Tištar and the ‘good’ Tīr. The Reasons behind the Endurance of Their Association

Despite the cosmic battle between stars and planets, and the inevitable identification between Tīr (Mercury as antagonist of Tištar-Sirius) and the demon Apōš (as the Middle Persian descendant of the Avestan Apaōša, the direct rival of Tištriia), a few Pahlavi sources still preserve a tradition in which the ancient patron of the scribes was not demonized. The reasons behind this interesting phenomenon can now be reasonably explained as a preservation of the earlier positive aspects of the Western Iranian divinity *Tīri(ya). His divine identity was preserved like the other gods whose names were equally attributed to the planets and only later were demonized. The case of Tīr presents some differences because, since as a Western Iranian god, his Avestan background was minimal (if not non-existent), and his positive functions were mostly covered by his most important astral alter ego Tištar.