Bulletin of the Asia Institute, a Non-Profit Corporation

Mithra Khathrapati and His Brother Ahura

Author(s): MARY BOYCE
Source: Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 4, In honor of Richard Nelson Frye:
Aspects of Iranian Culture (1990), pp. 3-9
Published by: Bulletin of the Asia Institute, a Non-Profit Corporation
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Mithra KhSathrapati and His Brother Ahura

MARY BOYCE

That the god KhSathrapati in the Aramaic text of T

the Xanthos trilingual, corresponding to Apollo (a t
"descendant of Leto") in the Greek version, is to a
be identified as Mithra was first proposed only ge
tentatively by A. Dupont-Sommer;1 but the iden- l
tification being approved by other scholars, he tit
soon developed it with conviction.2 The reasons fo
for it appear multiple and individually sound, the w
main one being that the correspondence of Mithra

and Apollo is well attested. The basis for it is s

taken to be the link which both had with the sun a

by Achaemenian times; but their concepts harmon
ised also through their more essential functions k
of protecting law and order; and this, together us
with the great power attributed to each, made it t

appropriate to invoke them, as at Xanthos, to T

guard legal undertakings. title neither strengthens nor weakens the identifi

The title khSathrapati leaves more scope for dis- cation of KhSathrapati at Xanthos as Mithr
cussion, partly because its first element, khSathra, but a tiny piece of evidence linking Mithra
has a range of meanings, from "rule, dominion" to cifically with khsathra is provided by a pr

the place where rule is exerted, i.e. "kingdom, name on a Demotic papyrus (though admitt

realm." In the latter sense it could be used both of one of slightly doubtful reading): *Mithrakha,
the kingdom of heaven and a kingdom on earth as a hypocoristic for *Mithrakh$athra, "Havin
(hence gradually, in its Middle Iranian forms, of a rule through Mithra."11
region, district, and eventually town). The closest What the occurrence of Sogdian *dxSeSpat d
Avestan parallel to the title is the Gathic phrase indicate is that the title khSathrapati had bee
paitiS... xSadrahya (Y.44.9), "lord/master of rule," widely used among the ancient Iranians; and t

used obliquely of Ahura Mazd; but as a title it fact, and the meaning and uses of that ti

was plainly applicable, as far as sense went, to undermine the theory advanced by A. D. H. Biv
any of the three Ahuras,3 conceived as being the that it was such an exalted one that it could h

upholders of aSa, "that which is right," which been given only to a supreme god. He fur

naturally included just rule. So in a relatively late argued that since the supreme god of the Zor
Vedic hymn (tenth century B.C.) it is Mitra who is trian Persians was Ahuramazda, the divine Kh
invoked as "lord of ksatia," ksatia having here the rapati, i.e. Mithra, must have been the supr

sense of "dominion, rule."4 god of their imperial predecessors, the Medes,12

Khsathrapati as used in invocation of Mithra in who he assumed were adherents of the Old I
the fourth century probably had the more con- nian religion. It is true that, as he emphasize
crete sense of "Lord of the realm," i.e. the realm of Xanthos had Median connections, through
his Iranian worshippers, the Achaemenian empire. pagus, from the time of Cyrus' conquest; but

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 y c : Mithra and Ahura

by no means certain that those connections even active of the Zoroastrian gods, while the Zoroa
then would have been non-Zoroastrian. The west- trians themselves saw him as carrying out in th
em priests of Zoroastrianism were Median magi, the will of his Creator, Ahuramazda.20 The know
and Persia appears to have been converted to the data certainly do not provide an adequate basis
eastern Iranian faith largely through Media.13 In for the theory that there were Iranians, Acha

any case, by the time that the Xanthos stele was menian satraps among them, who worshipp
erected, in 358 B.c., the Zoroastrian Achaemen- Mithra as supreme god, still less that they recog
ians had been in power for generations; and how- nized in him aspects of the Semitic Nergal.

ever wide their tolerance of the beliefs of their Bivar has advanced other reasons for what he

subject peoples, it is unthinkable that they should sees as a Mithra-Nergal syncretism going back to
have permitted any of their Iranian satraps pub- pre-Achaemenian times. One is Mithras link with
licly to maintain a religion other than their own. the sun and the occasional identification of Nergal
Zoroastrianism, as the royal religion, must have with SamaS, the great Semitic sun god.21 This
provided the Achaemenian empire with its rituals latter association has been tentatively explained
of oath-taking, its public forms and ceremonies, as developing because the Babylonians though
its official holy days. A scattering of Persian words that the sun passed through the underworld dur
in the Xanthos Aramaic text accords with this ing the night, returning from west to east, being
having been prepared in the satrapal chancellery; then in the kingdom of Nergal. The Iranians
and in such a place no unofficial form of Iranian however, held that the sun went at night behind
religion can be held to have been countenanced.14 the world mountain, Har. Moreover, they though
Similar considerations affect one of the argu- that Mithra did not then accompany it, but turned
ments used by Bivar for associating Iranian Mithra back to continue his fight against evil through
with Babylonian Nergal.15 Some satrapal coins the hours of darkness.22 No trace of an underworld
issued at Tarsus in the fourth century B.C. bear element exists in the concept of Mithra; and even
the figure of a god in Persian dress who is identi- if such an element is to be found in that of
fied in Aramaic letters as NRGL TRZ3, Nergal of Roman Mithras, this is no reason to attribute it
Tarsus. This is undoubtedly an odd fact, for which to the Iranian Ahura. Other data from Mithraism
the most likely explanation seems that it had a which Bivar has seen as attesting a contribution
propaganda purpose, i.e. the wooing of Nergal's to it by Nergals worship are considered by Semitic
many local worshippers to loyalty to Persian rule specialists to be misinterpreted.23

through this courtesy to their god,16 who was If the theory of a syncretism of Mithra and

probably represented by them themselves at that Nergal is abandoned, this seems at first sight to
time in Iranian garb.17 Bivar, however, pursued a weaken Bivar's striking suggestion that the god
more complex line of reasoning. An enthroned Sarapis, whose existence is first attested in the

BaT on coins struck by Mazaeus at Tarsus pro- fourth century B.c., was by origin Mithra, so

vided the model for the enthroned Zeus of Alex- regularly worshipped at some of his shrines by
ander's coinage;18 and on some Greco-Bactrian the title Khgathrapati that there, as at Xanthos,

coins a god is shown similarly enthroned, but he came to be invoked simply in this way.24

radiate and/or wearing the tiara. Bivar's identifica- Phonetically, Bivar has pointed out, KhSathrapati

tion of this figure as Mithra seems just; and there could become Sarapis on Greek lips, and the
are other slight indications that in Hellenistic chronology of the Iranian sound-changes involved

times Mithra was occasionally represented as is possible, as N. Sims-Williams has shown.25 Yet

Zeus. For example at Commagene, where the data there is a prominent chthonic element in Sarapis'
are most abundant, Apollo-Mithra shares with cult which, though it might link him with Nergal,

Zeus-Oromasdes the emblem of thunderbolts;19 has no counterpart in that of Iranian Mithra.

but it is nevertheless clear that there this god However, in a study of Sarapis' worship in Egypt
holds his proper place in the Greco-Zoroastrian J. E. Stambaugh has shown26 that this element
pantheon, i.e. greatly exalted but below the su- may not have been original to his cult, but may
preme God, Zeus-Oromasdes. It seems likely there- have accrued to it at Memphis. Before the de
fore that Mithra sometimes received the attributes velopment of his "canonical" image, modelled, it
of Zeus in the Hellenistic period because he was seems, on that of Pluto, Sarapis appears to have
perceived by Greeks as the most powerful and been venerated through two famous cult statues;27

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 y c : Mithra and Ahura

and the slender evidence for their reconstruction you become Apm Napt" (RV 10.8.5). The Brah
suggests that the one in Alexandria, set up by mans wove subtle thoughts about how Agni, born
Ptolemy I, "emphasized the kingly nature of the of a spark from water-nourished sticks, was sprung
god," that at Memphis his chthonic fruitfulness.28 from water; and as this god's cult expanded, the
Sarapis had, moreover, not only kingly but benign title "Son of the Waters" was annexed for him; but
attributes. He granted favours and blessings, un- it was also given occasionally to the solar divinity
like Pluto, to the living and, like Mithra, oversaw Savitr, because the sun was thought to quench
the administering of justice,29 facts which un- itself in the sea and so to "become" Varuna.31
doubtedly favour Bivar's theory. His cult evidently Thus in India Varuna lost his ancient and signifi
developed enormously under the Ptolemids, ab- cant title Apm Napt to these other divinities,

sorbing elements from the concepts of Osiris, but continued to be worshipped by his proper
Apis, Pluto, Dionysius and Asclepius, so that, name, whereas in Iran he (like Harahvati and

even if his concept has its origins in KhSathrapati, Mithra as KhSathrapati) lost his proper name and
relatively little can have survived in it by Roman was worshipped instead by the appellation. Hence
times of Mithras own character. The presence of in the Avesta and Zoroastrian cult Mithra and
statues of Sarapis, along with those of other gods, Apjm Napt appear in the same close, fixed re

in mithiaea is thus unlikely to be in acknow- lationships as do Mitra and Varuna in Indian

ledgement of any genetic relationship between tradition.32
him and Roman Mithras. Another contrast between India and Iran in re

The theory that Mithra lost his proper name spect to these two divinit
locally to a cult epithet is all the more plausible country Varuna oversha

because this is a well-known phenomenon of Iran it is Mithra who p

Indo-Iranian religious history, attested at diverse grandizement appears

periods. Thus at Ray the title Sahrbnu replaced ginning probably in pre
Anahit's name and came to provide in Islamic never totally eclipsed h
times the basis for a new shrine-legend. Much Ap^m Napt is still vener
earlier the goddess Harahvati seems to have be- gies and daily prayers. T
come known generally by her epithets aradvi sma of a stubborn local devo
anhita, with her own name dropping wholly out among other places An
of use, while in a related but different develop- the best known version
ment the minor divinity Druvspa is thought to dar there are no dedica
have come into being from the cult epithet of a padocian one he receive
greater goddess, perhaps Agi. In most such cases the eighth month, follow
it is necessary to make qualified statements, be- rectly after Mithra.33 In
cause the very fact that the epithet has replaced month belongs to the W
the proper name makes it difficult to prove that is so closely linked. Fur
this has been the case. The success of the process the Xanthos stele the N
obliterates the evidence. In one particular in- the "descendants of Leto," presumably because
stance, however, the Indian tradition preserves the sanctuary had a spring;34 and the Aramaic
valuable data. There Mitras brother Asura is Var- equivalent for them is 3hwmyS, i.e. AkhurnTg,
una, whose name appears to be close in meaning Avestan AhurnTg, "Wives of the Ahura."35 This
to Mitra's own, and who was presumably once name for the Waters is parallel to the Vedic one of
known by it to the Iranians also. The divine pair Varunnl "Wives of Varuna"; and there is other
are so closely knit that it has been said that "the evidence to show that Varuna was also hailed in
only trait which makes a palpable difference be- Iran as "the Ahura," and more particularly as "the
tween them is that Mitra dwells in fire, Varuna lofty Ahura," Ahura barazant. The latter title is
in water"30hence the latter's appellation Apm given him, together with Ap^m Napt, in his
Napt, "Son of the Waters." One Vedic hymn (RV khsnuman, i.e. the fixed formula of invocation by
2.35) addressed to him, seemingly, by this title which a Zoroastrian divinity is invited to attend
only, invokes him in exalted terms. In another an act of worship.36 It became accordingly his
Agni, god of Fire, is told: "You become Varuna alternative "name," and in its evolved form of Burj
when you enter on behalf of rta [Avestan aSa], Yazad (the "god Burj") is the one by which he is

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 y c : Mithra and Ahura

known in colloquial priestly usage today, Apjm are made at the same time to Ahuramazda; and
Napt being confined to Avestan utterances.37 long afterwards, when "Mithra" had displaced
That the Waters should be called "Wives of the Old Persian "Mia" as a standard form, Darius'

Ahura" at Xanthos appears to be another indica- great-great-great-grandson, Artaxerxes III, invoked

tion of devotion to Varuna among the Anatolian "Ahuramazda and Mithra Baga."44 In all these
Zoroastrians;38 and it gives indirect support to the instances, "Baga" has been generally understood
identification of KhSathrapati as Mithra, both the to mean "god" as a title for Mithra; but, notably,
lesser Ahuras being thus concerned there. when Artaxerxes II invoked Ahuramazda and
The extent of Varunas erstwhile popularity Anahita and Mithra, or Mithra alone,45 there is no
among the Iranians, and the depth perhaps of awe mention of Baga. It follows that Baga was not a
which prevented the speaking of his own name, is fixed Old Persian title of Mithra. It could at most
suggested by there being a third appellation by be supposed to be a facultative onewhich would
which he was invoked, i.e. Baga, the "Dispenser." make it even less likely that the ancient Persians

This does not, however, occur in his khSnman; should have dedicated a month to him by it
and the evidence is more difficult to evaluate rather than by his proper name. What appears

because, whereas ahura "lord," is used only of much more probable is that in these Achaemenian
members of the great aid-protecting triad, baga texts "Baga" is not a title for Mithrafor why
was a general term for "god." It appears frequently should he alone of the divinities named there re
as the first element in proper names;39 and it is quire to be identified, and that only occasionally,
widely accepted that *Bagastna (Mt. Behistun) as a god?but rather a title used as a name for his
meant "Place of the Gods." Similarly the Old brother Ahura, Varuna, whom Artaxerxes II dis
Persian name for September/October, Bgaydi, placed in promoting the cult of Anahita.46 This
meant most probably the month for "worship of then provides in the pair-compound Mithra-Baga
the Gods,"40 a time of thanksgiving when, with the apparently missing Old Persian equivalent to
the harvest in and the autumn ploughing over, Avestan Mithra-Ahura-barazanta and Vedic Mitr
people could rest and join in communal devo- varun. The interpretation is further supported
tions. The only other month with a similar dedi- by the fact that there are good grounds for think
cation is November/December, called Aiydiya, ing that Vedic Bagha, corresponding to Iranian
for "worship of Fire," in which presumably the Baga, evolved as a distinct divinity from this title
ancient observance of a great winter fire-festival of Varuna, which must thus, like Apm Napt, go
(in Zoroastrianism the feast of Sade) took place. back to proto-Indo-Iranian times;47 while in one
When later the Zoroastrian calendar was created, Avestan text (Y.10.10) the Baga is credited with
with numerous dedications to individual gods, an act assigned in the Rigveda (RV 5.85.1) to
Mithra received the month September/October, Varuna, i.e. setting haoma/soma on the mountains,
probably because he was a great divinity with a Pair-compounds, with two elements set together
special link with the sun which had ripened the without a conjunction and inflected in the dual,
harvest. The autumn thanksgiving festival then were fossil-formations already in Old Iranian; and
became called by many Iranians Mithrakna; and in the case of Mithra-Baga, with Mithra eclipsing
this has led to the assumption that Bgaydi too Varuna more and more, and the common noun
was devoted to Mithra (despite its belonging to baga in general use, it is small wonder that "Mithra
a different calendar), and that he was the divinity (and)-the Baga" should eventually have been rein
known as the Baga.41 It seems unlikely, however, terpreted as "Mithra-(who is)-the Baga," and that
that the ancient Persians would have singled out locally at least in the Middle Iranian period "Baga"

one god from their pantheon in this way, and should therefore have come to be used as an
that god Mithra rather than the greater Mazd alternative for Mithra's name. It seems likely,
(the form of whose Old Persian name shows that however, that the otherwise puzzling variations
he was constantly invoked by them). Moreover, in Zoroastrian calendar and festival dedications
other Achaemenian data do not substantiate this to Mithra and to Baga,48 dating presumably from
theory. On Elamite tablets of the time of Darius the fourth century B.C., arose then from local

offerings are five times recorded for mi-{iS)Se-ba- attempts to honour both the lesser Ahuras, rather
ka/mi-Sa-a-ba-ka/mi-is-Sa-ba-ka,42 which has been than being apparently random variants on Mithras
interpreted as Mia Baga43 Once these offerings name and facultative title. These dedications were

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 y c : Mithra and Ahura

6. M. Boyce, "Bibi Shahrbn and the Lady of Pars,"

felt by Zoroastrians to be profoundly important
blood has been shed over calendar differences in
BSOAS 30(1967), 30-44.
7. I consulted my colleague Dr. Nicholas Sims
relatively modern timesand there is not likely

Williams over the apparent discrepancy in the vowels

of the first element of the two words, and I give here
such divergences.
the text of the note which he kindly prepared on this
There appears, moreover, to be one significant
point and on the related matter of the chronology of
survival of an invocation of both the brother
the development of to hi, which affects the theory
Ahuras in a phrase fossilized among the formulas advanced by Professor Bivar (see further below), that for
of a Sogdian marriage contract of the eighth cen Greek speakers, KhSathrapati yielded Sarapis:

to have been anything casual or motiveless in

tury A.D., and used then presumably without full

Bivar's derivation of Sarapis from *-- re
understanding of its meaning: "in the presence of
quires the assumption that could have become hi
the Baga and Mithra" (awen VayE at awen Mithra
in this word by the 4th c. B.c. at the latest. This

nivandi).49 Here for once Varuna precedes his development is traditionally supposed to have taken

brother Ahura, but this can be accounted for by the place some centuries later, but there is scattered
fact that the Indian evidence shows that as "Bagha" evidence for (h)i < * in Achaemenian times: cf.

he was especially connected with marriage.50I.

M. Diakonoff, W. B. Henning Memoiial Volume (Lon

Long before the eighth century, it has been ably don, 1970), p. 112, n. 38, on -mihi < *-mi9ia as an
argued,51 "Baga" was being used to mean "Mithra" element in Late Babylonian transcriptions of Iranian

in Sogdian theophoric names. Mithras popularitynames; I. Gershevitch, Transactions of the Philologi

is attested throughout Zoroastrian history; and cal Society (1969), 199, on Elamite iiamesana/
this popularity accounts, it appears, for his cult Zitiamesana, representing *cihra- beside *-, with
reference also to the possibility that El. hdakSaia
begetting others outside the Iranian sphere which
(= Greek , Bab. Ai-tah-M-ii etc.) and
then became powerful in their own right, namely
Ramaksaia may contain *-xSahra < *-, and
those of Roman Mithras and, so it now seems, M. Mayrhofer, Onomastica Peisepolitana (Vienna,
Egyptian Sarapis. The impressiveness of this is 1973), 154 (where Late Bab. Ai-ba/ma-mi-ih-ri is
nevertheless no justification for consigning to cited as an example of the names referred to by
oblivion within Iran his also great brother Ahura, Diakonoff) and pp. 302, 312 (where the possibility

Varuna.52

of this early development is somewhat hesitantly

accepted).

Notes

Skjaervo's derivation of Manichean Sogdian

(J jxSyspt, in Sogd. script [ Dx]s^yspt, from *xsa6ra

pati-raises another minor linguistic problem. One

1. "La stle trilingue rcemment dcouverte au Lwould expect such a form to give a Sogd. light stem
*(a)xsaspat- or *(d)xiSpat-, in which case the stem
toon de Xanthos," CRAl (1974), 145-47.
2. "L'nigme du dieu 'Satrape'et le dieu Mithra," CRAlshould be followed by a vocalic ending. Skjaervo's

(19761,648-60.
3. As long as attempts are still made to uphold the
nineteenth-century theory (advanced in trying to attri
bute to Zoroaster a strict monotheism) that the Ahuras

of Y.30.9, 31.4 are the six great AmaSa Spantas (see

most recently I. Gershevitch, "mazdsc ahumyho," in

Studia Giammatica Iranica: Festschrift H. Humbach, ed.
R. Schmitt and P. O. Skjaervo [Munich, 1986], 83-101),
so long will it be necessary to repeat that this is empty

speculation, going against the evidence. In the Zoroas

trian texts the ancient title "Ahura" is never accorded

any of these beings, but is repeatedly used for Mazd,

Mithra, and Apjm Napt.
4. M. Mayrhofer apud Dupont-Sommer, CRAl (1976),
653.

5. F. Justi, Iranisches Namenbuch (Marburg, 1895, 2d

repr. 1976), 276. W. Eilers, "Bnu," Elr, vol. 3 (1988), 7
5, interprets bdn as a hypocoristic for MP bdnbiSn;
cf. Av. nmnO pathni "mistress/lady of the house."

solution is to assume that (3 jxsyspt forms a com

pound with the following - "god." However, the

name is attested twice in Uygur texts as JxySpt

tngii (J. Hamilton, Manuscrits oulgours du lXe-Xe

sicle de Touen-houang (Paris, 1986], 5.39 and 6.11,
with n. on p. 48), where Sogd. - is replaced by its
Turkish equivalent, as well as three times in Sogdian
(see W. Sundermann, AoF 6 [1979], p. 102 with n. 223

on p. 131), always with - written as a separate

word. Both this fact and the writing with - :y- in

Sogdian script suggest a heavy stem with a long

vowel (S or ). I therefore propose to read it as
(a)xsSS-pat and to derive it from *xai6ra-pati-. If
such a form can be made plausible as an Old Iranian
variant of *xsa9ra-pati-, it will also account for the
Elamite divine name SetrabattiH to which R. Schmitt
has drawn attention in Historische Sprachforschung
101 (1988), 87-88. As compared with Schmitt's deriva
tion of the latter from *sai0ra-pati-, this explanation

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 y c : Mithra and Ahura

has the advantage of linking it with a divine name

village, tribe, land), used as names for four sons of the

well attested in the Iranian world.

Further evidence for the existence of *xsai6ra- as a

Manichaean divinity called in Aramaic "Keeper of

Splendour." In MP the name of this divinity himself

substandard variant of - "realm" (whether as

was rendered as Mihryazd "God Mithra"; and the titles

the result of contamination with *$- = Avestan

soiOra- "dwelling-place" or by restoration of the root

form xsai-J is provided by a series of forms for which
no unified explanation has so far been offered. The

were used for his sons' names, it is suggested (Sun

dermann, Mysteria Mithrae, 777-87) because of old
scriptural links between Mithra and such traditional

dignitaries, pillars of the society he strove to uphold.

numerous Greek spellings of the Iranian term for

This does not mean that any of the four sons can be

"satrap," for which see Schmitt in Studies in Greek,

Italic, and Indo-European Linguistics Offered to Leon

equated with Mithra, or that there was any special link

ard R. Palmer ... (Innsbruck, 1976), 379-82, include

such forms as and the denominative verb
, whose diphthong -- has never been
adequately explained. Similarly, the relationship be
tween the name ArdasTr and its variant *Arda(x)sa(h)r
(attested by many forms in Greek and Coptic script,

to which one may now add Bactrian , cf.

between Mithra and God Dahybad, still less between

Mithra and God *3xSeSpat, since the Sogdian Mani

chaeans chose to use a name other than Mithra for the

Keeper of Splendour. (Bivar, "An Iranian Sarapis," BA1 2

[1988], 12-13, has deduced rather more in this respect

from the complex Manichaean data than they can

properly yield.)

11. R. Schmitt in Festgabe fill K. Hoffmann, pt. 2,

Miinchener Studien zui Sprachwissenschaft 45 (1985),

J. Cribb, Coin Hoards 7 [1985], 320, and implied by

historical spellings such as Inscriptional Middle Per

201-10.

sian Jrthstr) has always been problematic. As Dr.

Sundermann has suggested to me in conversation,

12. This theory he sought to reinforce by linguistic

arguments, i.e. that the khsathra was a Median form,

the assumption of *Rta-xsai9ra- beside *Rta-xSa9ra

would account for all the attested forms, including
Manichean Parthian Jrdxsyhr (for which see Sunder
mann, AoF 13 [1986], 293 with n. 250); R. Schmitt,

lranisches Personennamenbuch 5/4 [Vienna, 1982],

21-22, derives ArdasTr from a hypocoristic *Rta-xs
iia-, supposedly attested indirectly by Ertaxssiraza-,
the Lycian form of the name of Artaxerxes II, but his

ingenious theory of a crossing of two unattested

forms *Ertaxssaza- (= Old Persian Rta-xsaa-) and
*Ertaxssira- is too complicated to be wholly per
suasive. The relationship between ArdasTr and
*Arda(x)Sa(h)r appears to be paralleled by that be
tween Pahlavi pdixsTr, Armenian patsir and Inscrip
tional MP pDthstr(y) "deed, agreement, treaty," but
these forms may derive from an adjectival derivative
with the suffix *-ya- (perhaps *pSti-xSa(i)Or-iya- "au
thoritative (document)," cf. the formation of Sogd.
pJtxs:'wn). Finally, neither *xsa0ra- nor even "xsaOrya-,

as pointed out by H. W. Bailey, Dictionary of

Khotanese Saka (Cambridge, 1979), 68, provides a

phonetically possible etymon for Khotanese ksTra
"country, land, kingdom," Tumshuq Saka xSera-, al

though the derivation from *sai6ra- preferred by

Bailey is less satisfying semantically; *xsai0ra- is
satisfactory on both counts.
8. W. Sundermann, "The Five Sons of the Manichaean
god Mithra," in Mysteria Mithrae, ed. U. Bianchi, EPRO
80 (Leiden, 1979), p. 779 with n. 19.

9. Skjaervo in H. Humbach and P. O. Skjaervo, The

Sassanian Inscription of Paikuli, pt. 3.2 (Wiesbaden,
1983),99-100.
10. The title occurs there with the word by (vagh)

against OP khsaa; but khSathra was evidently the

standardized form used under the Achaemenians in a

pan-Iranian koine. "Pure" Persian forms are found in

general only in the Achaemenian inscriptions, and
even there Mithras name appears thus, in its "Median"
form (cf. below). Against the whole theory of diverse
pre-Zoroastrian supreme gods of different Iranian peo
ples, see Boyce in M. Boyce and F. Grenet, A History of

Zoroastrianism, HdO I.8.1.2.2A, vol. 3 (Leiden, 1991),

470-82.

13. H. S. Nyberg, Die Religionen des alten Iran, Ger

man trans, by H. H. Schaeder (Leipzig, 1938, repr. 1966),
5-6, 46, 342-43, 396-97; Boyce, History of Zoroastrian
ism, vol. 2 (1982), 7-9, 40, 42-43.

14. I. Gershevitch and G. Widengren have also put

forward theories of a non-Zoroastrian Median worship

of Mithra persisting throughout the Achaemenian

period in Asia Minor, there to become the ancestor of
the Mithraic Mysteries. Against these, see the present
writer in Boyce-Grenet, History of Zoroastrianism, vol.
3, pp. 482, 484, n. 615.

15. See his "Mithra in Mesopotamia," in Mithraic

Studies, ed. J. R. Hinnells (Manchester, 1975), vol. 2,
pp. 275-89; "Mithraic Images of Bactria: Are They Re
lated to Roman Mithraism?" in Mysteria Mithrae, 741
50; "An Iranian Sarapis," 11-17.

16. Cf. Boyce, History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 2,

pp. 272-73.

17. So, under Orontid rule in Commagene, Jupiter

Dolichenus exchanged his ancient Hittite garb for
Iranian dress including the tiara; see M. Hflrig and
E. Schwertheim, Corpus Cultis Iovis Dolicheni, EPRO
106 (Leiden, 1987), nos. 5, 8, 10, 17.
18. Bivar in Mysteria Mithrae, citing A. R. Bellinger,

"god" suffixed, i.e. "God Lord-of-the-realm"; and the more

abundant MP material shows that it was one of a series

Essays on the Coinage of Alexander the Great (New

of four titles for those in authority ("lords" of house,

York, 1963), 10.

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 y c : Mithra and Ahura

19. J. H. Young in F. . Drner and T. Goell, Aisameia iDumzils citation, p. 238, of the Xanthos trilingual as
am Nymphaios, vol. 1 (Berlin, 1963), 119.
proof that some among them did so is not convincing,

20. Discussed further by Boyce-Grenet, see Histoiysince each of its three versions embodies different

of Zoioasttianism, vol. 3, index s.v. Mithra.

21. Bivar, "Mithra and Mesopotamia," 284.

religious concepts appropriate to the culture concerned,

Lycian, Iranian, or Greek.)

22. Pahlavi Rivyat accompanying the Ddestn J 39. S. Zimmer, "Iran, baga- ein Gottesname?," Miln
dng, Ch. 210.15; cited by H. W. Bailey in Mithraic chener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 43 (1984), 187

215 (in the light of which the present writer's remarks

Studies, ed. Hinnells, vol. 1, p. 18, n. 36.
23. Notably H. J. W. Drijvers, "Mithra at Hatra?" in in History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 2, pp. 15-17, are to be
Etudes mithiiaques, ed. J. Duchesne-Guillemin (Actamodified!
40. On the form and meaning of the name see
Iranica 17, 1978), 151-86.
R. Schmitt, Eh, vol. 3 (1988), 408.
24. Bivar, "An Iranian Sarapis."
25. Above n. 7.
41. So J. Markwart, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte
26. Sarapis under the Early Ptolemies, EPRO 25 (Lei von Erdn (Leipzig, 1905), vol. 2, p. 126ff.; Schmitt (tenta
tively); N. Sims-Williams, "Mithra the Baga," a paper
den, 1972).
given at the conference "Histoire et cultes dAsie Cen
27. Ibid., 14-26.
trale prislamique" convened by P. Bernard and F. Gre
28. Ibid., 26.
net, Paris, 1988 (to be published).
29. Ibid., p. 1, n. 2 (citing U. Wilcken).

30. I. Gershevitch, The Avestan Hymn to Mithra

(Cambridge, 1959, repr. 1967), 7.

31. H. Ltiders, Varuna I, ed. L. Alsdorf, vol. 1 (Gttin
gen, 1952), 46.
32. Boyce, "Ap^m Napt," Elr, vol. 2, pp. 148-50.

33. P. de Lagarde, Gesammelte Abhandlungen (Leip

zig, 1866), 262 (with the generally accepted emendation
of Apomenama to *Apomenapa).
34. H. Metzger, CRA1 (1974), 85, 91.

35. H. Humbach, "Die aramischen Nymphen von

Xanthos," Die Sprache 27 (1981), 30-32 (an admirable

emended reading).
36. Cf. Yt. 19.52.

42. R. T. Hallock, Persepolis Fortification Tablets

(Chicago, 1969), PF338; 1955:1-3; 1956:1-2; 1957:1.
43. I. Gershevitch apud Hallock, PFT, p. 19 n. 11, and

further in Transactions of the Philological Society

(1969), 175. Contra, W. Hinz, Orientalia 39 (1979), 429;
but his interpretation of *visai bag "all the gods" does

not fit the contexts of PF 338 and PF 1957:1.On the

forms see further M. Schwartz, CHlr, vol. 2, p. 687.

44. Persepolis A.
45. Susa A, D; Hamadan A, B.

46. So Boyce, "Varuna the Baga," Monumentum G.

Morgenstierne, vol. 1, Acta Iranica 21 (Leiden, 1981),

veniste (Paris, 1975), 55-64.

72; History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 2, p. 283.

47. Boyce, Mon. Morgenstierne, 71, citing J. Gonda,
"The Vedic Gods Amsa and Bhaga," Monumentum H. S.
Nyberg, Acta Iranica 4 (Leiden, 1974), 304-10.

38. G. Dumzil, L'oubli de l'homme et l'honneur des

dieux et autres essais (Paris, 1985), 236-41, sought
another Anatolian link for Ap^m Napt in Plutarch,

thra the Baga" (but with the OP material put together

with the Zoroastrian).

37. See further Boyce, "On Varuna s Part in Zoroas

trianism," in Mlanges linguistiques offerts . Ben

Alexander, 17.4: "Now, there is in Lycia near the city of

Xanthos, a spring which at this time, as we are told,

was of its own motion upheaved from its depths, and
overflowed, and cast forth a bronze tablet bearing the
prints of ancient letters, in which it was made known
that the empire of the Persians would one day be
destroyed by the Greeks and come to an end." This
Dumzil saw as a Lycian version of the Iranian myth
that Ap^m Napt guarded in the waters the khwarenah
or "glory" of the Iranian kings, which he now allowed to

pass to Alexander. That Lycians thought in terms of

Iranian myths and concepts seems, however, doubtful.

48. Conveniently tabulated by Sims-Williams, "Mi

49. V. A. Livshitz, Yuridiceskie dokumenti i pis'ma

(1962), 17-45; W. B. Henning, "A Sogdian God," BSOAS
28 (1965), 248; Sims-Williams, "Mithra the Baga" (with
emended translation of nivandi).
50. For the other suggested interpretations here of

Baga (seen as Ahura Mazd or even Mithra) see Sims

Williams, ibid.
51. Ibid.

52. Awareness that Varuna must have had a place in

Iranian religious history has led to various attempts to

identify him with Ahura Mazd; but these have had

little evidential basis.

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