![]() James Slotkin’s study was published in an anthropological journal, but it is only a brief collection of non-Iranian and Iranian sources to show that there have been societies without an incest taboo. 200-1).Īnthropological studies are few and of limited value. In the mid-19th century, Jakob Polak observed consanguineous marriages and noted that he observed no deleterious effects of such unions (1865, I, pp. Adam Olearius (1603-71), for instance, who traveled in Persia in the years 1635-39, mentions the levirate, but was unable to confirm the claim of the Classical authors that sons would “meddle with” their mothers, or brothers with sisters (VI, p. Travelers’ accounts provide little information. On the South- and East-Asian sources, see Silk, 2008a-c. 36-39 (very brief survey of the Iranian data the Pahlavi texts are cited from West later editions and translations are ignored). On the Arabic sources, see Gray, 1915, p. (Cumont) and from Roman Egypt, see Hopkins, and Scheidel, 1966, and 2005 (further refs., p. On the evidence for next-of-kin marriages in documents from Dura Europos dated 344 Seleucid era = 32-33 C.E. On the Syriac sources, see de Menasce, 1938, pp. On Roman law in late Antiquity, see Chadwick and Lee. 424-32 Bucci and Olalla García (comparing the Pahlavi and Classical sources). 457a Beck in Boyce, Grenet, and Beck, pp. On the Classical sources, see Moulton, 1913, p. 167-204 (translations of the Rivāyats need updating). For Sasanian law, see de Menasce, 1962, pp. On the Sasanians, see Christensen, 1944, pp. On the Seleucids and Parthians, see Anahit Perikhanian, p. On the Achaemenids, see Boyce, 1982, passim Brosius (with critical review of the sources: Cambyses, pp. 417, 472 Bucci (footnote 1) contains a comprehensive bibliography. For the mythology, see, e.g., Yarshater, pp. 126-37, and Shaked’s brief, but pertinent, remarks (pp. See also the commentary in Williams, 1990, II, pp. Good modern surveys with discussions are Macuch, 1991 (the most comprehensive) Herrenschmidt, 1994 and d’Arx. 252-56 and the standard handbooks on Zoroastrianism (e.g., Boyce, 1975, p. 434-37 (with references to earlier literature) Gray, 1915 Dalla Volta, chap. Surveys and brief references include Friedrich Spiegel, 1855, p. West’s “The Meaning of Khvêtûk-das or Khvêtûdâd,” in idem, 1882, pp. Most of the Pahlavi texts concerning xwēdōdah were gathered with comments in Edward W. There are few in-depth studies, and most modern reference works cover the topic summarily (e.g., Asmussen, p. 85-90 see below for additional references). 80 of the Dēnkard, which purports to be an ēhrbed’s answer to a Jew’s questions about the xwēdōdah and contains a lengthy discussion of the meaning of the term (ed. 8 of the Pahlavi Rivāyat accompanying the Dādestān ī dēnīg (ed. The longest Pahlavi texts on xwēdōdah are chap. 366-68), it was rare for a Parsi to marry out of the family marriage between cousins (a marriage made in heaven) was both practical and normal, while incestuous marriage was illegal. When Anquetil Duperron visited the Parsis in the mid-18th century, he was told the term referred to marriage with cousins (see below), and, according to James Darmesteter (1891, pp. ![]() 367 Givens and Hirschman Herrenschmidt, 1994 Bittles et al., p. In the post-Sasanian Zoroastrian literature, xwēdōdah is said to refer to marriages between cousins, which have always been relatively common (see Polak, I, pp. Evidence from Dura Europos, however, combined with that of the Jewish and Christian sources citing actual cases under the Sasanians, strengthen the evidence of the Zoroastrian texts. To what extent xwēdōdah was practiced in Sasanian Iran and before, especially outside the royal and noble families (“dynastic incest”) and, perhaps, the clergy, and whether practices ascribed to them can be assumed to be characteristic of the general population is not clear (see, e.g., Mitterauer, pp. The meaning and function of the Avestan term is not clear from the contexts. The models for these unions were found in the Zoroastrian cosmogony. xᵛaētuuadaθa) is said to refer to marital unions of father and daughter, mother and son, or brother and sister (next-of-kin or close-kin marriage, nuclear family incest), and to be one of the most pious actions possible. In Zoroastrian Middle Persian (Pahlavi) texts, the term xwēdōdah (Av. ![]()
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