Ancient Eastern-Iranian Culture

Abstract

It is only possible to estimate the time of the birth of Iranian culture by analogy with the literatures and cultures of other Indo-European peoples; for there is a complete absence of written documents dating from the time when the Aryans settled in Iran and built up their first centres of culture and civilisation. Even the Indians were unacquainted with the art of writing for a long time after their advent in India and, like them, the Iranian Aryans entrusted the fruits of their minds only to the memory and handed them down by word of mouth from generation to generation. Works of popular origin such as songs, proverbs, riddles, myths and sagas were not written down and underwent many changes in the course of oral transmission. Social development was determined by the transition from nomadic sheep-farming to cattle-breeding and agriculture and eventually crystallised into a three-class system which was maintained for many centuries to come. These classes were the priesthood, whose sole task it was to occupy itself with matters of religion; the nobility, viz. princes, tribal leaders and warriors; and finally the peasantry, who found a subsistence in stock-farming and the cultivation of the soil. Later on a class of artisans and merchants developed, referred to in the Avesta as hūtai. Slavery had existed in Iran since time immemorial, the slaves being members of subjugated races and, above all, prisoners of war. The Avesta mentions land servants and distinguishes two classes of these: the first lived permanently in their master’s house (the Vaēsas), the others worked on the farms as labourers, earned a daily wage and were known as Pairyaētars (‘itinerants’). The Avestan Vidēvdāt states that the fee for the ritual cleansing of a servant was lower than that for the farmer and his wife, but higher than that for the farmer’s children. Religion was a matter of the highest importance, for its servants and dignitaries ordered ex professo not only the relations between man and God but also between man and his neighbour.