Verethragna
The name and, to some extent, the deity was borrowed into Armenian Վահագն Vahagn and Վռամ Vṙam, and has cognates in Buddhist Sogdian 𐫇𐫢𐫄𐫗 wšɣn w(i)šaɣn, Manichaean Parthian 𐭅𐭓𐭉𐭇𐭓𐭌 wryḥrm Wahrām, Kushan Bactrian ορλαγνο Orlagno.[8] While the figure of Verethragna is highly complex, parallels have also been drawn between, Puranic Vishnu, Manichaean Adamas, Chaldean / Babylonian Nergal, Egyptian Horus, Hellenic Ares and Heracles.[9][10][11] In the Zoroastrian hierarchy of divinities, Bahram is a helper of Asha Vahishta (Avestan, middle Persian: Ardvahisht), the Amesha Spenta responsible for the luminaries.Gnoli attributes the change to natural misunderstanding "abetted in Islamic times by a progressive decay in Zoroastrian priestly teaching"[18] The only evidence of a cult appears in the first century account of Strabo, who reports, probably on authority of Nearchus, that the Carmanians worshipped a divinity of victory (Geographika, 15.2.14).Under the Seleucids (330–150 BCE) and Arsacids (250 BCE–226 CE), that is, in the Empires influenced by Hellenic culture, Verethragna was both identified as Ares and associated with Heracles, and given the Greek name Artagnes.The interpretation of the divinity was once one of the more widely debated fields in Zoroastrian scholarship since the theories of origin reflected a radical revolution in ethical, moral and religious values.But western scholars oppose this identification: In the Avesta, it is the hero warrior-priest Fereydun who battles the serpent Aži Dahāka (which, for the virtue of 'Azi' being cognate with Sanskrit 'Ahi', snake, is – by proponents of the theory - associated with Vedic Vritra[a]).[b] However, as Benveniste and Renou demonstrated, many of the objections to the first theory could be negated if the evidence were reviewed in light of the fact that the principal feature of Verethragna was not to slay noxious creatures but to overcome obstacles (verethra), in particular to unblock the flow of apas, the waters, the holiest of the elements.[24] Paul Thieme agreed with this principal feature, but clarified that while the wealth of archaic elements in the Bahram Yasht clearly point to the pre-Zoroastrian era, the interpretation of proper names is "highly conjectural", and "in no case do we get a decisive argument against their Indo-Aryan or old Indic character"[25][c] Adopting "the exact linguistic and exegetic analysis" of Benveniste and Renou, Thieme concludes "Proto-Aryan *Indra has assumed the functions of a Proto-Aryan god *Vrtraghna."
Kanishka IZoroastrianismAhura MazdaZarathustraVohu ManahPersia/IranFaravaharAvestanAmesha SpentasYazatasAhurasDaevasFravashiAngra MainyuZoroastrian literatureAvestaAshem VohuAhuna VairyaYenghe hatamAiryaman ishyaFire Temples101 Names of Ahura MazdaAdur Burzen-MihrAdur GushnaspCypress of KashmarGathasVendidadVisperadYashtsKhordeh AvestaThe RivayatsAb-ZohrDēnkardBundahišnBook of Arda VirafBook of JamaspStory of SanjanChinvat BridgeFrashokeretiZurvanismMazdakismKhurramitesCalendarFestivalsInitiationKushtiSedrehMarriageBurialAfghanistanArmeniaAzerbaijanSichuanIranisPakistanParsisRussiaUnited StatesUzbekistanPersecution of ZoroastriansCriticism of ZoroastrianismZoroastrian cosmologyZoroastrianhypostasisArmenianVahagnBuddhist SogdianManichaean ParthianKushan BactrianPuranicVishnuManichaeanNergalEgyptianHellenicHeraclesTishtryaVayu-VataČistāMithraStatue of Hercules in BehistunSeleucidHellenisticKermanshahAmesha SpentaZoroastrian calendarAchaemenid eraParthianSasanianChaldeanKartirKushanStraboNearchusCarmaniansHerodotusSeleucidsArsacidsAntiochus I Theos of CommageneArdeshir IBahram IBahram IIKhosrau ParwezShapur IBahram IIIBahram IVShapur IIIBahram VYazdegerd IBahram ChobinHormizd IVMirza Husain Noori TabarsiShia MahdiTabarsiMahdi'sBamiyanVritraFereydunAži Dahākathe Mittani treatiesVarunaRig VedaBoyce, MaryDuchesne-Guillemin, J.Gershevitch, IlyaCambridge University Press