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Persia · Vendidad, Fargard 2

Yima's underground shelter

EvidenceDocumentedThe text exists and is quoted from a published translation. What it describes is a separate question.What this means
ReferenceVendidad, Fargard 2
WrittenAvesta, oral from c. 1000 BCE; written c. 500 BCE–500 CE
SetThe first king, before a killing winter
There are uncreated lights and created lights. There the stars, the moon, and the sun are only once (a year) seen to rise and set, and a year seems only as a day.

Translation: Darmesteter, 1880 · About the translator

Read it literally

Ahura Mazda warns Yima of deadly winters and tells him to build an enclosure holding the seeds of the best people, animals and plants, lit by made lights. A vault that survived the reset.

What scholars say

Zoroastrian scripture. The Vara is often compared to Noah's Ark.

Looks like technology Strange time
People and places hereNoah

Quick answers about Vendidad, Fargard 2

Where is Vendidad, Fargard 2 found?

Vendidad, Fargard 2 (Persia). Translation quoted: James Darmesteter, The Zend-Avesta Part I: The Vendidad, SBE 4 (1880).

When was Vendidad, Fargard 2 written?

Avesta, oral from c. 1000 BCE; written c. 500 BCE–500 CE.

What do scholars say about Vendidad, Fargard 2?

Zoroastrian scripture. The Vara is often compared to Noah's Ark.

Rabbit holes in this passage

PersonYima (Jamshid) and the VaraWarned of killing winters, the first king of the Iranian tradition built an underground enclosure and filled it with the seeds of the finest people, animals and plants. Inside, the sun and stars rise and set only once a year; some speculative readers say that matches the far north. What was this refuge really describing?

Sources

  1. James Darmesteter, The Zend-Avesta Part I: The Vendidad, SBE 4 (1880)Primary text
  2. Vendidad, Fargard 2, trans. James Darmesteter, Sacred Books of the East vol. 4 (1880)Primary text

Scholarly dates are rounded. The wording follows the named public-domain translation.

Updated