Zurvan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zurvan is the name of a Persian deity (see Zurvan (Persian god)) and is also the name of a deity in several different religious systems:
- In Zurvanism (Zurvanite Zoroastrianism) as Zurwān, derived from the Avestan language word for 'Time'.
- In Manichaeism, where Zurvan is the Middle Persian name that Mani used in his Shapurgan to signify his "Father of Greatness" (Aramaic: Abbā dəRabbūṯā), the primordial deity of light.
- In Sogdian Buddhism, as ʔzrwʔ (where both instances of ʔ represent some vowel) referred to the high deity Brahmā.
- In Theosophy, which incorporated elements of Zurvanite Zoroastrianism.
In fiction:
- In Palladium Games, Zurvan is an Alien Intelligence from the fourth dimension, one member of an extradimensional species so powerful and beyond human understanding that they sometimes create gods as an experiment.
