Zam
| Zam | |
|---|---|
Mother of Earth | |
Painting of the Earth God and the Moon god in the Manichaeism | |
| Other names | Zam, Zamin |
| Avestan | Zam 𐬰𐬆𐬨 |
| Affiliation | The Thirty-Three Deities, Guardians of the Days of the Month, Four Elements |
| Symbol | Soil |
| Sacred flower | Lemon balm |
| Attributes | The Source of all Given, the Virtuous, The Pure and The Eternal, The Holy |
| Day | 28th of each month in the Iranian calendar |
| Gender | Female |
| Festivals | Paitishahem |
| Associated deities | Spenta Armaiti, Ameretat, Asman |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek | Gaia |
| Roman | Terra |
| Indian | Prithvi |
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Zam (Avestan: 𐬰𐬆𐬨) is the Avestan language term for the Zoroastrian concept of "earth", in both the sense of land and soil and in the sense of the world. The earth is viewed as a primordial element in Zoroastrian tradition, and represented by a minor divinity, Zam, who is the hypostasis of the "earth". The word itself, changed to Zamin in Modern Persian, is cognate to the Baltic Zemes, Slavic Zem, Serbian Zemlja, Greco-Thracian Semele, meaning the planet Earth, as well as soil.
The element zam exists with the same meaning in Middle Persian, which is the language of the texts of Zoroastrian tradition. The divinity Zam, however, appears in the later language as Zamyad, which is a contraction of Zam Yazad, i.e. the yazata Zam.
Zam of the earth is not related to the Zam of the Shahnameh. That Zam—Zahhak-e-Maar-Doosh (Aži Dahāka in Avestan, Azhdshak in Middle Persian)—is the king of dragons, who slew Jamshid.