Ânâhitâ
Part 1
Aka: Anahit, Ardwisur, Aredvi Sura Anahita, Nahid

The ancient Persian water goddess, fertility goddess, mother goddess, and patroness of women, as well as a goddess of war. Her name means "the immaculate one". She is portrayed as a virgin, dressed in a golden cloak, and wearing a diamond tiara (sometimes also carrying a water pitcher). The dove and the peacock are her sacred animals.

Anahita is also represented dressed in gleaming gold with a crown and jewels. Anahita is often shown wearing a golden kerchief, square gold earrings, and a jeweled diadem, and wrapped in a golden-embroidered cloak adorned with thirty otter skins. (Otter is a four-legged mammal with short brown fur, which swims well and eats fish). Anahita is also portrayed and honored with offerings of green branches and white heifers. And she is sometimes depicted as driving a chariot drawn by four white horses, representing Wind, Rain, Clouds, and Hail. (A chariot was a two wheeled vehicle used in ancient times for racing and fighting and a horse used to pull it). Anahita currently appears in the World as a virgin girl bathing in a river, the singer that sings about the purity of the World, a hunter, a fashion model.

In Susa, south of Iran, mother goddess was worshiped at least since early 4th millennium BC, with numerous statuettes of her found in the area. The tradition of worshiping the mother goddess spilled over to Mesopotamia, where it continued for thousands of years to come.

The first Persian goddess of productivity, and values, Anahita, was widely worshiped in ACHAEMENIAN TIMES. Achaemenian Artaxerxes II who reigned from 404 Bc to 358 BC ordered that images of Anahita should be erected in all the principal cities of the Persian Empire. It is documented that many temples were also built in her honor in Susa or Shoosh (the first Persian federal capital), Ecbatana (city of Hamadaan located 400 km southwest of Tehran in present-day Iran), and in Babylon (about 110 km south of Baghdad in present-day Iraq). Later, Anahita was widely worshiped in various parts of Armenia, Asia Minor and the West. Armenians called out to Anahita as the "Great Lady Anahita, Nation Glory and Life-Giver, Mother of Sobriety, and Benefactor of Humanity".

Ritual prostitution occurred in Her temples in order to “purify the seed of males and the womb and milk of females,” according to Strabo. Armenians called out to Anahita “Great Lady Anahita, glory and life-giver of our nation, mother of sobriety, and benefactor of humanity.”

According to some Ancient scriptures, roots of Anahita goes back to Pre Vedai Era. Her following were strongest in Western Iran. She is the deification of the planet Venus. She is named the eternal virgin.



Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4...=1&theater