#FLYING PAPER MONSTERS MYTHOLOGY FREE#

Like all other animals, the dog owed its existence to the life-giving energies of one of the first of Ahura Mazda's creations, the Primordial Bull. 1500-1000 BCE) who kept them as the keepers of the Chinvat Bridge, the span across the abyss between the world of the living and the dead. They were considered so important that their role as guardians was preserved once the early religion of the Persians was reimagined by the prophet Zoroaster (c. Dogs warded off evil spirits, comforted and guided, and watched over one's most valuable possessions. Whether one or the other, the natural and supernatural forces the figures represent were recognized as quite real and steps were taken to defend against the malevolent and give proper respect to those who wished only the best for humanity.Īmong the latter were dogs who personified the protective aspects of divinity and figure in the representations of some of the most important benevolent creatures. Some, like the Peri or the Al, were considered a constant in one's life while others – such as Simurgh or Azhi Dahaka – represented a universal paradigm which informed one's present. Although there are many different mythological creatures in the Persian tales, twelve are representative of the thematic whole:Īll of these entities influenced human daily life to one degree or another.

The creatures which appear in Persian mythology almost all fall into one of these two camps except for the Jinn (also given as Djinn and better known as Genies) and the Peri (faeries) who defy easy definition as their roles seem more neutral and their actions dependent on circumstance rather than loyalty to a given cause.

#FLYING PAPER MONSTERS MYTHOLOGY FREE#

Ahura Mazda had created human beings with free will to choose which course they would follow and, if one chose rightly, one would live well and find paradise in the afterlife, if poorly, one lived a life of confusion and strife and was dropped into the torment of hell after death. On the side of good was a pantheon of gods and spirits presided over by the supreme deity Ahura Mazda, the creator of all things seen and unseen, and, opposing these, was Angra Mainyu (also given as Ahriman), the spirit of evil, chaos, and confusion with his legion of demons and assorted supernatural (and natural) creatures and animals. There were two forces at work in the universe which were antithetical to each other and whichever side one aligned one's self with would define one's earthly journey and destination in the afterlife. This exact theme is the foundation of virtually every ancient world religion to one degree or another, but for the Persians, it amounted to the meaning of existence. The central vision of ancient Persian religion was of a universal struggle between the forces of good and evil, order and chaos. The central vision of ancient Persian religion was of a universal struggle between the forces of good & evil, order & chaos. By the time Ferdowsi was writing, monotheism in the form of Islam had replaced the ancient Persian religion, but his work still resonated with an audience and continues to do so. 940-1020 CE) in his epic work Shahnameh (“The Book of Kings”) written between 977-1010 CE. The stories were passed down orally over the centuries until they were written down as part of the religious tradition of Zoroastrianism in the Avesta (Zoroastrian scripture) during the Sassanian Period (224-651 CE) in the reigns of the kings Shapur II (309-379 CE) and Kosrau I (531-579 CE) and then were fully addressed by the Persian poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi (l. In their time, however, they would have served the same basic purpose as the scripture of any religion does in modern times: to teach important spiritual and cultural values and assure people of order and meaning in the face of an often chaotic and frightening world. One refers to these – and similar stories from any culture – as “mythology” in the present day only because the theological paradigm has changed and a universe of many gods, spirits, angels, and demons has been replaced either by the monotheistic or atheistic model. The stories which form the basis of Persian mythology come from early Persian religious belief.

Flying paper monsters mythology