Atar

The Sacred Fire

Domain: Fire, Purity & Truth
Alignment: Lawful Good
Element: Fire
Relics of Power: Unquenchable Ember

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The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Persians (Zoroastrians)

Region

Persia (modern Iran)

Period

c. 1500 BC – 650 AD

The Persian deities belong to Zoroastrianism, the faith of the ancient Persian Empire, founded on the teachings of Zarathustra. Centered on the cosmic struggle between good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Angra Mainyu), it influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is still practiced by Zoroastrian communities in Iran and India (the Parsis).

In the fire temples, priests keep sacred flames that have burned for centuries — the one in Yazd, Iran, for over 1,500 years. Nowruz, the Persian new year at the spring equinox, and Yalda night, at the winter solstice, celebrate the victory of light over darkness.

At a glance

Ātar is both fire and a divine figure in Zoroastrian texts; its history must be read in layers rather than as one continuous biography. The Avesta calls fire the son of Ahura Mazda in a formula in Yasna 62, while the Zamyad Yasht places Ātar in the episode of royal glory (xᵛarənah): facing Aži Dahāka, he first draws back his hands when the serpent threatens to put out his flame, and then threatens the serpent in turn until it too draws back. The text does not say that Ātar kills the dragon. The Middle Persian Bundahišn tells another tradition: five kinds of fire, three fires of special standing, and travelers crossing on the ox Sarsaok with fires at three points on its platform; wind drops the hearth into the sea, but the flames again light the passage. These are neither episodes in one scene nor parts of the same textual layer. Yasna 6.3 includes Fire among the beings worshipped with Rapithwina, Fradat-fshu, and Zantuma, and classifies this group as holy lords of the ritual order. This study distinguishes Avestan text, commentary and Pahlavi narrative, cult history, and modern interpretation. It does not assign Vedic Agni’s narratives to Ātar or present academic conjecture as consensus.

20 min read · Reviewed on October 14, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The flame, the fire altar, the ember and the rising smoke

Family

Parents

Ahura Mazda

Atar

Genealogy according to Zamyad Yasht 19.46–51 e Ātaš Niyāyišn 7 (= Yasna 62.1), fórmula litúrgica “Ātar, filho de Ahura Mazda”; Mary Boyce, Encyclopaedia Iranica, “ĀTAŠ” e “ĀTAŠ NIYĀYIŠN”; nenhuma narrativa genealógica e nenhuma relação de irmandade com os Amesha Spentas é afirmada.

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Avestan tradition & Mills, Lawrence H. (trans.), Avesta: Yasna (Yasna 36: Hymn to Ahura and Fire; Yasna 31, 34, 43, 47). translation: Classic version in the Sacred Books of the East series, vol. 31 (Oxford University Press, 1887). read
Darmesteter, James (trans.), The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Sirozahs, Yasts and Nyayis (Zamyad Yasht = Yasht 19; Atash Nyayis). translation: Sacred Books of the East, tomo 23 (Oxford, 1883). read
West, Edward William (trans.), Pahlavi Texts, Part I: Bundahishn, chapter 17 (On the nature of fire). translation: Sacred Books of the East, tomo 5 (Oxford, 1880). read

Studies

Boyce, Mary, Entry ĀTAŠ in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Vol. III, Fasc. 1, pp. 1-5, 1987/2016. open
Boyce, Mary, Entry ĀDUR in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Vol. I, Fasc. 5, pp. 471-472, 1983/2018. open
Kotwal, Firoze M. P. & Boyce, Mary, Entry ĀTAŠ NIYĀYIŠN in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Digital Edition, 1987/2016. open
Boyce, Mary, Entry ĀDUR FARNBĀG in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Vol. I, Fasc. 5, pp. 473-475, 1983/2018. open
Boyce, Mary, Entry ĀDUR GUŠNASP in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Vol. I, Fasc. 5, pp. 475-476, 1983/2018. open

Name and epithets

The Avestan nominative singular appears as ātarš; Ātaš is a Middle and New Persian form, while ādur is a regular Middle Persian and Parthian form, according to Mary Boyce’s Encyclopaedia Iranica entry.

In the ancient sources

Zamyad Yasht (Yasht 19), Younger Avestan hymn; exact composition date uncertain. In verse 46 the Good Spirit’s side (Vohu Manah, Aša Vahišta, Ātar) and the Evil Spirit’s side (Akem Manah, Aēšma, Aži Dahāka, Spityura) hu…

The myths

Aži Dahāka, Ātar, and the glory that cannot be seized. The Zamyad Yasht does not stage a battle in which Ātar defeats and kills Aži Dahāka.

Worship and archaeology

The cult of fire includes different practices that must be placed in time and tied to their sources. Mary Boyce states that Zoroastrian veneration of fire plainly has its origin in an Indo-Iranian cult of the hearth fir…

How the god was depicted

The sources opened in this stage do not support a complete catalogue of anthropomorphic attributes for Ātar. Yasna 62 treats fire as the recipient of praise, mentions its presence in the household, and links offering wi…

What scholars debate

Ātar: deity, element, or both?. The texts use the name for fire and treat it as a divinity worthy of worship. This overlap does not require choosing between physical substance and divine entity as mutually exclusive mod…

After antiquity

Ātar’s reception moves from household prayer to temple institutions and memories of named fires, but these layers have their own chronologies and evidence.

Did you know?

The continuation of the offering in Yasna 6 presents a liturgical sequence. Section 2 invokes Asnya, Havani, Savanghi and Visya as lords of ritual order, followed by Mithra and Raman Hvastra.

Codex relic

Unquenchable Ember. The divine flame that burns on the altars and never dies, the direct link between the faithful and Ahura Mazda.

The rest of this scroll is sealed

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