The Demonic ‘Sub-Humanity’ of the Bears in the Mazdean Framework and Other Remarks

Abstract

Ancient Iranians knew well “bears”, in spite of the fact that they are not frequently mentioned in the oldest literature of the Zoroastrians. Despite the classification of bears as wild and demonic beasts, their common name was not particularly affected by strong and unexpected changes due to linguistic taboos, at least in the earlier phases. The present article investigates the position of bears within the Pahlavi literature and discusses some aspects of their denomination within the Iranian linguistic area with special care for the Mazdean traditions in which bears were considered as having descended from the civilizing hero J̌am and a demoness.