ither the fruits, and they slay vegetation during
the winter months. As Caecius, the "darkener," became ultimately changed
into Cacus, the "evil one," so the name of Vritra, the "concealer," the
most famous of the Panis, was gradually generalized until it came to
mean "enemy," like the English word fiend, and began to be applied
indiscriminately to any kind of evil spirit. In one place he is called
Adeva, the "enemy of the gods," an epithet exactly equivalent to the
Persian dev.

In the Zendavesta the myth of Hercules and Cacus has given rise to a
vast system of theology. The fiendish Panis are concentrated in Ahriman
or Anro-mainyas, whose name signifies the "spirit of darkness," and
who carries on a perpetual warfare against Ormuzd or Ahuramazda, who
is described by his ordinary surname, Spentomainyas, as the "spirit of
light." The ancient polytheism here gives place to a refined dualism,
not very different from what in many Christian sects has passed current
as monotheism. Ahriman is the archfiend, who struggles with Ormuzd, not
for the possession of a herd of perishable cattle, but for the dominion
of the universe. Ormuzd creates the world pure and beautiful, but
Ahriman comes after him and creates everything that is evil in it. He
not only keeps the earth covered with darkness during half of the day,
and withholds the rain and destroys the crops, but he is the author of
all evil thoughts and the instigator of all wicked actions. Like his
progenitor Vritra and his offspring Satan, he is represented under the
form of a serpent; and the destruction which ultimately awaits these
demons is also in reserve for him. Eventually there is to be a day of
reckoning, when Ahriman will be bound in chains and rendered powerless,
or when, according to another account, he will be converted to
righteousness, as Burns hoped and Origen believed would be the case with
Satan.

This dualism of the ancient Persians has exerted a powerful influence
upon the development of Christian theology. The very idea of an
archfiend Satan, which Christianity received from Judaism, seems either
to have been suggested by the Persian Ahriman, or at least to have
derived its principal characteristics from that source. There is no
evidence that the Jews, previous to the Babylonish captivity, possessed
the conception of a Devil as the author of all evil. In the earlier
books of the Old Testament Jehovah is represented as dispensing with his
own hand the g