,ZENATA or ZANATA, a Berber tribe of Morocco in the dis trict of central Atlas. Their tribal home seems to have been south of Oran in Algeria, and they early claimed an Arab origin, though the Arabs called them descendants of Goliath, i.e., Philistines or Phoenicians (Ibn Khaldun, vol. iii. p. 184 and vol. iv. p. 597).
They were formerly a large and powerful confederation, and took a prominent part in the history of the Berber race. The Beni Marin and Wattasi dynasties of Zenata origin, reigned in Morocco from 1213 to 1548.
the original document of the religion of Zoroaster (q.v.), still used by the Parsees as their bible and prayer-book. The name "Zend-Avesta" has been current in Europe since the time of Anquetil Duperron (c. 1771), but the Parsees themselves call it simply Avesta, Zend (i.e., "interpre tation") being specially employed to denote the translation and exposition of a great part of the Avesta which exists in Pahlavi. The origin and meaning of the word "Avesta" (or in its older form, Avistak) are alike obscure; it cannot be traced further back than the Sassanian period. The term is now applied both to the collection of writings and also to the language in which they are composed. The Avesta is a work of but moderate compass (com parable, say, to the Iliad and Odyssey taken together), but no single manuscript gives it in entirety.
Contents.—As we now have it, the Avesta consists of the fol lowing parts : I. The Yasna, the principal liturgical book of the Parsees, in 72 chapters (haiti, ha), contains the texts read by the priests at the solemn yasna (Izeshne) ceremony, the general sacrifice in honour of all the deities. The arrangement of the chapters is purely liturgical, although their matter in part has nothing to do with the liturgical action. It falls into three sections of about equal length :—(a) The introduction (chap. 1-27) consists mainly of invocations. Yet it includes some interesting texts, e.g., the Haoma (Hom) Yasht (9, 11) and the ancient confession of faith (12), which is of value as a document for the history of civili zation. (b) The Gathas (chap. 28-54) contain the discourses,
exhortations and revelations of the prophet, written in a metrical style and archaic language. The Gathas proper, arranged accord ing to the metres in which they are written, fall into five sub divisions 53). Between chap. 34 and chap. 43 is inserted the so-called Seven-Chapter Yasna (haptan ghaiti), a number of small prose pieces not far behind the Gathas in antiquity. (c) The so-called Later Yasna (Aparo Yasno) (chap. 5-72) consists mainly of invocations. Special mention ought to be made of the Sraosha (Srosh) Yasht (57), the prayer to fire (62), and the great liturgy for the sacrifice to divinities of the water (63-69).
2. The Vispered, a minor liturgical work in 24 chapters (karde), is alike in form and substance completely dependent on the Yasna, to which it is a liturgical appendix. The name Vispered, meaning "all the chiefs" (vispe ratavd), has reference to the spiritual heads of the religion of Ormuzd, invocations to whom form the contents of the first chapter of the book.
3. The V endidad, the priestly code of the Parsees, contains in 22 chapters (fargard) a kind of dualistic account of the creation (chap. I), the legend of Yima and the golden age (chap. 2), and in the bulk of the remaining chapters the precepts of religion with regard to the cultivation of the earth, the care of useful animals, the protection of the sacred elements, such as earth, fire and water, the keeping of a man's body from defilement, together with the requisite measures of precaution, elaborate ceremonies of purifica tion, atonements, ecclesiastical expiations and so forth. Yet in spite of an exaggerated casuistry the whole of Zoroastrian legis lation is subordinate to one great point of view : the war—preached without intermission—against Satan and his noxious creatures, from which the whole book derives its name; for "Vendidad" is a modern corruption for vi-daev5-ddtem—"the anti-demonic Law." The three concluding chapters are devoted to sacerdotal medicine.