Jesuboht, some centuries later, affirmed that, for 
Mazdeans themselves, incestuous unions involved inner struggles and 
strong psychological resistances. These remarks cannot be simply 
considered as an apologetic criticism on the Christian side, but, as Macuch 86 
has underlined, they correspond to some statements we can deduce from the 
Pahlavi sources themselves. The sentence attributed to Zoroaster in ch. 80 1 
of the Pahlavi Rewayat to the Dadestan 1 Denig? 1 where the Iranian prophet 
says to Ohrmazd: "In my view (it is) bad and hard and strange that I should 
make xwedodah so prevalent among mankind" is exemplar. 88 Another 
witness, attested in the same text (ch. 8hl-3), 89 implicitly shows that it was 
heavy to continue a consanguineous union, and that the religious law 
considered meritorious to maintain the xwedodah at least for one year; it was 
much better for two or three years, while a four-years-long xwedodah would 
open the doors of Paradise. In Denkard VII, 90 the reluctance to accept the 
next-of-kin marriage is sharply formulated by the Turanian people in front of 
Zoroaster. We may add to these passages also the reference attested in the 
Arda Wiraz Namag, 86, 91 to women who have broken the consanguineous 
marriage. This is perhaps another aspect, rightly emphasized by M. 

8.? 

Braun 1900, p. 130; Nau 1900, p. 23-24; Chabot 1902, p. 335. 

Braun 1900, p. 133; Nau 1900, p. 27; Chabot 1902, p. 338. 

The reference to the animal behaviour seems to be a topos in these polemics; see also 

the case of the Georgian Martyrdom of Eustathius of Mcxeta (cf. Martin-Hisard 1998, 

p. 516). 

Macuch 1991, p. 151-152 

Williams 1990, 1, p. 60 (transliteration), p. 61 (transcription); II, p. 16 (translation). 

zarduxst be o ohrmazd guft ku-m wad ud saxt ud skeft pad casm ku andar mardom 

xwedodah ciyon rawag be kunem. 

Williams 1990, 1, p. 58 (transliteration), p. 59 (transcription); II, p. 15 (translation). 

Mole 1967, p. 40. 

Gignoux 1984, p. 126 (transcription), p. 127 (transliteration), p. 208 (translation). 

84 

A. PANAINO 

Macuch 92 with pertinent reference to psychoanalytic literature, to be more 
deeply investigated in future researches also with respect to the dialectic 
relations between Christians and Zoroastrians during the Sasanian period. 

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