The DOI matches its Crossref record, with a small difference in title or year; 15 of the 15 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 54 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition
Open accessAbstract
Legends and stories about fabulous races that dwelt in India or in Africa circulated in Iran probably since the Achaemenid times. Unfortunately, scholarship on this topic has neglected some late Iranian and, especially, Zoroastrian sources, such as Draxt ī āsūrīg (The Assyrian tree), the Bundahišn (Primal Creation), the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg (The memorial of Jāmāsp), and the New Persian epic Šāhnāme. This article examines the aforementioned sources and discusses their accounts of five fabulous races from an Iranian, and especially Zoroastrian, perspective and through a comparative approach to some similar neighboring traditions.
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TL;DR
This article surveys how several Zoroastrian and Iranian texts depict half-human or monstrous races, especially dog-headed, breast-eyed, breast-eared, leather-strap-legged, and dwarf peoples. It argues that these portrayals vary by source and genre, from peaceful and commercial in the *Draxt ī āsūrīg* to demonic and cannibalistic in the *Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg*, with the *Bundahišn* placing them within a cosmogonic taxonomy and the *Šāhnāme* echoing Pahlavi and Alexander Romance traditions.
Key findings
- The *Draxt ī āsūrīg* presents dwarfs, breast-eyed, and dog-headed races as living peacefully beyond India near the Warkaš Sea, eating leaves and goat’s milk and engaging in trade; the text uses them to praise the goat’s value.
- The *Bundahišn* 14:36 lists twenty-five human races descended from Gayōmard, including breast-eared, breast-eyed, one-legged, winged, tailed, monkey-like, giant Māzandarān people six times normal height, and dwarfs one sixth of normal height, alongside historical peoples such as Romans, Turks, Chinese, Arabs, Sindhis, Indians, and Iranians.
- The *Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg* 9 gives the most detailed social and religious portrait: most of these races, except dwarfs, are aligned with Ahriman, lack law and religion, and practice cannibalism; dwarfs are skillful servants aligned with Ohrmazd and may go to paradise or hell.
- The *Šāhnāme* refers to dog-headed, supple-legged/leather-legged, and breast-eared peoples, often locating them in or near Māzandarān/Caspian regions; the dog-headed are bellicose and dirty, and the supple-legged appear both as brave horsemen and as savage stone-throwers, showing continued influence of Alexander Romance material.
Methods
- The study is a comparative philological and literary analysis of Middle Persian/Pahlavi, Pārsi, and New Persian sources, centered on the *Draxt ī āsūrīg*, *Bundahišn*, *Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg*, and *Šāhnāme*.
- It compares these Iranian accounts with Greek, Latin, Syriac, Manichaean, and other neighboring traditions, including Ctesias, Megasthenes, Pliny, Aelian, the Alexander Romance, and Syriac Alexander-related texts.
- The analysis uses manuscript transcriptions and translations, with attention to textual emendations and terminology such as *sag-sarān*, *war-čašmān*, *war-gōšān*, *dawāl-pāyān*, and *widestīgān*.
Limitations
- The paper states that several historical, social, and literary dynamics behind the three models remain unclear and calls for further investigation.
- It repeatedly marks specific claims as uncertain or speculative, including the geographical referent of Warkaš, the dating and source relations of some traditions, and the idea that these races belonged to the ancient Kərəsāspa/Garšāsp legend.
- Evident from the text: the argument depends heavily on late, fragmentary, and sometimes emended Pahlavi, Pārsi, and New Persian manuscripts, while extant Avestan texts do not directly mention these races, so reconstruction relies on comparative and later sources.
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Claims the paper makes
44 Sources not found · 21 Own interpretation · 13 No basis given · 3 Own result
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In the paper
“Dwarfs (or perhaps pygmies), breast-eyed, and dog-headed races are located beyond the borders of India .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
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In the paper
“The ten races of men mentioned at the beginning, plus the fifteen races descended from Frawāg, make twenty-five human races, all of which are from the seed of Gayōmard”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
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In the paper
“In Draxt ī āsūrīg 88-96 8 the goat, while enumerating its importance to mankind, mentions three fabulous races as follows:”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“chapters and passages of ninth-and tenth-century Pahlavi books such as the Draxt ī āsūrīg (The Assyrian tree), the Bundahišn (Primal Creation), the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg (The memorial of Jāmāsp), and the New Persian epic Šāhnāme provide interesting and varied descriptions of these fabulous people .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
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In the paper
“The leather-strap-legged and the dog-headed races are described in particularly bad terms .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Zoroastrian literature, however, differs in its characterization of three different models of monstrous races that range from the very positive to the truly negative .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
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In the paper
“There is no precise information about the geographical location of these fabulous races .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“As for the supple-legged (narm-pāy), they are depicted in two opposite ways-just as they are in the Pahlavi sources .80”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > an iRanian non-zoRoaStRian SouRce: the šāhnāme
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [80]
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In the paper
“The literary genre of dispute, sharing characteristics with oral literature from Mesopotamia, was probably adopted by Iranians as early as the Achaemenid period .5”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [5]
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In the paper
“Another Manichaean Middle Persian text, preserved in three fragments, enumerates human races (white, black, and red people) that seem to live in and around Iranian lands .29”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [29]
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- Probably not a substantial claim. 23
- It may state two separate claims as one. 37
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In the paper
“This chapter offers by far the most detailed and interesting description of the social and alimentary habits, as well as religious orientations, of these races .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The Draxt ī āsūrīg reports a dispute between a palm tree and a goat in which the two enumerate their qualities .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“With the exception of dwarfs, who can be righteous or wicked and dwell in an organized society, the fabulous races are depicted as living in an anarchic and savage tribal system characterized by heresy, cannibalism, and injustice .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Despite the strange appearance of the inhabitants of this land, they are described as both active and peaceful, consuming only leaves (and likely goat's milk) and are even said to enjoy commercial relations with neighboring human peoples .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Their depiction as witty and able servants, mostly following Ohrmazd, is not found elsewhere .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In this passage, the same fabulous races found in the Draxt ī āsūrīg appear (with the exception that the dog-headed are missing and instead we have the breast-eared) .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Most of these people are clearly assigned to the army of Ahriman in the framework of the final and strictly dualistic earthly battle between Good and Evil, which also emphasizes the profoundly eschatological nature of the text .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
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Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The Draxt ī āsūrīg provides a relatively idyllic image of these people; they live in a bucolic and peaceful way .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“The human races appear together with descriptions of half-human creatures such as pigheaded, ass-headed, and bull-headed races, and it is possible that the dog-headed may be attested in parallel texts .30”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [30]
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It might be a reference to their activity and duties in the Iranian courts”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“In fact, returning to the account of the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg, one finds the same savage and chaotic landscape, where neither land nor sky could be seen, in Alexander the Great's journey along the rivers of Atlas-home to monstrous races such as the dog-headed, the headless with eyes and mouths on the breast, and the savage leather-strap-legged peoples, 54 -reflecting the most ancient Greek recension”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [54]
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plainstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“The Alexander Romance was in wide circulation all over the Near East and was translated into several languages, including Middle Persian .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [52]
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plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Through their physical and anthropological dehumanization, the intimate natures and souls of these fabulous races are debased according to the Zoroastrian ethical balance, and they are excluded from the human choices of good and evil that belong to humankind from Gayōmard .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“In the later recension epsilon of the Alexander Romance, now dated to the eight century ce, 56 the dog-headed (Cynocephali) are depicted as very bellicose .Alexander is obliged to use fire to disperse them in battle and only after ten hard and dangerous days of marching can his army leave the land of the dog-headed (29:4) .57”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [56]
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- Not matchedcites [57]
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plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“As Kevin van Bladel has conclusively shown, the Syriac version (seventh century) of the work was likely translated from a lost Middle Persian Vorlage (sixth century) 52 that might attest to a strong diffusion and persistence in the Sasanian and Zoroastrian milieus until the centuries of the compilation of the Pahlavi literature .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [52]
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In the paper
“Descriptions and accounts of half-human creatures were already widespread in antiquity and late antiquity in Indian and Classical literature and have been widely studied in modern scholarship . 1”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [1]
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plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Afterwards it is reasonable that these stories remained current and widespread in the Iranian world via the Hellenizing cultural policy of the Parthians, and later through that of the Sasanian dynasty, which attempted to assimilate and translate into Middle Persian some elements of the Greek literary tradition .23”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [22]
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- Not matchedcites [23]
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hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Rests on an assumption: Legends about fabulous races in India or Africa circulated in Iran probably since Achaemenid times.
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In the paper
“Moreover, the dog-headed race is known for drinking milk, as are the people in the Draxt ī āsūrīg, and eating the dry fruit of siptachora 16 (Ctesias apud Photius' Library 72:40, and Aelian's On the Nature of Animals 4:46) .17”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Ctesias apud Photius' Library 72:40
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- Not matchedcites Aelian's On the Nature of Animals 4:46
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It is not even clear if the region is one of the other six continents .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Furthermore, the passage refers to the Warkaš Sea (Av .Vourukaša-), commonly translated in Pahlavi literature as Frāxkard, the Zoroastrian cosmic ocean surrounding the Xwanirah (Av .Xvaniraθa-), the mythical and central continent inhabited by Iranian people and by six other historical peoples, among whom are Indians according to late traditions .9”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [9]
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In the paper
“Nevertheless, the Zoroastrian and the Manichaean lists do not overlap and seem to reflect two different regional traditions: the former still based on Classical models; the second, of a more abstract and generalized kind, which according to Sundermann is more a reflection of the imagery of Indian deities and Buddhist saints .31”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [31]
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plainstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“As for the Draxt ī āsūrīg, though the Pahlavi version can likely be dated to the Sasanian period, the original tradition might date back to the second century bce, as Sidney Smith argued .6”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [6]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
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In the paper
“The Draxt ī āsūrīg is a versified work 3 originally composed in Book Parthian, 4 though only a Pahlavi version has survived .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [3]
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In the paper
“but may also be a literary loan from Egyptian and Greek tradition .58”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [58]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Except for the headless peoples ('sty ky' [sry] nyst; v ., 6) who may be associated with the breast-eyed and breast-eared, the fragment includes only races unknown to Zoroastrian texts such as cow-headed, two-or three-headed, or many-handed .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [28]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Although there is no geographical indication, the fact that Xwanirah, as can be seen above, is the dwelling place of the historical people, suggests that these three monstrous races were scattered alongside others over the six peripheral continents .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Abstract
hedgedstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“In the Greek and Syriac versions in particular, dog-headed (Cynocephali), breast-eyed (Sternophthalmi), and leather-strap-legged (Hymantopodes; ἱμαντόποδες) people appear, and to some of them violent and brutal behavior is attributed .51”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [51]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Not matched
In the paper
“the Avestan Vendidad 1 .9says that once Ohrmazd created the seventh best country (called Vaēkərəta), a place inhabited by hedgehogs, Ahriman then fabricated, in opposition to it, the witch Xnąθaitī, who follows the Iranian hero Kərəsāspa (Phl .Karsāsp/Garšāsp) .71”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [71]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“I would compare them to the savage dog-headed (kleb barnaš) who dwell beyond the Huns in the seventh-century Syriac Legend of Alexander 66 or the dirty and violent dog-headed race (kleb barnaš) who belong to the twenty-two kingdoms alongside Gog and Magog-the Unclean Nations-and who were imprisoned within the northern gates 67 by Alexander in the seventh-century Syriac Apocalypse of”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [66]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites [67]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites [68]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Regarding Zoroastrian literature, the three ninth/tenth-century Pahlavi texts all drew from this common and vast literary heritage that flourished until the early Islamic period and found a new lease on life in the epic of the Šāhnāme .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
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- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“It even seems that they dwell neither in Xwanirah nor in any of the six peripheral continents, as the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg has already devoted chapter 5 to a short description of the humanlike people who live in those continents .69”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [69]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
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- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“These literary traditions also likely circulated during the Westernized Parthian period and the successive Sasanian era, when the canonization of the Avesta led to the collection of texts from India and the Greek world according to the late Zoroastrian tradition .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
hedgedstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“The accounts of Sām and Rostam in particular talk of the dog-headed (sag-sar; ,)سگسار supple-legged (narm-pāy; )نرمپای whose legs are made of leather (pāy az davāl), and bozgūš ,)بوزگوش( which is probably a corrupted reading of bar-gūš )-theبرگوش( breast-eared in Pahlavi sources .74”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > an iRanian non-zoRoaStRian SouRce: the šāhnāme
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [74]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This positive attitude might be also the result of the didactic and gnomic nature of this text .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In the ninth chapter of the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg these people, with the exception of dwarfs, lose their glimmer of humanity and become as violent as the monstrous and half-human races that populate the exotic journeys and legends of Alexander and to which the Iranian account is probably indebted .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
hedgedstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“these races start to symbolize the obscure and chaotic outer world dominated by savagery and ignorance-a place where the civilizing light of Good Mazdean dēn had not yet reached .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Additional information
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This description probably drew from a widespread Classical Greek and Latin model to which the original Parthian composition of the text is even chronologically very close .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: The original Parthian composition of the Draxt ī āsūrīg is chronologically very close to the Classical Greek and Latin model.
In the paper
“dwarfs were also viewed as particularly smart and clever in the Greek world .60”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [60]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It is tempting to identify the land of witches in the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg 9:2 with Vaēkərəta/Kābul, meaning that at least the land of the breast-eyed and the breast-eared was located in Xwanirah .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
hedgedstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In fact, the main goal is to stress the goat's superiority over the palm tree through paradigms, for the author depicts the goat's milk as such a beneficial and mighty product that it is even able to humanize these monstrous races and connect them to human society .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“I suspect that the same taxonomic and encyclopedic nature of this chapter, which stands among a group of chapters briefly enumerating different types of animals, plants, and flowers, might be the reason for the absence of any information on their customs and behavior .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
hedgedstates a possible causeSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“I suggest that the difference between them depends not only on the choice of the sources but also on the literary genre to which they belong .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
hedgedstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“The only indication might be that the breast-eyed and the breast-eared dwell in the land of the witches (Phl .parīg; Av .pairikā-) .70”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [70]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
hedgedstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The eleventh-century epic Šāhnāme, which also draws on early Iranian mythical sources, refers to some of these races and may provide some supplementary information about the persistence of this topic in the very first centuries of the Islamic conquest .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > an iRanian non-zoRoaStRian SouRce: the šāhnāme
hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: The Šāhnāme draws on early Iranian mythical sources.
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“The Pahlavi commentary (zand) to this passage in the Pahlavi Vendidad 1:9 72 locates Vaēkərəta in Kābul while the witch Xnąθaitī (Av .pairikąm yąm xnąθaitī) becomes the witch-desire (Phl .parīg-kāmagīh) .73”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [72]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites [73]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“contrary to the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg, the headless with eyes and mouths in their breasts are described in the Syriac Alexander Romance as childlike and simple and with a certain humanity (they speak like men) .65”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [65]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In general, the accounts of the Šāhnāme seem to mirror those of the Pahlavi texts, in particular the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg, confirming that in the Sasanian and Early Islamic periods several different literary models existed on this topic .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > an iRanian non-zoRoaStRian SouRce: the šāhnāme
hedgedstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The Iranian world was acquainted with stories about half-human and monstrous races since the Achaemenid period, probably via Greek authors and travelers at the court of the Persian King of Kings .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > concluDing RemaRKS
hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“The dog-headed in particular are negatively depicted as bellicose and dirty mountainfolk, as in the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg, 77 and are even listed by Rostam among the real enemies of Iran, alongside Romans, Egyptians, people of Hāmāvarān (Himyar in Yemen), Chinese, and people of Māzandarān .78”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > an iRanian non-zoRoaStRian SouRce: the šāhnāme
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [77]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites [78]
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“though Classical sources describe them as ugly, hairy, and wild, they are not usually violent or aggressive against men (as noted above) .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper relies on this without support.
Legends about fabulous races in India or Africa circulated in Iran probably since Achaemenid times.
“Legends and stories about fabulous races that dwelt in India or in Africa circulated in Iran probably since the Achaemenid times”
The paper relies on this without support.
The extant Avestan texts do not refer to such races.
“Though the extant Avestan texts do not refer to such races,”
The paper relies on this without support.
The Draxt ī āsūrīg underwent a long period of oral transmission.
“It underwent a long period of oral transmission .”
The paper relies on this without support.
The Bundahišn's first compilation probably occurred in the late Sasanian period.
“It is not possible to date the first compilation, but it probably took place in the late Sasanian period .”
The paper relies on this without support.
The Šāhnāme draws on early Iranian mythical sources.
“The eleventh-century epic Šāhnāme, which also draws on early Iranian mythical sources, refers to some of these races”
The paper relies on this without support.
The original Parthian composition of the Draxt ī āsūrīg is chronologically very close to the Classical Greek and Latin model.
“to which the original Parthian composition of the text is even chronologically very close”
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > a lay SouRce: the ayāDgāR ī JāmāSpīg
“reflecting the most ancient Greek recension alpha of his homonymous romance (3:28) .”
§ Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition > Additional information
“Alexander Romance Cynocephali (Greek alpha recension, 3:38; Greek epsilon recension, 29:4) Acephali (Greek alpha recension, 3:38)”
Citations
Cites
Boyce, M. (1975) · BRILL eBooks · Cited by 288
Yarshater, E. (1983) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/chol9780521200929.014 · Cited by 130
Pomponius Mela's Description of the World
Casson, L., & Romer, F. E. (1999) · The Classical World · doi:10.2307/4352330 · Cited by 98
The History of Alexander the Great: being the Syriac version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes
Pseudo-Callisthenes, & Budge, E. A. W. (2012) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 77
Die syrische Apokalypse des Pseudo-Methodius
Reinink, G. J. (1993) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 62
Witches, Whores, and Sorcerers
Forrest, S. K. M. (2011) · University of Texas Press eBooks · doi:10.7560/726871 · Cited by 27
Myth and Reality in the Battle between the Pygmies and the Cranes in the Greek and Roman Worlds
Ovadiah, A., & Mucznik, S. (2017) · Gerión Revista de Historia Antigua · Cited by 27
Mito y realidad en la batalla entre los pigmeos y las grullas en el mundo griego y romano
Ovadiah, A., & Mucznik, S. (1970) · Gerión Revista de Historia Antigua · doi:10.5209/geri.56960 · Cited by 26
The complete text of the Pahlavi Dinkard
Madan, D. M. (1911) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 22
Pygmies and Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt
Dawson, W. R. (1938) · The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology · doi:10.2307/3854789 · Cited by 18
Research works printed but not linked: 16
- Edward William West, Pahlavi Texts, part 4 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892), 25-26, translation .
- Paul Allan Mirecki and Jason BeDuhn (Leiden: Brill, 2001), 181-99, at 186-188, edition and translation . 29 . See ibid ., 194-96, edition and translation .
- Three parallel passages are found in a Persian fragment listing the ten species of men (see Christian Bartholo- mae, Die Zendhandschriften der K. Hof-und Staatsbibliotek in München [München: Palm, 1915], 80), in the Persian Rivāyats of Hormazyar Framarz (see Ervad Bamanji Nusserwanji Dhabhar, The Persian Rivayats of Hormazyar Fra- marz and Others [Bombay: Cama Oriental Institute, 1932], 257), and in an incomplete Sogdian magic text, P 3 (see Émile Benveniste, Textes sogdiens [Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1940], 65, edition and translation) .
- For a historical study and edition of this book, see Domenico Agostini, Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg: Un texte escha- tologique zoroastrien (Rome: Gregorian and Biblical Press, 2013) .
- On the fabulous people in the Alexander Romance, see Richard Stoneman, "Romantic Ethnography: Central Asia and India in the Alexander Romance," The Ancient World 25 (1994): 93-107 .
- In the context of the circulation of this topic in the Early Islamic period through ʿajāʾib and encyclopedic literature, this monstrous race is already cited in the ninth-century Arabic Kitāb al-hayāwān (Book of the Animals) by al-Jāḥiẓ' in a corrupt Persian form, al-dawāl-bāy (see Natalia L . Tornesello, "From Reality to Legend: Historical Sources of Hellenistic and Islamic Teratology," Studia Iranica 31 [2002]: 163-92, at 165-66) . In the same work, Tornesello offers an outstanding comparison between the Iranian Islamic sources on monstrous and half-human people and Hellenistic literature . On the ʿajāʾib literature, see Travis Zadeh, "The Wiles of Creation: Philosophy, Fiction, and the 'Ajā'ib Tradition," Middle Eastern Literatures 13 (2010): 21-48 .
- See Elizabeth Hazelton Haight, The Life of Alexander of Macedon by Pseudo-Callisthenes (New York: Longmans, Green, 1955), 122, translation . See also Stoneman, "Romantic Ethnography," 95 . On the complicated transmission of the different recensions of the Greek text, see Stoneman, The Greek Alexander Romance (London: Penguin Books, 1991), 28-32;
- See Jürgen Trumpf, Vita Alexandri Regis Macedonum (Stuttgart: Teubner, 1974), 103, edition .
- See respectively Augustus Taber Murray, Homer: Iliad, 2 vols . (rev . by William F . Wyatt) (orig . ed . Cam- bridge, Mass .: Harvard Univ . Press, 1924), 128-29 (vol . , edition and translation; Rackham, Pliny, 522-23 (vol .
- Kiessling, Ionnis Tzetzae, 269, edition) .
- On Alexander's gate and its location, see Andrew Runni Anderson, "Alexander at the Caspian Gates," Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 59 (1928): 130-63 .
- See James Darmesteter, The Zend-Avesta: The Vendîdâd, part I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880), 7, transla- tion . On this great Iranian hero, see Prods Oktor Skjærvø, "Karsāsp," in Encyclopædia Iranica 15, ed . Ehsan Yar- shater (New York: Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, 2011), 601-7 .
- See Mahnaz Moazami, Wrestling with the Demons of the Pahlavi Widēwdād (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 34-35, edition and translation . 73 . Similarly, Bundahišn 31:17-18 locates the witch-desire in Kāwul, in Kāwulestān, as well as the demon- worship that Sām (in early tradition one of the names of Karsāsp) used to practice (see Pakzad, Bundahišn, 354-55, edition) .
- Djalal Khaleghi- Motlagh ("Bozgūš," in Encyclopædia Iranica 4, ed . Ehsan Yarshater [New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 2001], 425) suggests that here Māzandarān might also refer to the place located between India and the Warkaš Sea in the Draxt ī āsūrīg 89 .
- On the victory of the hero Frēdōn and the banishment of the people of Māzandarān from Xwanirah, see Dēnkard VII .1:26 (see Marijan Molé, La legende de Zoroastre selon les textes pehlevis [Paris: C . Klincksieck, 1967], 8-9, edition and translation), and Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg 4: 33-37 (see Agostini, Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg, 45-54, 96-99, edition and translation) .
- See Marijan Molé, "Garshâsp et les Sagsār," La Nouvelle Clio 3 (1951): 128-38, esp . 129-31;
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Criaturas híbridas de la Persia preislámica. Reflexiones y simbolismo
Garehkhani, Z. (2024) · ISIMU Revista sobre Oriente Próximo y Egipto en la antigüedad · doi:10.15366/isimu2023.26.005
Metadata
- Authors
- Agostini, D.
- Affiliations
- Tel Aviv University (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Agostini, Domenico
- ORCID
- Agostini, Domenico
- Venue
- Journal of the American Oriental Society
- Publisher
- American Oriental Society
- Published
- 2021-09-19
- Volume
- 139
- Issue
- 4
- ISSN
- 0003-0279 (ISSN-L)
- 2169-2289
- OpenAlex
- W2995068330
- Semantic Scholar
- 1fd87db119879fed75f5b331bd849a7f948e3011
- Cited by
- 1
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of the American Oriental Society (publishedVersion)
- ARCHIVIO ISTITUZIONALE DELLA RICERCA-UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "LORIENTALE" (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Eurasian Exchange Networks
- Keywords
- monstrous races, Iranian mythology, comparative mythology, Achaemenid period
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