Faravahar
The winged figure of a man rising from a ring, the best known symbol of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrians today read it as a fravashi, a guardian spirit, and teach its parts as good thoughts, good words and good deeds; scholars have also seen in it the god Ahura Mazda or the king’s xvarenah. It is also an emblem of Iranian identity.
Meaning
The figure comes from the palaces and royal tombs of the Achaemenid kings of Persia, at Persepolis and elsewhere. FEZANA, the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America, teaches it as “a symbol reminding us to be a good Zoroastrian”: the old man stands for wisdom, the ring in his hand for a promise kept, the raised hand for the one God, Ahura Mazda, the three rows of feathers in each wing for good thoughts, good words and good deeds, the ring at the waist for the eternal soul, and the two streamers for the two spirits, Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu. FEZANA spells it both Fravahar and Farvahar.
Origin and history
FEZANA notes that the figure was carved on the tombs of Achaemenid kings such as Darius the Great (522 to 486 BC) and Artaxerxes III (358 to 338 BC). One relief from Persepolis, from a doorway of the Hall of 100 Columns, is now in the Harvard Art Museums, which describe it as the god Ahuramazda in a winged disc, hovering above the enthroned king and lending divine legitimacy to his rule.
In the twentieth century, FEZANA says, the Pahlavi dynasty adopted the symbol to represent the Iranian nation, and it has since become a secular and cultural emblem too, often of a pan-Iranian identity.
Fravashi, Ahura Mazda or royal glory?
Three readings of the winged figure have been held. European scholars long took it for Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian God, and the Harvard Art Museums still label their relief that way. The Iranist Mary Boyce, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, records that the scholar Moulton rejected that reading and identified it as the king’s fravashi, and that Zoroastrians still generally regard it as a fravashi symbol. Boyce herself sides with the Western scholars who argue that it represents xvarenah: in her Iranica article on Ahura Mazda she writes that the figure “has been shown to represent the royal xvarənah” and that no images of Ahura Mazda are recorded from the early Achaemenid period.
The fravashis in the Avesta
The fravashis are the guardian spirits of the faithful. In the Farvardin Yasht of the Avesta, in James Darmesteter’s translation, a king attacked by his enemies calls on them and “they come flying unto him, it seems as if they were well-winged birds”. Boyce adds that there is no certain image of the fravashis from antiquity, but wings are still given to them by Zoroastrians, locally at least.
Read next
- Next in Zoroastrian symbolsSacred fire (Atash)Fire is the Zoroastrian symbol of the Creator’s splendour and of truth, and Zoroastrians pray in its presence. Its most sacred form is the ever-burning fire of a fire temple, consecrated with long rituals and fed with wood five times a day.
- The same shape in Adinkra symbolsBese SakaBese Saka, a bunch of kola nuts, is the adinkra symbol of affluence, abundance and unity.
See also
Sudreh and kusti, Assyrian winged disc.
Sources
- Fravaši, by Mary Boyce, Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. X, fasc. 2 (Internet Archive copy), Encyclopaedia Iranica, Iconography
- Ahura Mazdā, by Mary Boyce, Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. I, fasc. 7 (Internet Archive copy, October 2026), Encyclopaedia Iranica, Achaemenid period
- Fragment of a Relief of Ahuramazda in a Winged Disk, Persepolis, 1943.1062, Harvard Art Museums, collection record, Harvard Art Museums, gallery text; provenance
- FEZANA age-appropriate lesson plan: Fravahar, grades 9–12, Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America, prepared by Sousan Bakhtari, revised August 2023, FEZANA, Background knowledge for the teacher
- The Zend-Avesta, part II: The Sîrôzahs, Yasts and Nyâyis, translated by James Darmesteter, Sacred Books of the East, vol. 23, Oxford, 1883 (Internet Archive full text), Farvardin Yast, Clarendon Press (Internet Archive), Farvardin Yast, 69–70
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from circles or curves and waves.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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