CODEX Entry 1200: Goddess Anahita
Persian goddess of fertility, water, health and healing, and wisdom. She is associated with powerful goddesses such as Saraswati of the Hindu tradition, Inanna/Ishtar of Mesopotamia, Sauska of the Hittites, Astarte of the Phoenicians, Aphrodite of the Greeks, and Venus of the Romans. She had more temples and shrines dedicated to her than any other Persian goddess. She is depicted as a beautiful woman in a white gown embroidered with gold. She carries the barsom branch of life in one hand and drives a chariot through the sky, protected in her journeys between heaven and earth by Mithra. Anahita was presented as the Immaculate Virgin Mother of Mithra. To avoid persecution, worshippers in the Muslim world continued to venerate her under the name Bibi Sahrbanu, legendary widow of the Shia Islamic hero and Husayn ibn