Ahura Mazda

===Achaemenid Empire===
[[File:Darius I the Great's inscription.jpg|thumb|The [[Behistun Inscription]] contains many references to Ahura Mazda]]
[[File:CILICIA, Soloi. Tiribazos, Satrap of Lydia. Second reign, 388-380 BC.jpg|thumb|[[Stater]] of [[Tiribazus|Tiribazos]], Satrap of Lydia, {{Circa|380 BC}} showing Ahura Mazda]]

Whether the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenids]] were Zoroastrians is a matter of much debate. However, it is known that the Achaemenids were worshipers of Ahura Mazda.{{sfn|Bromiley|1995|p=126}} The representation and invocation of Ahura Mazda can be seen on royal inscriptions written by Achaemenid kings.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hanson|first=Victor Davis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGr16-CxpH8C|title=Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power|date=2007-12-18|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-42518-8|language=en}}</ref> The most notable of all the inscriptions is the [[Behistun Inscription]] written by [[Darius the Great]] which contains many references to Ahura Mazda. An inscription written in Greek was found in a late Achaemenid temple at [[Persepolis]], which invoked Ahura Mazda and two other deities, [[Mithra]] and [[Anahita]]. [[Artaxerxes III]] makes this invocation Ahuramazda again during his reign.

In the [[Elamite language]] Persepolis Fortification Tablets dated between 509–494 BC, offerings to Ahura Mazda are recorded in tablets #377, #338 (notably alongside Mitra), #339, and #771.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hallock |first=Richard |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/oip92.pdf |title=Persepolis Fortification Tablets |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |year=1969 |location=Chicago, Illinois |pages=151, 771}}</ref>

The early Achaemenid period contained no representation of Ahura Mazda. The winged symbol with a male figure formerly regarded by European scholars as Ahura Mazda has been now speculated to represent the royal ''[[khvarenah]]'', the personification of divine power and regal glory. However, it was customary for every emperor from [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus]] until [[Darius III]] to have an empty chariot drawn by white horses as a place for Ahura Mazda to accompany the [[Military history of Iran#Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE)|Persian army]] on battles. The use of images of Ahura Mazda began in the western [[satrap]]s of the Achaemenid Empire in the late 5th century BC. Under Artaxerxes II, the first literary reference, as well as a statue of Ahura Mazda, was built by a Persian governor of [[Lydia]] in 365 BC.{{sfn|Boyce|1983|p=686}}