2000, B.C. 2630. Beginning of the eighth millennium. Ac- cession of Dahak (ibid. 4, 5).
1000, B. C. 1630. Beginning of the ninth millennium. Acces- sion of Frédfin (ibid. 5, 6).
500, B.C. 1130. Accession of Mânûskîhar (ibid. 6).
428, B.C. 1058. Spendarmad comes to Mânûskîhar at the time of Frasiyd’s irrigation works (Zs. XII, 3-6). The MSS. have B.R. 528, but to bring this date into the reign of MánásZihar would be inconsistent with the millennial arrange- ment; while to assume a clerical error of one century is a probable explanation, as it makes the date more consistent with the allusion to Frâsiyđv, whose irrgation works, men- tioned in Bd. XX, 34; XXI, 6, must hav. been carried out in the latter part of Mânûskîhar’s reign.
380, B.c. ro10. Accession of Aüzóbó (Bd. XXXIV, 6).
375, B.C. 1005. Accession of Kai-Kobad (ibid. 6, 7).
360, B.c. 990. Accession of Kaí-Üs (ibid. 7).
300, P.C. 930. Zaratüst first mentioned by the ox that Srit6 killed (Zs. XII, 7—20).
210, B.C. 840. Accession of Kai-Khásrói (Bd. X XXIV, 7).
150, B.C. 780. Accession of Kai-Loharásp (ibid.).
45, B.C. 675. The Glory descends from heaven at the birth of Dfikdak (Zs. XIII, 1).
30, B.c. 660. Accession of Kai-Vistásp (Bd. XXXIV, 7).
Vohümanó and Ashavahist6 descend into the world with
a stem of Hôm (Dk. VII, ii, 24). Zaratfist is born (ibid.
XXX PAHLAVI TEXTS.
2 SSS ee eee
B. R. 23, B.C. 653. Z. is seven years old when two Karaps visit his father, and Dürásróbó dies (Dk. VII, iii, 32, 34, 45).
» 15, B.c. 645. Z.is fifteen years old when he and his four
brothers ask for their shares of the family property (Zs. XX, 1).
» IO, B.C. 640. Z.leaves home at the age of twenty (ibid. 7). A.R. I, B.C. 630. Beginning of the tenth millennium. Z. goes forth to his conference with the sacred beings on the 45th day of the 31st year of Vistásp's reign (Dk. VII, iii, 51-62 ; viii, 51; Zs. XXI, 1-4).
3, B.C. 628. Z. returns from his first conference in two
years, and preaches to Afirvaité-dang and the Karaps without
success (Dk. VII, iv, 2-20).
II, B.C. 620. After his seventh conference, in the tenth year he goes to Vistásp; Médyómáh is also converted (ibid. 1, 65; Zs. XXI, 3; XXIII, 1, 2, 8).
13, B.c. 618. Twelve years after Z. went to conference,
Vistásp accepts the réligion, though hindered for two years by
the Karaps (Dk. VII, v, 1; Zs. XXIII, 5, 7).
» 20,B.C. 611. A Kavig, son of Kündah, is converted (Zs. XXIII, 8).
» 30, B.C. 601. Defeat of Argásp and his Khyons (ibid.).
» 40, B.C. 591. Vohfiném is born (ibid.). About this time the Avesta is written by Gámásp from the teaching of Z. (Dk. IV, 21; V, iii, 4; VII, v, 11).
» 48,B.c. 583. Z. passes away, or is killed, aged seventy-seven years and forty days, on the 41st day of the year (Dk. V, iii, a; VII, v, 1; Zs, XXII 5)
» 58,B.c.573. Arrival of the religion is known in all regions (Dk. VII, vi, - 2).
» 63, B.C. 568. Frashóstar passes away (Zs. XXIII, 10).
» 64, B.C. 567. Gámásp passes away (ibid.).
» 73,B.c. 558. Hangáürüsh, son of Gámásp, passes away (ibid.).
» 80, B.C. 551. Asmók-khanvató passes away, and Akht the wizard is killed (ibid.).
» 91, B.C. 540. Accession of Vohüman, son of Spend-dád (Bd. XXXIV, 7, 8).
» 100, B.C. 531. .Sénó is born (Dk. VII, vii, 6).
» 200, B.C. 431. S€nd passes away (ibid.; Zs. XXIII, 11).
» 203, B.C. 428. Accession of Hümái (Bd. XXXIV, 8).
[Here ends the fragment of the old millennial system preserved in the Bundahis which omits thirty-five years in
INTRODUCTION. xxxl
this place, as explained in $ 54, with tlie effect of postponing the end of the millennium. It then proceeds to finish the chronology in its own fashion; mentioning only three historical names, which are here added; the thirty-five omitted years being also inserted. |
A. R. 268, B. c. 363. Accession of Dárái (ibid.). ——
» 280, B.C. 351. Accession of Dárái, descendant of Dárái
(ibid.).
» 294, B.C. 337. Accession of Alexander! (ibid.).
» 300, B.C. 331. Invasion by Alexander. .Sénó's hundred-
discipledom ends, the religion is disturbed, and the monarchy
contested (Zs. XXIII, 11, 12; AV. I, 2-6).
308, B.c. 323. Death of Alexander (Bd. XXXIV, 8).
» 400, B.C. 231. Benightedness arises (Dk. VII, vii, 9).
» 440-560, B.C. 191-71 *, Orthodoxy is still upheld by four successive high-priests (Dk. VII, vii, 8-10).
» 800-950, A.D. 170-320. The ninth and tenth centuries are represented as very evil and miserable (ibid. viii, 2-45, 61).
» 971, A.D. 341, Afshédar is born (ibid. 55-57).
IOOI, A.D. 371. Beginning of the eleventh millennium, when the sun stands still for ten days, and A(üshédZar is thirty years old and confers with the sacred beings (ibid. 58-60).
» 1400-1500, A.D. 770-870. In this century the wizard Mahrkfis produces seven awful winters successively, in which most of mankind and animals perish, including himself (ibid. ix, 3).
» 1971, A.D. I341. AQshéZar-máh is borr (ibid. 18-20).
2001, A. D. 1371. Beginning of the twelft. millennium, when the sun stands still for twenty days, and Afishédar-mah is thirty years old and confers with the sacred beings (ibid. 21—23).
» 2971, A.D. 2341. SóÓsháns is born (ibid. x, 15-18).
3001, A.D. 2371. Beginning of the preparation for the Renovation, when the sun stands still for thirty days, and Sósháns is thirty years old (ibid. 19); but another passage (ibid. xi, 2) implies that this is the date of his birth.
3028, A.D. 2398. The renovation of the universe occurs at the end of the fifty-seventh year of SÓsháns (ibid. 4, 7).
1 He became king of Macedon B. C. 336, and of Persia in 331. i 2 The erroneous dates in the Bundahis chronology (see § 57) alter this period
to B. C. 156-36.
xxxii PAHLAVI TEXTS. Wu o
56. We must suppose that the millennial chronology, which the Bundahis discontinues in the middle of the tenth millennium, was originally completed to the end of Time, as attempted in this synopsis, in accordance with the statements in Byt. and Dk. But the allusions to future events and denunciations of coming evils were, no doubt, of a mythological or general character, such as those still surviving in Dk. VII, vii, 29732 ; viii, 40, 4T, 44-46, 48-60 ; ix-xi. Whenever we meet with seemingly prophetic descriptions and denunciations, which clearly allude to historical events, such as those in Dk. VII, vii, 3-28 ; viii, 2, 10, 23, 32-36, 42, 43, 47, 61, they must, of course, be treated as interpolations of a later date than the events themselves. And there are several passages that may belong to either class.
57. It has been already shown, in $ 54, that the death of Alexander, which the Bundahis places in A.R. 273, must have occurred in A.R. 308 according to other traditional records. If this error of thirty-five years stood alone, it might be considered accidental; but when we find that the Bundahis supplies only 284 years for the Askánians, to fill up the whole interval of 548 years between Alexander and Ardashir, son of Papak, we must conclude that these two errors were intended for the purpose which they both fulfil, that of postponing the end of the tenth millennium. On the other hand, the Sásánians who ruled for 425 years, are allowed 460 years in the Bundahis, which just counter- balances the thirty-five years omitted after the time of Hümái. This third error may be considered unintentional, as it probably arose from counting the year of each suc- cession twice over, first in the reign of the deceased king, and again in that of his successor.
58. The extent to which the Bundahis chronology is distorted, by these three errors, will be better understood on inspection of the following tabular statement than from any description of the results, merely observing that the year of the religion (A. R.) is given according to Bundahis dates in the first column, and according to real dates in the second. Several intermediate events have been inserted,
INTRODUCTION. xxxiii
— o O ü b, Tai
for the sake of illustration, and each of their Bundahis
dates includes its proper proportion of the errors !:—
Bd. date. Real date. Real date. Bd. date. A.R. 265, A.R. 300. Invasion by Alexander . . B.C. 331, B.C. 331. » 273 » 308. Death of Alexander... SUM » 33 d 321, ,, 400. Realdateofa.R. 400 . . SL a 275 » 400, 5, 553. Bd.dateofA.R.400. . . ,, 78, „ 196. » 528, ,, 800. Real dateofa.R.800 . . A.D.170 ,, 68. » 587, » S856. Accession of Ardashir . . BONS. .. 19 » $695, » 9oo. Realdateofa.R.goo . » 270, A.D. IO.
» 951, ,, 1220. Accession of Khüsró II . . ,, 590, ,, 356.
;» 1000, ,, 1265. Bd.dateofA.R. 1000 . . ,, 635, 5, 405.
» 1017, ,, 1281. Death of Yasdakavd III. . ,, 651, ,, 422.
59. The object of preparing this statement has been to ascertain the reason for the intentional errors in the Bundahis chronology, and the probable period at which they were introduced. It has been mentioned, in $ 57, that the effect of both the errors, which are not accidental, has been to postpone the end of the tenth millennium, but they also postpone the dates of some other events which are mentioned in the Zoroastrian legends.
60. Thus, we are told in Dk. VII, vii, 9 that benighted- ness arises after A.R. 400, which is postponed by the errors from B. C. 231 to 78, but both of these times seem to have been equally unpropitious to the Zoroastrians. Then we learn (ibid. 10, 11) that in the fifth and sixth centuries, say A.R. 440-560, orthodoxy is still upheld by four successive high-priests. This period is postponed by the errors from B. C. 191-71 to 156-36 (see p. xxxi, n. 2), and Zoroastrianism was probably flourishing the whole time. So far, no reason for the alterations can be discovered, as the vague descrip- tion of events, supplied by the old writer, appears to be
1 The basis of calculation is the real date of each event and real century, but the Bd. date of each Bd. century. The only Bd. data are 284 years from the death of Alexander to the accession of Ardashír, and 460 years from the latter to the death of Yazdakard III, as stated in $ 57.
XXXIV PAHLAVI TEXTS.
just as applicable to the original periods as to the altered ones.
61. We are further informed (Dk. VII, viii, 2-45) that much evil and misery occur in the ninth and tenth centuries (A.R. 800-1000), at all events until the birth of Adshédar (ibid. 55-57) in A.R. 971 ; and such events as war, invasion, fall of monarchy, oppression, persecution, infidelity, and apostasy are mentioned. Adshédar confers with the arch- angels in A.R. 1001 (ibid. 58-60), and the evils afterwards pass away till A.R. 1400-1500 (ibid. ix, 3), when frightful winters occur. The evil period A.R. 800-971 was originally A.D. 170-341, or from the middle of the reign of Volo- geses III to the middle of that of Shahpühar II. But the Bundahis postpones this period to A.D. 451-608, or from the time of the Armenian revolt in the reign of Yazdakard II, to that of the first total defeat of a Persian army by the Arabs near Dhû-Qâr in the reign of Khüsró II. The evil times were probably expected to continue till the end of the millennium, or later, as in the case of Zaratüst himself; for Adshédar does not go to his conference till A.R. 1001, and might not be expected to begin to preach till A.R. 1011. These dates, originally A.D. 371-381, comprising the remainder of the reign of Shahpühar II, would be altered by Bd. to A. D. 636-645, a period which includes the last two great battles with the Arabs, that decided the downfall of the Sásánian dynasty, though king Yazdakard III lived some six years longer as a fugitive !.
62. It is hardly possible that king Ardashir (A.D. 226— 241) and his chancellor Tanvasar, when collecting and revising their sacred books, would have compiled the original traditional system of chronology, however general might have been the terms in which the evils were described by the records they possessed, because it would have been a voluntary confession that they had no power to remedy
ee Es n
| The authorities consulted, for Persian historical facts and dates, have been Nóldeke, Aufsätze sur perstschen Geschichte; and A. von Gutschmid, Geschichte Irans und seiner Nachbarländer von Alexander dem Grossen bis sum Untergang der Arsaciden: edited by Noldeke,
