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Title: The Legend of the flood in Zoroastrian Tradition
Author(s): MOAZAMI, Mahnaz
Journal: Persica
Volume: 18    Date: 2002   
Pages: 55-74
DOI: 10.2143/PERS.18.0.492

Abstract :
Similar to the biblical account of the flood (Genesis 6.1-9. 18.), the Akkadian Epic of Atra-Ḫasīs, the Babylonian Epic of Gilgameš, and the Indian tale of Manu, the Legend of the Flood is told in Zoroastrian literature. In the Iranian legend, however, the affliction is a plague from the Evil Spirit, the killer winter.
The most complete account of the story of Jam is given in the second chapter of the Vidēvdād, a part of the Avesta, the sacred book of the Zoroastrians. The general subject of Vidēvdād is the rules of religious purity but it also contains some mythical and legendary narratives of old Iranian traditions such as the myth of Jam (Av. Yima), king of the Golden Age.

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