The "Trepidation" of the Sun, the 57 years of the Resurrection and the Late Mazdean Speculations on the Apocalypse

The present contribution deals with two problems strictly connected with the cycle of the three posthumous sons of Zoroaster and in particular with the third one, the Sōšāns, par excellence. The first subject concerns the presence of a very peculiar doctrine attested only in two passages of the Dēnkard, where it is stated that the Sun follows an ondulatory motion, down and up, so that the solar return to the “highest” position is connected with the end of the struggle against Ahreman and with the action of the Sōšāns. The description of this particular motion of the Sun involves also the origin of other solar phenomena happening at the turn of each one of the last millennia. In particular, the stop of the Sun’s motion is here described as a very negative fact, provoked by the Druz in her attempt of blocking the regular course of time. The second problem under discussion is that of the frequent reference in the Pahlavi sources to the figure 57, which is attributed to Sōšāns, but also to a particularly significant moment in the life of Zoroaster, and that represented the period of resurrection of the dead or the time of the world Renovation.