ディヴ

ディヴ（Persian: Dīv: دیو）とは、中東の伝承の中の怪物である。ディヴの多くはペルシャ神話に由来し、イスラム教と融合して、アルメニア、トルコ、アルバニアなどの周辺文化に広がった。イスラム教の正典には明記されていないが、他の超自然的な生き物と同じように、多くのイスラム教徒にその存在が受け入れられていた。ディヴの体格は人間のようだが巨大で、頭には２本の角があり、歯はイノシシの牙のようである、と言われている。強力で残忍、冷徹な彼らは、人肉の味を特に好む。ある者は石のような原始的な武器しか使わないが、より洗練されていて、鎧を身につけ、金属製の武器を使う戦士のような装備をしている者もいる。野暮ったい外見とは裏腹に、その肉体的な強さに加え、魔法で敵を打ち負かし、悪夢を送り込む魔術の使い手も少なくない。

ディヴの起源は、後にペルシアの宗教で悪魔化されたヴェーダの神々（デーヴァ）にあると思われるが、議論の余地がある。フェルドウスィーの10世紀の『シャー・ナーメ（王書）』では、ディヴはすでに、後の民話でおなじみの、ほぼ人間の形をした超自然的な力を持つ邪悪な存在であり、ディブは超自然的な強さと力を持つ醜い悪魔として描写されているが、それでも時には魔術師の命令に従わざるを得ないこともある。

歴史

Divs probably originate from the Avestan daevas, deities who share the same origin with Indian Deva (gods). It is unknown when and why the former deities turned into rejected gods or even demons. In the Gathas, the oldest Zorastrian text, they are not yet the evil creatures they will become, although, according to some scholarly interpretations, the texts do indicate that they should be rejected. Evident from Xph inscriptions, Xerxes I (reigned 486–465 BC) ordered the destruction of a sanctuary dedicated to Daivas and proclaimed that the Daeva shall not be worshipped. Therefore first opposition of Daeva can not be later than the reign of Xerxes. However, the original relation between Daeva and Persian religion remains up to debate. There might have been a pantheon with several types of deities, but while the Indians demonized the Asura and deified the Deva, the Persians demonized the Deva, but deified Asura in the form of Ahura Mazda.

In Middle Persian texts, they are already regarded as equivalent to demons. They are created by Ahriman (the devil) along with sorcerers and everything else that is evil. They roam the earth at night and bring people to ruin. During the advent of Islam in Persia, the term was used for both demonized humans and evil supernatural creatures. In the translations of Tabari's Tafsir, the term div was used to designate evil jinn, devils and Satan.

From this Persian origin, belief in Div entered Muslim belief. Abu Ali Bal'ami's work on the history of the world, is the oldest known writing including explicitly Islamic cosmology and the div. He attributes his account on the creation of the world to Wahb ibn Munabbih.

Evident from the epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE, that, by his day the div had become associated with the people of the Mazandaran of legend (which is not to be identified with the Iranian province of Mazandaran). While some div appear as supernatural sorcerers, many div appear to be clearly demonized humans, including black people, attributed with supernatural strength, but no supernatural bodily features. Some people continued to worship div in their rituals during the early Islamic period, known as "Daevayasna", although probably out of fear. People of Mazdaran might have been associated with such worship and therefore equated with these entities. Despite many div appear human in nature, there are also clearly supernatural div, like the White Div, who is said to be as huge as a mountain.