Anahita Painting

The Temple of Anahita in Kangavar is Iran’s largest stone structure after Persepolis. Thought to have been built around 200 BCE or earlier, this UNESCO World Heritage Site was dedicated to Anahita. Anahita was Goddess of the Milky Way, water, and all rivers on Earth. Anahita is an old Goddess, "probably existing in some form prior to the 3rd millennium BCE when ancient Persian religion developed in the region of Greater Iran (the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia). The Indo-Iranians (Aryans) who eventually settled in Persis had been part of a larger migratory group which included the Indo-Aryans who would settle northern India, and at this time, Anahita and the Hindu goddess Saraswati (presiding over knowledge, learning, music, and wisdom) were probably the same deity." In the Zoroastrian scriptures, Ahura Mazda, the new head God, prays and sacrifices to Anahita in order to win her favor to spread his religion (source). This seems to contradict the Zoroastrian claim that Ahura Mazda created all of the deities out of his essence. In Zoroastrain scriptures, Anahita is described as wearing a cloak is made from 300 beavers, possibly indicating a more northerly origin. Her arms are strong and the size of a horse's thigh (source). Through time, Anahita was demoted from Goddess to angel in Zoroastrianiam, and her appearance changes in artwork of later times. In my painting, the ghost of Anahita is based on a rock relief at Taq-e Bostan created around 400 CE. The reliefs are adjacent to sacred springs that empty into a large reflecting pool at the base of a mountain cliff, at a campground along the Silk Road, about 75 miles west of the Temple of Anahita at Kangavar. Also in my painting, the girl taking a selfie in the ruins of Anahita's temple is from an article about online dating saving Zoroastrianism - which is closed to new converts. I'm still reading about Anahita. Her connection to the first embers of monotheism, her evolution through time, and her connections to other Eurasian Goddesses. She's complicated. And sometimes she has wings.