Iapetus (eye-APP-eh-tuss) is the Saturn’s third largest moon. In 1672 Jean-Dominique Cassini discovered this moon, he deduced that one side of the moon was dark, and the other side was white.
In New year’s Eve of 2005 Cassini spacecraft cameras sent images of the Iapetus to earth which shocked scientists. These images showed startling surface features of this moon. These pictures revealed Iapetus is a two-faced moon. One side of this moon is very bright, while the other is very dark. According to the Nasa: “Iapetus is a world of sharp contrasts. The leading hemisphere is as dark as a freshly-tarred street, and the white, trailing hemisphere resembles freshly-fallen snow; and a long narrow ridge that lies almost exactly on the equator of Iapetus, bisects its entire dark hemisphere and reaches 20 kilometers high. It extends over 1,300 kilometers from side to side, along its midsection. No other moon in the solar system has such a striking geological feature. The flyby images, which revealed a region of Iapetus never before seen, show feathery-looking black streaks at the boundary between dark and bright hemispheres that indicate dark material has fallen onto Iapetus.”
But this unique moon could be also the residence of myths. In Iranian Mythology there is a similar place which is named as the inhabitance of God and Evil. This place is mentioned at least in two ancient texts.
The first on is a Pahlavi text, Selection of Zadsparm, which has been written in 9th century A.D., and reveal the Zoroastrian cult. In chapter 1 of this text, when it describes the meeting of the Beneficent Spirit(Hormazd) and Evil Spirit(Ahriman), the contrast of these two places can be seen: “1. It is in scripture thus declared, that light was above and darkness below, and between those two was open space. 2. Ohrmazd was in the light and Ahriman in the darkness;”
The second one is in Manichaean mythology, where Mani taught a strict dualism of spirit and matter. According to Mani:In the beginning the Paradise of Light stretched unbounded upwards and to left and right. Below, lay the Hell of Darkness. The land of Paradise is ruled over by the Father of Greatness, and is inhabited by countless Aeons. A goddess, The Great Spirit, is the Father’s consort. Hell is ruled over by the Devil, or Prince of Darkness. Both places were separated with boundary which stretched between heaven and hell.
Now regarding to these texts, could Iapetus be the inhabitance of these myths? And moreover, do myths creat this world, or this one is just a coincidence?
Bibliography:
Boyce, Mary., 1975; A Reader In Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian. Acta Iranica 9. Téhéran-Liège.
Selections Of Zadspram.; Translated by E. W. West, from Sacred Books of the East, volume 5, Oxford University Press,. 1897.
www.nasa.gov/cassini
In New year’s Eve of 2005 Cassini spacecraft cameras sent images of the Iapetus to earth which shocked scientists. These images showed startling surface features of this moon. These pictures revealed Iapetus is a two-faced moon. One side of this moon is very bright, while the other is very dark. According to the Nasa: “Iapetus is a world of sharp contrasts. The leading hemisphere is as dark as a freshly-tarred street, and the white, trailing hemisphere resembles freshly-fallen snow; and a long narrow ridge that lies almost exactly on the equator of Iapetus, bisects its entire dark hemisphere and reaches 20 kilometers high. It extends over 1,300 kilometers from side to side, along its midsection. No other moon in the solar system has such a striking geological feature. The flyby images, which revealed a region of Iapetus never before seen, show feathery-looking black streaks at the boundary between dark and bright hemispheres that indicate dark material has fallen onto Iapetus.”
But this unique moon could be also the residence of myths. In Iranian Mythology there is a similar place which is named as the inhabitance of God and Evil. This place is mentioned at least in two ancient texts.
The first on is a Pahlavi text, Selection of Zadsparm, which has been written in 9th century A.D., and reveal the Zoroastrian cult. In chapter 1 of this text, when it describes the meeting of the Beneficent Spirit(Hormazd) and Evil Spirit(Ahriman), the contrast of these two places can be seen: “1. It is in scripture thus declared, that light was above and darkness below, and between those two was open space. 2. Ohrmazd was in the light and Ahriman in the darkness;”
The second one is in Manichaean mythology, where Mani taught a strict dualism of spirit and matter. According to Mani:In the beginning the Paradise of Light stretched unbounded upwards and to left and right. Below, lay the Hell of Darkness. The land of Paradise is ruled over by the Father of Greatness, and is inhabited by countless Aeons. A goddess, The Great Spirit, is the Father’s consort. Hell is ruled over by the Devil, or Prince of Darkness. Both places were separated with boundary which stretched between heaven and hell.
Now regarding to these texts, could Iapetus be the inhabitance of these myths? And moreover, do myths creat this world, or this one is just a coincidence?
Bibliography:
Boyce, Mary., 1975; A Reader In Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian. Acta Iranica 9. Téhéran-Liège.
Selections Of Zadspram.; Translated by E. W. West, from Sacred Books of the East, volume 5, Oxford University Press,. 1897.
www.nasa.gov/cassini
