Zurvan

The Zurvanite myth

The fullest account comes not from a Zoroastrian text but from the fifth-century Armenian Christian Eznik of Kolb, in his Refutation of the Sects, with parallels in Syriac Christian sources. Before anything existed, Zurvan offered sacrifice for a thousand years in order to have a son who would create heaven and earth. Then he doubted whether his sacrifice would bear fruit, and from his doubt Ahriman was conceived, while from the sacrifice Ohrmazd was conceived. Zurvan vowed that whichever son reached him first would be king. Ohrmazd, knowing this, told his brother; Ahriman tore open the womb and presented himself, and Zurvan, bound by his vow, gave him rule for nine thousand years, after which Ohrmazd would reign.

A heresy or a current?

How widespread Zurvanism was is disputed. Some scholars saw it as the dominant theology of the Sasanian court; others see it as one speculative current among several. The Avesta mentions Zruvan, Time, only as a minor divine being, and the ninth-century Middle Persian books that became the basis of later orthodoxy present Ohrmazd as uncreated and Ahriman as his opposite, not his twin. No cult of Zurvan with temples or festivals is attested.

Why the myth mattered

The Zurvanite story tried to answer a question the Gathas leave open: why there should be two spirits at all. Its answer, that evil arose from a moment of doubt within a single origin, made the twins brothers, which later Zoroastrians found incompatible with Ohrmazd's goodness.