ABSTRACT
The equivalent Iranian myth splits the creative act into two: "It is said in the religion [=Avesta] ; when the sole-created [=created apart from other creatures] ox passed away, there where it sent forth its marrow, the fifty-five species of grain grew up, and the twelve types of healing plants ... the semen of the ox was borne up to the moon. There they purified it and he [Ohrmazd] created animals from it".3
