On some aspects of social organization and functioning of the Avestan society
The article is devoted to the comprehensive study of the social organization of the ancient Iranian (Avestan) society in the 2nd - the middle of the 1st millennium BC. This problem is usually challenged in the context of source studies, religious, philosophical or linguistic studies and it has been never the subject of a special historical study. The aim of this work is to reconstruct the institutes of the Avestan society, its role and functions on the Avesta in compliance with chronological strata of the source (Gathas and the Younger Avesta). Special terms for designation of the units of the social structure, their etymology, semantics and specificity of usage in the source are discussed and analyzed. The structure of the society and the functions of the social institutes are generalized from the data of the Avesta. The research is based on the Avesta's original texts, with the participation of both classical and recent papers on the subject.