From the mass, however, of the lower deities or genii must be distinguished (besides Mithra and Serosh) the six Amesha Spentas, or Amshashpands, who formed the council of Ormazd, and in a certain sense reflected his glory.  These were Vohu-mano or Bahman, Ashavahista or Ardibehesht, Khsha-thra-vairya or Shahravar, Spenta-Armaiti or Isfandarmat, Haurvatat or Khordad, and Ameretat or Amerdat.  Vohu-mano, “the Good Mind,” originally a mere attribute of Ormazd, came to be considered a distinct being, created by him to be his attendant and his councillor.  He was, as it were, the Grand Vizier of the Almighty King, the chief of the heavenly conclave.  Ormazd entrusted to him especially the care of animal life; and thus, as presiding over cattle, he is the patron deity of the agriculturist.  Asha-vahista, “the best truth,” or “the best purity,” is the Light of the universe, subtle, pervading, omnipresent.  He maintains the splendor of the various luminaries, and presides over the element of fire.  Khsha-thra-vairya, “wealth,” has the goods of this world at his disposal, and specially presides over metals, the conventional signs of wealth; he is sometimes identified with the metal which he dispenses.  Spenta-Armaiti, “Holy Armaiti,” is at once the genius of the Earth, and the goddess of piety.  She has the charge of “the good creation,” watches over it, and labors to convert the desolate and unproductive portions of it into fruitful fields and gardens.  Together with Vohu-mano, she protects the agriculturist, blessing his land with increase, as Vohu-mano does his cattle.  She is called “the daughter of Ormazd,” and is regarded as the agent through whom Ormazd created the earth.  Moreover, “she tells men the everlasting laws, which no one may abolish,” or, in other words, imparts to them the eternal principles of morality.  She is sometimes represented as standing next to Ormazd in the mythology, as in the profession of faith required of converts to Zoroastrianism.  The two remaining Amshashpands, Haurvatat and Ameretat, “Health” and “Immortality,” have the charge of the vegetable creation; Haurvatat causes the flow of water, so necessary to the support of vegetable life in countries where little rain falls; Ameretat protects orchards and gardens, and enables trees to bring their fruits to perfection.

Another deity, practically perhaps as much worshipped as Ormazd and Mithra, was Anaitis or Anahit.  Anaiitis was originally an Assyrian and Babylonian, not a Zoroastrian goddess; but her worship spread to the Persians at a date anterior to Herodotus, and became in a short time exceedingly popular.  It was in connection with this worship that idolatry seems first to have crept in, Artaxerxes Mnemon (ab.  B.C. 400) having introduced images of Anaitis into Persia, and set them up at Susa, the capital, at Persepolis, Ecbatana, Bactra, Babylon, Damascus, and Sardis.  Anaitis was the Babylonian Venus; and her rites at Babylon were undoubtedly of a revolting character.  It is to be feared that they were introduced in all their grossness into Persia, and that this was the cause of Anahitis great popularity.  Her cult “was provided with priests and hieroduli, and connected with mysteries, feasts, and unchaste ways.”