4 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.
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.
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At a glance
Verethragna (Avestan: Vərəθraγna; Middle Persian: Warahrān or Wahrām; Modern Persian: Bahrām; Classical Armenian: Vahagn) is the prominent yazata divinity of martial triumph, aggressive courage, and the destruction of malicious resistance in Zoroastrianism and ancient Iranian religion. The direct etymological cognate of the Vedic epithet Vṛtrahan ('the smiter of Vritra', applied primarily to Indra in the Rigveda), Verethragna hypostatizes the active force of divine victory that crushes every demonic and physical obstacle raised against Ahura Mazda's righteous creation. In Zoroastrian sacred literature, his foremost tribute is preserved in the Bahram Yasht (Yasht 14 of the Khorda Avesta), a sixty-four-verse hymn wherein the Creator Ahura Mazda declares him to be the best-armed of all spiritual divinities and reveals his ten theriomorphic and anthropomorphic avatars: a torrential gale, a golden-horned bull, a white stallion with golden trappings, a rutting camel, a fierce tusked boar, a handsome fifteen-year-old youth, the swift raptor Vāragna, a wild mountain ram, an agile he-goat, and a radiant warrior bearing a golden blade. Closely associated with Mithra in the Mihr Yasht as his vanguard smiting treaty-breakers (Mithradruj), Verethragna also fulfills an eschatological and psychopomp role in later Pahlavi theology (Menog-i Khrad), accompanying the soul during the critical three-day vigil before the crossing of the Chinvat Bridge. In imperial history, Verethragna gave his name to the highest grade of consecrated temple fire (the Ātaš Bahrām), served as the regnal patron of six Sasanian monarchs, and was syncretized with Heracles in Greco-Iranian monuments such as Nemrud Dagh and Seleucia on the Tigris, as well as with Vahagn the Dragon-Slayer in ancient pagan Armenia.
7 min read · Reviewed on September 30, 2026 · How we research
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Sacred symbols
The boar, the falcon, the bull, the horse and the rushing wind
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Sources and further reading
Primary sources
Avestan Tradition & Darmesteter, James (Trans.), Khorda Avesta: 14. Bahram Yasht (Warharan Yasht / Yasht 14). translation: Classic version in the Sacred Books of the East series, vol. 23 (Oxford University Press, 1883). read
Avestan Tradition & Darmesteter, James (Trans.), Khorda Avesta: Sirozas 1 & 2 (Verse 20: Warharan / Bahram). translation: The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 23 (Oxford University Press, 1883). read
Movses Khorenatsi & Thomson, Robert W. (Trans.), History of the Armenians (Book 1, chapter 31: The Song of Vahagn). translation: Moses Khorenats'i: History of the Armenians (Harvard University Press, 1978). read
Studies
Gnoli, Gherardo, Entry BAHRĀM (Vərəθraγna) i. In Old and Middle Iranian texts in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Vol. III, Fasc. 5, pp. 510-513, 1988/2011. open
Boyce, Mary, Entry ĀTAŠ in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Vol. III, Fasc. 1, pp. 1-5, 1987/2016. open
Jacobs, Bruno, Entry NEMRUD DAĞI in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Edição Digital, 2011/2018. open
van Esbroeck, Michel, Entry AŠTIŠAT in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Vol. II, Fasc. 8, p. 851, 1987/2016. open
Shahbazi, Alireza Shapur, Entry BAHRĀM I in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Vol. III, Fasc. 5, pp. 514-522, 1988/2016. open
Name and epithets
The Avestan theonym Vərəθraγna derives from two proto-Indo-Iranian components: the neuter noun vərəθra- (from the verbal root *wer-, 'to obstruct', 'to hold back', or 'to defend') and the agentive stem derived from jan-…
In the ancient sources
Avesta (Bahram Yasht / Yasht 14), Younger Avesta (c. 7th–6th centuries BCE).. Primary sacred hymn honoring Verethragna, narrating his ten animal and human manifestations and describing magical formulas for military prot…
The myths
The Ten Metamorphic Epiphanies Revealed to Zarathustra. According to the opening chapters of the Bahram Yasht (Yasht 14.1–27), Zarathustra questioned Ahura Mazda concerning who among celestial beings possessed the most…
Worship and archaeology
Devotion to Verethragna was central to military, aristocratic, and civilian life across ancient Iran. Generals and cavalry commanders offered libations of haoma and consecrated baresman twigs while chanting the Bahram Y…
How the god was depicted
Visual and numismatic representations of Verethragna reflect both Hellenistic syncretism and native Iranian theriomorphism.
What scholars debate
The Transformation of the Indo-Iranian Victory Concept. Scholars have extensively examined how the shared concept underlying Vedic Vṛtrahan and Avestan Vərəθraγna developed differently in Iran and India.
After antiquity
Verethragna's heroic archetype endured long past the Sasanian era. In Armenia, the archaic song of Vahagn's birth became a celebrated monument of national literature, symbolizing resilience against conquerors.
Did you know?
The overwhelming royal prestige of Verethragna led six Sasanian emperors to take the regnal name Bahrām (Bahrām I through VI), foremost among them Bahrām V Gōr, famed throughout Persian romance for his hunting prowess.
Codex relic
Tusks of the Divine Boar. The sharp tusks of one of his ten forms, with which he tears and scatters the enemies of order.
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