The Great Serpent, Lord of Darkness, and rival of the sun
god in Persian myth; leader of the daevas, whom Zorastrians (also called
"Zarathustra")called devils, though the original Indo-Iranian word meant
"gods."1
Ahriman (or Ahrimanes) is the name given to the Chief of
the Cacodaemons (Fallen Angels) by the Persians and Chaldeans. These Cacodaemons
were believed to have been expelled from Heaven for their sins' they endeavored
to settle down in various parts of the earth, but were always rejected, and out
of revenge they found their pleasure in injuring the inhabitants.
Ahriman and his followers finally took up their abode in
all the space between the earth and the fixed stars, and there established their
domain, called "Ahriman-abad." As Ahriman was the spirit of evil his counterpart
in Persian dualism was Ahura Mazda (also Ormazd, Ormizd, or Hormizd), the
creative and benevolent being.
The story of Ahriman's revolt against his twin brother, the Heavenly Father (Ahura Mazda), of their war in heaven,and of the daevas' fall to the underworld,
gave western Europe its basic myth of the fall of Lucifer (Satan), and its dualistic
division of the univese between forces of good and evil. Persian prophets predicted the
defeat of Ahriman and his dark angels during the final battle at the
end of the world, and Judeo-Christian prophets adopted
the same idea. As the Serpent, Ahriman also tempted the first man and woman.
But Ahriman was not considered inferior to Ahura Mazda.
On the contrary, they were twins, born simultaneously from the womb of the
primal Crone of Time (Zurvan). Ahriman's influence on earth was greater than his
celestial brother's, because he created the material world. Persian Magi
regarded him as the source of their magic power, and offered sacrifices to him.
Mithraic shrines from Budapest to York were dedicated to "Arimanius" as the
underground god of magic arts.2
Ahriman was not originally Persian. He was the Vedic
(sometime between 1500 and 1200 B.C.E. god Aryaman, maker of "Aryans" - the
people he created of clay. Aryaman was one of the twelve zodiacal sons of the
Goddess Aditi.3 He also had a Celtic incarnation, as the divine king Eremon.
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