Angra Mainyu
Zoroastrian · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
The destructive spirit, hostile twin opposing Spenta Mainyu; source of evil, death, and the Lie.
Domains
- destruction evil
- deception lie
- darkness death
Powers
- Counter-create plagues, winter, and noxious beasts against creation
- Command the daevas as daeva of daevas
- Assault Ahura Mazda's world across the nine-thousand-year struggle
Epithets
- Ahriman The Destructive Spirit (Middle Persian Ahriman); the hostile mind of the Lie (Druj)the Gāθās (Yasna 30); the Bundahišn (primary)
Relations
- twin sibling: Spenta MainyuThe two primal Spirits revealed as twins in the Gathas: the Bounteous and the Destructive, opposed in thought, word and deed.Avesta, Yasna 30.3 (Gathas) (primary)
- enemy: Ahura MazdaThe cosmic adversary: Ahriman assaults Ohrmazd's good creation and is doomed to final defeat at the renovation.Greater Bundahishn, ch. 1 (primary)
- ally: Azhi DahakaReciprocal of zoroastrian_azhi_dahaka.ally — Created by Angra Mainyu as the mightiest drug against the material world; the destructive spirit's chief instrument.Avesta, Yasna 9.8 (primary)
Sources
- existence: Avesta, Yasna 30 (primary); Bundahishn 1 (primary)