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Gherardo Gnoli Quotes (1937-2012)
About Gherardo Gnoli
Gherardo Gnoli (6 December 1937 in Rome β 7 March 2012 in Cagli) was a historian of Italian religions and Iran expert.
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βThe geographical framework of Vd. I is entirely that of eastern Iran.β
βVarena was identified by Henning with Buner, the Varnu of the MahΔmΔyΕ«rΔ«.β
βThe only possible identification of Airyana Vaejah must point to the great Hindukus mountain range.β
βZoroastrianism was born on a cultural and religious ground that is several centuries, even millennia old...β
β[Airyana VaΔjah... ]"the country is characterized, in the Vd.I context, by an advanced state of mythicization".β
βThe idea of a Turanian, or Scythian, or Chorasmian period of Zoroastrianism... should thus be definitely rejected.β
ββwe may consider that the northernmost regions where Zoroaster carried out his work were Bactria and Areiaβ. ...β
β[Gnoli identifies the sixteenth land, RaΞ·hΔ, as an β] eastern mountainous area, Indian or Indo-Iranian, hit by intense cold in winter.β
β[the Avesta reflects] βan historical situation in which Iranian elements exist side by side with β¦ Aryan or Proto-Indoaryan (elements)β. ...β
βAs a matter of fact all this is due to a persistent effort to make accounts work out at all costs according to the logic of a pre-established plan.β
βAll this gives Sistan a central role regarding the origins of Zoroastrianism, as it is almost presented to us as the Zoroastrian land par excellence.β
βAnd so we may conclude that Beneviste's theory, according to which... gave proof of the identity of Airyana Vaejah and Chorasmia ... is quite unacceptable.β
β[The horizon of the Avesta] βis according to Burrow, wholly eastern and therefore certainly earlier than the westward migrations of the Iranian tribes.β ...β
β...either they construct an antagonism of an essentially ethnic character... The first of these two hypotheses is not based on any sound arguments. On the contrary...β
βThis is one of the regions in our geographical horizon that probably witnessed the origins of Zoroastrianism: Sistan, and more precisely, the basin of the Hamun-i Helmand.β
βMount Hara, which in Iranian cosmography is the counterpart of Mount Meru in Indian cosmography, is clearly identifiable in the Mihr Yast with Paropamisos, Para-uparisaina.β
βnamely the entirely eastern character of the countries listed in the first chapter of the Vendidad, including Zoroastrian Raya, and the historical and geographical importance of that list.β
βAn hypothesis based on the comparison of Avestan and Vedic evidence appears to be much more convincing. ... There can be no doubt that in some cases the places or rivers are in effect the same.β
βThe first chapter of the Vendidad seems to give considerable support to a theory that attempts to reconstruct an active presencce of the Iranian tribes .... in territories such as eastern Iran...β
ββThe fact [is] that Avestan geography, particularly the list in Vd. I, is confined to the east,β ...[this list is] βremarkably important in reconstructing the early history of Zoroastrianismβ. ...β
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Gherardo Gnoli on Airyanem Vaejah
βThe only possible identification of Airyana Vaejah must point to the great Hindukus mountain range.β
Gherardo Gnoli on Avestan geography
βFor all that, the geographical horizon of the Avesta appears unitary and compact, without any sudden leaps from eastern countries to presumed western ones. Substantially it includes the regions Of modern Afghanistan..β
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Gherardo Gnoli on Medes 2 quotes
βThe Aryas who became part of the ethnic groups of the Medes and the Persians were none other than western branches of the Avestan Airyas who, in their westward migrations, had taken with them the name Aryan and so had extended, in a way, the boundaries of Ariana proper.β
About Gherardo Gnoli
Gherardo Gnoli (6 December 1937 in Rome β 7 March 2012 in Cagli) was a historian of Italian religions and Iran expert.