page_title: Ahura Mazda
section_title: In popular culture
hierarchical_section_title: Ahura Mazda / In popular culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Hormizd I Kushanshah Merv mint. AR Drachm (4.23 g, 12h). MRWY (Merv mint). "The Mazda worshipper, the divine Hormizd the great Kushan king of kings" in Pahlavi, crowned bust right, wearing lion headdress; annulet above left shoulder / "Exalted god, Hormizd the great Kushan king of kings" in Pahlavi, Hormizd standing right, holding investiture wreath over altar in right hand and raising left hand in benedictional gesture to Anahita rising left from throne, holding investiture wreath in raised right hand and sceptre in left; MRWY between.
context_page_description: Ahura Mazda is the creator and highest deity of Zoroastrianism. Ahura Mazda is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the Yasna. The literal meaning of the word Ahura is "lord", and that of Mazda is "wisdom".
  Ahura Mazda first appeared in the Achaemenid period under Darius I's Behistun Inscription. Until Artaxerxes II of Persia, Ahura Mazda was worshipped and invoked alone in all extant royal inscriptions. With Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda was invoked in a triad, with Mithra and Anahita. In the Achaemenid period, there are no known representations of Ahura Mazda at the royal court other than the custom for every emperor to have an empty chariot drawn by white horses, to invite Ahura Mazda to accompany the Persian army on battles. Images of Ahura Mazda, however, were present from the 5th century BCE, but were stopped and replaced with stone carved figures in the Sassanid period and later removed altogether through an iconoclastic movement supported by the Sassanid dynasty.
context_section_description: Ormazd and Ahriman feature in the 2008 video game, Prince of Persia.
  Ormuhzd and Ahriman are two characters in the Warhammer 40,000 Franchise. Ahriman has a model, whereas Ormuhzd is only referenced in the book A Thousand Sons
  Ormazd and Ahriman feature heavily in the Philip K. Dick novel The Cosmic Puppets.
  In the 2001 video game Severance: Blade of Darkness, Ahura Mazda was the god who created the entire world in which the game takes place.
  General Electric exploited the association of the name with light for their brand of Mazda light bulbs.
  One of the inspirations for the name of the Mazda Motor Corporation is Ahura Mazda, with homophone similarity to founder Jujiro Matsuda.
  A statue of Ahura Mazda is built to contain the Djinn in the film Wishmaster.
  In the 2013 Amish Tripathi novel The Oath of the Vayuputras, Ahura Mazda is shown as the God of Pariha.
  Ahura Mazda is mentioned in the Immortal Technique song "Sign of the Times" from the album The Martyr.
  In the novel Battle Royale, a student named Mizuho Inada believes she is a warrior for the god Ahura Mazda.
  Ahura Mazda appears as a character in the Lucifer's Halo miniseries of Joseph Michael Linsner's comic Dawn.
  Ahura Mazda was the name of a late 1960s, early 1970s psychedelic and fusion prog-rock band from the Netherlands.
  Ahura Mazda is featured in the book Kushiel's Avatar, the third novel in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series.
  In the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, Ahura Mazda is the ultimate move of the third god of the Warring Triad, Zurvan.
  Ahriman appears as a character in the television show Highlander: The Series.
caption: Coin of Hormizd I Kushanshah (277-286 CE). Pahlavi inscription: "The Mazda worshipper, the divine Hormizd the great Kushan king of kings"/ Pahlavi inscription: "Exalted god, Hormizd the great Kushan king of kings", Hormizd standing right, holding investiture wreath over altar and raising left hand in benedictional gesture to Anahita holding investiture wreath and sceptre. Merv mint.
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