Sykes' History of Persia - Heritage Institute

no HISTORY OF PERSIA CHAP.
a language which is generally termed Avestic and which
differs from the language used by the Achaemenian
monarchs in their inscriptions, is believed to have con-
sisted of twenty-one books inscribed in letters of gold
on 12,000 ox-hides. It is understood to have been
destroyed after the downfall of the Achaemenian dynasty,
and but little of it has been recovered. Volagases I., the
Parthian monarch who reigned about the middle of the
first century a.d., is believed to have begun a reconstruction
of it, which was, however, mainly the work of Ardeshir,
the founder of the Sasanian dynasty ; and it is probable
that it received additions for the next two or three
generations.
Antiquity appeals strongly to mankind, and when we
recollect that Zoroastrianism, which is a living religion
still, was contemporary with the religions of Baal, of Assur,
and of Zeus, which have all been forgotten for many
centuries, we can sympathise with the eagerness and zeal
of students who devote their lives to tracing it back to its
remote source amid the mists of legend and myth. .
The extant portions of the Avesta contain only one
complete book, the Vendidad (more correctly Videvat)^
or " Law against the Demons." Portions of some of the
other chapters enter into the composition of the Tasna or
liturgy, and other fragments are preserved in Pahlavi
books. The latter bear much the same relationship to
the Avesta as patristic literature does to the New
Testament. What exists of the Avesta is divided into
four sections as follows :—
{a) The Yasna^ subdivided into seventy-two chapters,
and consisting of hymns, including the Gathas,
(h) The Vispered or collection of doxologies, used in
conjunction
with the Tasna,
(c) The Vendidad^ the ecclesiastical law-book pre-
scribing penances, purifications, and expiations.
(/^) The Tashts or hymns in honour of the angels who
preside over the various days of the month.
The oldest portion is represented by the Gathas^ which
have been aptly compared with the Hebrew Psalms and
are believed to represent the actual teaching and utterances