'''ウルスラグナ'''(Vərəθraγna)とは、ゾロアスター教において崇拝される英雄神。
'''Verethragna''' ({{lang-ae|𐬬𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬖𐬥𐬀}} ''{{lang|ae-Latn|vərəθraγna}}'') is an [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian]] deity.<ref name="Kuehn2011">{{cite book|author=Sara Kuehn|title=The Dragon in Medieval East Christian and Islamic Art: With a Foreword by Robert Hillenbrand|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZWgdBCgmLYC|date=12 July 2011|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-18663-7|page=103}}</ref><ref name="Fragner1995">{{cite book|author=Bert G. Fragner|title=Proceedings of the Second European Conference of Iranian Studies: Held in Bamberg, 30th September to 4th October 1991, by the Societas Iranologica Europaea|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-y46AQAAMAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente}}</ref>
The neuter noun ''verethragna'' is related to Avestan ''verethra'', 'obstacle' and ''verethragnan'', 'victorious'.{{sfn|Gnoli|1989|p=510}} Representing this concept is the divinity Verethragna, who is the [[Hypostasis (linguistics)|hypostasis]] of "victory", and "as a giver of victory Verethragna plainly enjoyed the greatest popularity of old."{{sfn|Boyce|1975|p=63}} In Zoroastrian Middle Persian, Verethragna became 𐭥𐭫𐭧𐭫𐭠𐭭 Warahrām, from which Vahram, Vehram, Bahram, Behram and other variants derive.
The word is cognate with the [[Vedic Sanskrit]]. The Vedic god [[Indra]] may correspond to Verethragna<!-- (Benveniste & Renou, Charpentier, de Manesce) --> of the Zoroastrian Avesta as the Vedic vr̥tragʰná-, which is predominantly an epithet of Indra, corresponds to the noun verethragna-.
The name and, to some extent, the deity was borrowed into [[Armenian mythology|Armenian]] Վահագն [[Vahagn]] and Վռամ ''Vṙam''<!-- (Hübschmann, Widengren, Humbach) -->, and has cognates in [[Sogdian language|Buddhist Sogdian]] 𐫇𐫢𐫄𐫗 ''wšɣn w(i)šaɣn''<!-- (Henning, Boyce) -->, [[Parthian language|Manichaen Parthian]] 𐭅𐭓𐭉𐭇𐭓𐭌 ''wryḥrm Wahrām''<!--(Waldschmidt/Lenz)-->, [[Bactrian language|Kushan Bactrian]] ορλαγνο ''Orlagno''<!-- (Maricq, Rosenfield) -->.<ref>{{cite web |title=Orlagno, British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG132106 |website=www.britishmuseum.org}}</ref> While the figure of ''Verethragna'' is highly complex, parallels have also been drawn between, [[Puranic]] [[Vishnu]]<!-- (Charpentier, [[Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin]]) -->, [[Manichaean]] ''Adamas''<!--(Waldschmidt/Lenz)-->, Chaldean/Babylonian [[Nergal]]<!-- (Zaehner, Cumont et al.) -->, [[Ancient Egyptian religion|Egyptian]] [[Horus]]<!-- Cochrane -->, [[Ancient Greek religion|Hellenic]] [[Ares]] and [[Heracles]]<!-- (Bickermann, Duchesne-Guillemin, Girshmann) -->.
==In scripture==
===In the ''Bahram Yasht''===
''[[Yasht]] 14'', the hymn of praise to Verethragna, "though ill-preserved, contains what seem very archaic elements".{{sfn|Boyce|1975|p=63}} There, ''Verethragna'' is described as "the most highly armed" (''Yasht'' 14.1), the "best equipped with might" (14.13), with "effervescent glory" (14.3), has "conquering superiority" (14.64), and is in constant battle with men and daemons (14.4, 14.62).
''Verethragna'' is not exclusively associated with military might and victory. So, for instance, he is connected with sexual potency and "confers virility" (''Yasht'' 14.29), has the "ability to heal" (14.3) and "renders wonderful". The ''Yasht'' begins with an enumeration of the ten forms in which the divinity appears: As an impetuous wind (14.2-5); as an armed warrior (14.27) and as an adolescent of fifteen (14.17); and in the remaining seven forms as animals: a bull with horns of gold (14.7); a white horse with ears and a muzzle of gold (14.9); a camel in heat (14.11-13); a boar (14.15); a bird of prey (''veregna'', 14.19-21); a ram (14.23); and a wild goat (14.25). Many of these incarnations are also shared with other divinities, for instance, the youth, the bull and the horse are also attributed to [[Tishtrya]]. Likewise, the bird, the camel and the wind to ''[[Vayu-Vata]]'', another member of the Zoroastrian pantheon associated with martial victory.
===In other texts===
Together with ''[[Chista|Čistā]]'', ''Verethragna'' is a principal companion of [[Mithra]] (''Mihr Yasht'' 10.70). Several sections of the ''Bahram Yasht'' also appear in hymns dedicated to other divinities, but it is rarely possible to determine in which direction those sections were copied.
The identification of Verethragna as a boar in ''Yasht'' 14 led Ilya Gershevitch to identify Dāmōiš Upamana – a boar in the Avestan hymn to Mithra – to be an alter-ego of Verethragna.<ref>{{harvnb|Gershevitch|1959|pp=166–169}}; pro {{harvnb|Gnoli|1989|p=511}}; contra {{harvnb|Boyce|1975|loc=p. 83, n. 416}}</ref>
==In culture and tradition==
[[Image:Bistoon Kermanshah.jpg|thumb|[[Statue of Hercules in Behistun]], dedicated in the name of "Herakles Kallinikos" (Ἡρακλῆν
Καλλίνικον, "Hercules glorious in victory") by a [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] governor in 148 BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Visscher |first1=Marijn S. |title=Beyond Alexandria: Literature and Empire in the Seleucid World |year=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-005908-8 |page=75, note 26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4yntDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA75 |language=en}}</ref> Some have interpreted it as an [[Hellenistic]]-era depiction of Verethragna as [[Heracles]].{{sfn|Gnoli|Jamzadeh|1988|pp=510–514}} [[Kermanshah]], [[Iran]].{{sfn|Gnoli|Jamzadeh|1988|pp=510–514}}]]
===In the Zoroastrian hierarchy===
In the Zoroastrian hierarchy of divinities, Bahram is a helper of ''Asha Vahishta'' (Avestan, middle Persian: ''Ardvahisht''), the [[Amesha Spenta]] responsible for the luminaries. In the [[Zoroastrian calendar]] instituted during the late [[Achaemenid dynasty|Achaemenid era]] (648–330 BCE), the twentieth day of the month is dedicated to Bahram (''Siroza'' 1.20).
In the later middle Persian texts ''Bahram'' is especially venerated as one of the [[Amesha Spenta]]s, effectively giving him the high rank for his success in driving back [[Angra Mainyu]]{{sfn|de Menasce|1948|p=5-18}}{{sfn|Gnoli|1989|p=513}}
===As the name of a planet===
[[File:Ancient Parthian relief carving of the god Nergal from Hatra.jpg|thumb|Syncretic [[Parthian art|Parthian]] relief carving of Bahram (Nergal) from Hatra in [[Iraq]], dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD]]
In the astronomical and calendrical reforms of the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] (224-651 CE), the planet [[Mars]] was named Bahram. Zaehner attributes this to the syncretic influences of the [[Chaldea]]n astral-theological system, where Babylonian [[Nergal]] is both the god of war and the name of the red planet.{{sfn|Zaehner|1955|p=147–}} (see also: "Fatalistic" [[Zurvanism]]).
===In the name of a class of fire===
According to Boyce, the present-day expression ''[[atar|Atash]]-Behram'' as the name of the most sacred class of fires is a confusion of the adjectival "Victorious Fire" with "Fire of Bahram"{{sfn|Boyce|1982|p=222–}} The former is the way it appears in Middle Persian inscriptions such as the [[Kartir]] inscription at ''Kabah-i Zardusht'', while the latter is what is now understood by the term ''Atash-Behram''. Gnoli attributes the change to natural misunderstanding "abetted in Islamic times by a progressive decay in Zoroastrian priestly teaching"{{sfn|Gnoli|1989|p=512}}
===In art and iconography===
[[File:Kanishka I with god Orlagno.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Kushan]] ruler [[Kanishka I]] with god ''Orlagno'' (Verethragna).]]
The only evidence of a cult appears in the first century account of [[Strabo]], who reports, probably on authority of [[Nearchus]], that the [[Carmania (region)|Carmanians]] worshipped a divinity of victory (''Geographika'', 15.2.14). That this was Bahramb / Verethragna is unlikely if, as per Strabo, he was their "only god."{{Citation needed|date=April 2015}} However, the account does reveal that divinities of war were known to the people who were not of the Iranian plateau, evidence for which also comes from [[Herodotus]] (4.59.62).
Under the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucids]] (330–150 BCE) and [[Parthia|Arsacids]] (250 BCE–226 CE), that is, in the Empires influenced by Hellenic culture, ''Verethragna'' was both identified as [[Ares]] and associated with [[Heracles]], and given the Greek name ''Artagnes''.{{sfn|Duchesne-Guillemin|1984}} This syncretism is well attested in statuary and iconography, most notably in that of the inscription of [[Antiochus I Theos of Commagene]], in which all three names occur together.
That Bahram was considered the patron divinity of travelers is perhaps reflected by the life-size rock sculpture of the divinity on the main highway at Behistun. There Bahram reclines with a goblet in his hand, a club at his feet, and a lion-skin beneath him.
In the early Sasanian period Bahram is still represented as the Greek Heracles. In the relief of [[Ardeshir I]] at Naqs-e Rajab III,{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} Bahram appears as one of the two smaller figures between [[Ahura Mazda]] and the king. There, he has a lion's skin in his left hand and brandishes a club in his right. The other small figure – who appears to be paying homage to Bahram – is the future king [[Bahram I]].
Bahram also appears as wings, or as a bird of prey, in the crowns of the Sasanian kings. This iconography first appears in the crown of [[Bahram II]] which also bears the name of the divinity. A similar image is adopted by [[Peroz I|Peroz]] (whose name also means 'victorious') as well as by [[Khosrau II|Khosrau Parwez]] (again, Parwez meaning 'ever-victorious'). Similarly, boar and eagle heads on caps crown the heads of princes. Boar figures are widespread in Sasanian art, appearing in everything from textiles to stucco and in silver ornaments, coins, and seals. Other animal motifs have been found that recall the aspects of Bahram (see the ten forms of Bahram [[#In the Avesta|in the Avesta]], above). The bird motif on Sasanian-era fire altars are also believed to represent Bahram.
===As the name of kings===
Bahram was the name of six [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] kings:
* [[Bahram I]], ''r.'' 271–274. Son and successor of [[Shapur I]]
* [[Bahram II]], ''r.'' 274–293. Son and successor of Bahram I
* [[Bahram III]], ''r.'' 293. Son and successor of Bahram II
* [[Bahram IV]], ''r.'' 388–399. Son and successor of [[Shapur III]]
* [[Bahram V]], ''r.'' 420–438. Son and successor of [[Yazdegerd I]]
* [[Bahram Chobin]], ''r.'' 590 - 591. Successor of [[Hormizd IV]]
==In Avestan scholarship==
[[File:Bamiyan boar, symbol of the Mazdean god if victory Verethragna (Rowland, The Art of Central Asia, p.89).jpg|thumb|A boar in a frescoe at [[Bamiyan Buddhas|Bamiyan]], symbol of the Mazdean god of victory Verethragna. 6th-7th century CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rowland |first1=Benjamin|page=89 |title=The art of Central Asia |date=1975 |publisher=New York, Crown |url=https://archive.org/details/artofcentralasia00rowl/page/89/mode/2up}}</ref>]]
The interpretation of the divinity was once one of the more widely debated fields in Zoroastrian scholarship since the theories of origin reflected a radical revolution in ethical, moral and religious values.{{sfn|Boyce|1975|p=62-64}}
Primarily because the Avestan adjective ''verethragnan'' ('victorious') had a corresponding Vedic term ''vrtrahan'' where it appeared "preponderantly [as] a qualification of Indra", Zoroastrians and Hindus accept that {{sfn|Benveniste|Renou|1934}}{{page needed|date=July 2017}} in Indo-Iranian times there existed the warrior god ''Indra'' and that Avestan ''Verethragna'' might be analogous to that divine figure. The Sanskrit cognate of Verethragna is Vritraghna, which is an epithet for [[Indra]] in Vedic literature, and he too is the destroyer of "[[Vritra]]", an Asura whose name literally means obstacle.
But western scholars oppose this identification. In the Avesta, it is the hero warrior-priest ''[[Fereydun]]'' who battles the serpent ''[[Zahhak|Aži Dahāka]]'' (which, for the virtue of 'Azi' being cognate with Sanskrit 'Ahi', snake, is – by proponents of the theory - associated with Vedic [[Vritra]]<!--, although it remains unclear why those two and not any other Azi, or for that matter, Vedic ''ahi budhnya'', should be related -->). One Western scholar claims that, in the Vedas, the epithet 'hero' (''sura'') is itself almost exclusively reserved for ''Indra'', while in the Avesta it is applied to ''Thraetaona'' and other non-divine figures. The term "victorious" is not restricted to ''Verethragna'', but is also a property of a number of other figures, both divine and mortal, including ''Thraetaona''. Then, while in the Vedas it is ''Indra'' who discovers [[Soma (drink)|Soma]], in the Avesta, it is humans who first press [[Haoma]] and ''Thraetaona'' is attributed with being the "inventor of medicine". In the Vedas, ''Indra'' strikes with ''[[vajra]]'', but in the Avesta ''vazra'' is [[Mithra]]'s weapon.
Attempts to resolve these objections led to the development of another theory, in which, in addition to the pre-historical divinity of victory, there was also a dragon-slaying hero ''Indra''. Then, while the Iranians retained the figures independently of one another, the Indians conflated the two (leaving an echo in the character of ''Trita Aptya'').
This theory too had its problems, in particular the fact that ''Indra'' was already evidently a divine figure, and not a man, in [[Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni|the Mittani treaties]], where he appears in the company of [[Mitra (Vedic)|Mitra]] and [[Varuna]]. That again raises more questions since the treaties echo the [[Rig Veda]]'s invocation of all three as protectors of contract, again, not a property associated with ''Verethragna''.
However, as Benveniste and Renou demonstrated, many of the objections to the first theory could be negated if the evidence were reviewed in light of the fact that the principal feature of ''Verethragna'' was not to slay noxious creatures but to overcome obstacles (''verethra''), in particular to unblock the flow of [[Aban|''apas'']], the waters, the holiest of the elements.{{sfn|Benveniste|Renou|1934|p=182}}
Paul Thieme agreed with this principal feature, but clarified that while the wealth of archaic elements in the ''Bahram Yasht'' clearly point to the pre-Zoroastrian era, the interpretation of proper names is "highly conjectural", and "in no case do we get a decisive argument against their Indo-Aryan or old Indic character"{{sfn|Thieme|1960|p=302}} <!-- Since "Vedic Indra must be distinguished from a presumable Proto-Aryan ''*Indra'' [of the Mittani treaties]" (302), "we may go so far as to say that the Avestan ''Vərəθraγna'' in his role as the fighting companion of ''Miθra'' is the equivalent of the Vedic Indra in his role as the helper of the ''Adityas''. This does not necessarily mean that ''Vərəθraγna'' has taken the place of Proto-Aryan ''*Indra''; it may just as well mean that Vedic Indra has replaced a Proto-Aryan ''Vərəθraγna''." (312) --> Adopting "the exact linguistic and exegetic analysis" of Benveniste and Renou, Thieme concludes "Proto-Aryan ''*Indra'' has assumed the functions of a Proto-Aryan god ''*Vrtraghna''." Noting that ''Vrtrahan'' is the name of Indra only in the later Sanskrit texts (but not in the Rig Veda), Thieme adds "there is no valid justification for supposing that the Proto-Aryan adjective ''*vrtraghan'' was specifically connected with ''*Indra'' or any other particular god."{{sfn|Thieme| 1960|p=312-313}}
==See also==
*[[Indra]]
*[[Vritra]]
<!--Drawing attention to the fact that ''Indra'' is specifically named as a demon in both the Avesta (''Vendidad'' 10.9) and also in later middle Persian texts (e.g. ''Bundahishn'' 21.6), Boyce adds that it is preferable to see individual developments rather than elements inherited from a different past.--><!-- Indra=Demon is noted at 1975:62-64, but ref for "preferable etc" (Boyce, 1975:283) is wrong. -->
== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{citation|title=Vrtra et Vrθragna|last1=Benveniste |first1=Émile |last2=Renou |first2=Louis |name-list-style=amp |year=1934|location=Paris|publisher=Imprimerie Nationale}} <!-- as cited in Boyce et al. -->
* {{citation|last=Boyce|first=Mary|title=History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. I, The early period|year=1975|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=90-04-10474-7}}
* {{citation|last=Boyce|first=Mary|author-link=Mary Boyce|title=History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. II, Under the Achamenians| year=1982|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=90-04-06506-7}}
* {{citation|title=Religion of ancient Iran|author=[[Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin]]|year=1973|location=Bombay|publisher=Tata Press}} <!--Originally published as ''La religion de l'Iran ancien'' (1962). -->
* {{citation|title=The destiny of the warrior|last=Dumezil|first=Georges|year=1970|location=Chicago|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=0-226-16970-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/destinyofwarrior00dume}}
* {{citation|chapter=Bahram in old and middle Iranian texts|last=Gnoli|first=Gherardo|title=Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume=3|year=1989|location=New York|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|pages=510–513}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | article = Bahrām (Vərəθraγna) | last1 = Gnoli |first1 = G. |last2 = Jamzadeh |first2 = P. | author-link = | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahram-1 | editor-last = | editor-first = | editor-link = | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 5 | pages = 510–514 | location = | publisher = | year = 1988 | isbn = }}
<!-- * {{cite book|last=Puhvel|first=Jaan|title=Comparative Mythology|year=1989|location=Baltimore|isbn=0-8018-3938-6|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press}} -->
* {{citation|last=Lommel|first=Herman|title=Der arische Kriegsgott|year=1939|location=Frankfurt/Main|publisher=Klostermann}}
* {{citation|title=The 'Aryan' Gods of the Mitanni Treaties|last=Thieme|first=Paul|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=80|issue=4|year=<!--Oct-Dec-->1960|pages=301–317|doi=10.2307/595878|jstor=595878}}
* {{cite book|last=West|first=Edward William|author-link=Edward William West|chapter=Marvels of Zoroastrianism: The Bahman Yasht|year=1880|editor-last=Müller|editor-first=Friedrich Max|editor-link=Max Müller|title=[[Sacred Books of the East|SBE]] |volume=5|publisher=OUP|location=Oxford}}
* {{citation|last=Zaehner|first=Richard Charles|title=Zurvan, a Zoroastrian dilemma|year=1955|publisher=Clarendon|location=Oxford|isbn=0-8196-0280-9}}
{{refend}}
== 概要 ==