Who is Zam?
Zam (Avestan: š¬°š¬š¬Ø) is the Avestan language term for the Zoroastrian concept of "earth", in both the sense of land and soil and in the sense of the world. The earth is viewed as a primordial element in Zoroastrian tradition, and represented by a minor divinity, Zam, who is the hypostasis of the "earth". The word itself, changed to Zamin in Modern Persian, is cognate to the Baltic Zemes, Slavic Zem, Serbian Zemlja, Greco-Thracian Semele, meaning the planet Earth, as well as soil. The element zam exists with the same meaning in Middle Persian, which is the language of the texts of Zoroastrian tradition. The divinity Zam, however, appears in the later language as Zamyad, which is a contraction of Zam Yazad, i.e. the yazata Zam. Zam of the earth is not related to the Zam of the Shahnameh. That ZamāZahhak-e-Maar-Doosh (Aži DahÄka in Avestan, Azhdshak in Middle Persian)āis the king of dragons, who slew Jamshid.
