Artur Rodziewicz

University of Warsaw | UW · Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology

The current article sheds light on the symbolism of the number 72 in Yezidism and briefly outlines its roots in ancient Mesopotamian religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Furthermore, it highlights the link between 72 nations and 72 genocides in Yezidi perception.

Eros and the Pearl is the first monograph devoted to the Yezidi cosmogonic myth. It is based on the author’s field research among the Yezidi people in Iraq, Turkey, Georgia, and Armenia. The author focuses on the analysis of the cosmogonic motif of Pearl and Love and, referring to various source materials, traces the presence of analogous threads i...

The article is devoted to berat, the sacred object of the Yezidi religion. It is a pearl-shaped white pellet made in the holy Iraqi valley of Lalish from the local dust mixed with several ingredients. For the Yezidis, berat constitutes a physical testimony of their connection with the holiest place on earth and at the same time the link with the lo...

The chapter, based mainly on field research conducted by the author in Iraq, Turkey, and Georgia, is devoted to the Yezidi cult of the Seven Angels and their leader, called the Peacock Angel. Following an introduction to the Yezidi religion, it focuses on the relationship between the Yezidi concept of God’s essence (sur) and the Seven Angels, who,...

The International Yezidi Theological Academy established in Tbilisi is a breakthrough initiative in the history of Yezidism. The objective of my study is to describe the environment in which it was founded, its goals, leading figures and courses taught. The main part of the article is preceded by a brief description of Yezidism and its religious pr...

I compare the beginning of the Yezidi and Yaresan cosmogonies reconstructed mainly on the basis of the content of religious hymns (Qewls, Kalams). One of their main common elements is the motif of the primordial Pearl, from which both the first elements of the world and its demiurge emerged. By comparing these descriptions with the cosmogonical con...

The article is an attempt to answer the question why Wednesday has the status of a holy day in Yezidism. Wednesday can be seen as a commemoration of the fourth day of creation, when the life on earth began and the Peacock Angel became its ruler. The article points to the Yezidi worship of the Moon and the Sun and related angels (Melek Fakhradin and...

This chapter investigates the question of the Yezidis’ identity, based on Yezidi oral works and statements about their self-identification, as well as their classification of non-Yezidis belonging to ‘seventy-two nations’. It also demonstrates how the Yezidis have been perceived by others. It discusses two main Yezidi genetic myths, the stories of...

The paper presents a structural reading of the events accompanying the Yezidi feasts of the New Year ( Serê Salê ) and the Red Wednesday ( Çarşemiya-sor ), which can be collated with the outlines of the cosmogonic order reconstructed on the basis of the content of the Yezidi hymns. The New Year festival, especially the moment of transition from Tue...

The article presents an extended review and polemic with The Religion of the Peacock Angel. The Yezidis and Their Spirit World, the latest book of Armenian specialists in Iranian studies, Garnik Asatrian and Victoria Arakelova. It refers, among other things, to the question of Yezidis' ethnicity, to classifying Yezidism as monotheism and to the rol...

The paper concerns some crucial issues of theology and cosmogony of the Yezidis, which have distinct parallels in the writings of the ancient Greeks. A startling coincidence of certain topics and the manner of approach can lead to the conclusion that the Yezidi theology and mythology seem to have a distant genetic relationship with the Greek theolo...

Tyranny is a phenomenon following in the footsteps of politics and contemporary political thought. The aim of this article is an attempt to bring out and – on the basis of Plato’s texts – show the fundamental relationship between tyranny and politeia, which should make a philosopher interested in the foundation of tyranny. The relationship, or bett...