I’m piecing together through their website, online articles, etc. that the photographer shoots a lot of film. So perhaps other than a deliberate stylistic choice, the magazine used whatever photo made sense for that block of text.
In any case, they’re all quite nice photos so I don’t mind too much!
What I learned from the article was that Zoroastrians see Fire as sacred. It brings to my mind that the Martians in "Stranger in Strange Land" held Water as sacred. Holy Water, yes that is a commmon notion. Just my random thought.
For many ancient people, water and fire were associated as opposites that nonetheless had some shared properties, and they were usually both objects of respect, with various associated deities.
An interesting example is how in the Ancient Rome the most severe punishment except death, was named the "interdiction of water and fire", which meant banishment, because one could not live in a place without having access to water and fire.
You see the same thing in early Jewish culture. The oldest book in the Bible, Job, discusses YHWH slaying Leviathan - embodiment of the sea and chaos. God often appears in the form of fire (the burning bush, the pillar of flames) while "defeating" water - setting ablaze the drenched bull, changing the Nile.
The place name, Afrasiyab, of/in Samarkand immediately reminded me of that guy Afrasiabi who left Blizzard Entertainment under a cloud. Checks... yes, he's of Iranian descent. Name checks out. Kind of cool.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 45.2 ms ] threadSo I'm not sure what's the point then.
In any case, they’re all quite nice photos so I don’t mind too much!
An interesting example is how in the Ancient Rome the most severe punishment except death, was named the "interdiction of water and fire", which meant banishment, because one could not live in a place without having access to water and fire.
From "Japanese Death Poems" by Yoel Hoffman. I recommend this book as a good memento mori.
> Flames were considered to be a mix of phlogiston and water
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory
"like Muslims, they recognize one god "
Although monotheistic, it is not rigorously so as the major Abrahamic religions. It has elements of dualism and other gods.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zoroastrianism
However, in my experience, it takes living in one for awhile to really get an appreciation for the life there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_soil_crust