The Iranian Dragon-slaying Myth: Dragons, the Avestan Saošiiant, and Possible Connections to the Iranian Water Goddess Anāhitā
Volume 1, No. 1; Special Issue: Nature in Ancient Iranian Arts and Texts; edited by Helen Giunashvili and Mohammad Amin Mirghaderi, November 2023, Pages 11-25
https://doi.org/10.22034/hunara.2023.173300
Manya Saadi-nejad
Abstract The myth of an archetypal hero, either divine or human, slaying a dragon-serpent who is most often blocking access to a body of water is very ancient. Various water-related rituals and their attendant myths arose out of the vital dependence of the prehistoric Indo-European peoples on rivers to maintain their way of life. “Killing a dragon” was a symbolic way of "freeing of the waters" and also exercising control over the potentially chaotic vicissitudes of flowing water. In performing this task, the dragon-slaying hero ensured fertility and thus the continued survival of his community. In light of the mythological connection between dragons and water, this paper considers whether dragon-slaying myths can be further connected to the Iranian water goddess, Arəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā and the Avestan saošiiant.