In Search of the Message of Srōš: Investigation of the Deity Srōš and his Iconography During the Sasanian Period

Srōš is a great Zoroastrian diviniy in the Avesta and Middle Persian texts. He functioned as a warrior and a fighter against evil, a high priest, and one of the judges of the soul in the afterlife. In the Avesta, four separate hymns are dedicated to Srōš, which implies his important position among the Zoroastrian divinities. The name of Srōš survived as a divine messenger in the Iranian literature of the Islamic period. However, Srōš’s name was missing in royal inscriptions, and his name did not appear among the pantheon of Iranian divinities in Greek, Roman and Syriac sources. Due to this absence, the status of Srōš in ancient Iran and his possible visual representation has not given due recognition or attention. In this paper, first the characteristics and functions of Srōš in Zoroastrian literature studies are described. Then, on the basis of Zoroastrian textual sources, and Srōš’s status and iconographic evidence in pre-Sasanian Iran and in eastern Iran, and his possible visual representation is investigated during Sasanian period. The results of this study indicate that Srōš was probably depicted both anthropomorphically (charioteer motif) and non-anthropomorphically (the rooster and ear motif), and these images were inspired by Zoroastrian beliefs