The Persian Empire

by Kia, Mehrdad;

  Rebellion against Zahhak finally erupts when the sons of a blacksmith, named Kaveh, are seized and transported to the palace so that their brains can be served to the serpents on the king’s shoulders. Kaveh is not willing to allow the murder of his sons to be carried out by the king’s henchmen without a public airing of his pain and outrage. He marches to the royal palace to protest this intolerable oppression and injustice of Zahhak. Zahhak responds to Kaveh’s objections by releasing the blacksmith’s sons. In return for showing such compassion and mercy, Zahhak demands that Kaveh sign a proclamation that describes Zahhak as a just and upright ruler. This demand outrages Kaveh, who tears the proclamation into pieces and storms out of the palace. As he leaves the palace, Kaveh places his blacksmith’s leather apron on a long pole to use as his standard. Crowds gather around Kaveh, and his protest quickly turns into a mass uprising. The rebellious blacksmith and his supporters march to the Alborz Mountains seeking Fereydun, the son of Abtin (Aptin), a descendant of King Jamshid, who lives in the mountains in hiding, fearing for his life. Fereydun is brought forth from his hiding place and hailed as the legitimate king. He then marches at the head of an army, defeats Zahhak, and captures the tyrant at his palace. The demonic king is then dragged in chains to a cave on the summit of Mount Damavand in northern Iran. With Fereydun ascending the throne, power is restored to the rightful line of kings, and peace and justice are restored.

  Fereydun rules in peace and justice for 50 years. By the age of 50, Fereydun has three sons. The mother of the first two sons is King Jamshid’s sister Shahrenaz, while the third has been born to Jamshid’s sister Arnavaz. The oldest son is Salm. The second son is Tur. The third son, the favorite of his father, is Iraj (Ēraj). King Fereydun divides his kingdom among his three sons. Salm receives the lands of the west, Tur is allotted the lands of east, and Iraj receives the middle kingdom, which is centered in Iran. This division ignites the jealousy and hatred of Salm and Tur, who murder their brother, Iraj.

  As he is mourning for his ill-fated son, Fereydun receives a message that Mahafarid, a wife of Iraj, has given birth to a beautiful girl, who resembles her father. Fereydun raises the child as his own and, when she reaches the appropriate age, arranges for a marriage between her and one of his relatives. This union produces a son, who is named Manuchehr (Manōchihr). Fereydun appoints Manuchehr as his successor and raises him to be an educated, honorable, and well-trained young man. Marching behind the standard of Kaveh, the blacksmith who had revolted against the tyrant Zahhak, the army of Iran clashes with the combined forces of Salm and Tur. After several days of bloody warfare, Manuchehr’s forces prevail. Tur is killed on the battlefield. The remainder of the enemy forces retreat to a fortress, but Manuchehr proves to be relentless. He is not willing to end the conflict until he has either captured or killed Salm. This task is accomplished in the next battle between the two armies. Shortly after the victories over Salm and Tur, Fereydun dies, and Manuchehr ascends the throne as the new king. The wars between Iran and Turan (the land named after Tur) continue, however, and form one of the central themes of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh.

  During the reign of Manuchehr, the legendary king Afrasiyab ascends the throne of Turan. He invades and occupies Iran, trapping Manuchehr and his army in the mountains of Tabarestan. Afrasiyab, who is on the verge of defeating the Iranians, proposes to end the war and conclude a peace treaty. The Iranians and Turanians agree to cease all hostilities and establish a new boundary by an archer who will shoot his arrow in an easterly direction from the top of a mountain. Wherever the arrow lands would be recognized as the new boundary between the two kingdoms of Iran and Turan. Afrasiyab’s expectation is that he will seize much of the territory of Iran, since no archer can shoot his arrow beyond a short distance. The brilliant archer Arash volunteers to discharge his arrow as far east as he can. Arash climbs Mount Damavand, the highest peak in the Alborz mountain range, and discharges his arrow. Arash’s arrow travels long and far before it lands at the end of the day on the banks of the Oxus River (Amu Darya), which is established as the new boundary between Iran and Turan. Upon the death of Manuchehr, his son Nowzar ascends the throne. Weak, self-indulgent, greedy, gluttonous, and incompetent, Nowzar alienates his generals and officials as well as the ordinary people from the throne. Despite repeated warnings from his dignitaries, the king fails to address the growing chaos in his kingdom. With Iran’s army and government in shambles, the shrewd and opportunistic king of Turan, Afrasiyab, marches against Nowzar. Despite their heroism on the battlefield, the Iranians are defeated, and their king is captured. The humiliated Iranian king is brought to Afrasiyab. After reminding his prisoner of the vendetta between the kings of Iran and Turan, Afrasiyab decapitates Nowzar with his sword. Though Nowzar has two sons, the Iranian dignitaries refuse to allow them to ascend the throne, as they are believed to lack the sufficient training and qualities to rule. With the royal line of Nowzar coming to a sudden end, the court grandees select an old member of the Iranian nobility, Zab (Zav), as the new ruler. When Zab dies, his son Garshasp ascends the throne. Both Zab and Garshasp, however, fail to restore the glory and power of the Iranian state. With the death of Garshasp, the throne of Iran is vacant. Once again, the Turanians under the command of Afrasiyab use the weakness of the Iranian state to attack. At this juncture, the Iranian leaders appeal to the great hero Zal to lead the resistance against the foreign invaders. The aging Zal appoints his son Rostam as the commander of Iran’s army. But both Zal and Rostam are painfully aware that the kingdom needs a new and able ruler who possesses the divine glory. They therefore select a descendant of the great king, Fereydun, who lives in the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. This young and capable man is Kay Qobad, who ascends the throne of Iran as the founder of a new dynasty, namely the Kayanids or Kayanians. Kay Qobad appears as Kay Kavata (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Farvardin Yasht, 132; Zamyad Yasht, 71).

  See also: Legendary Kings: Afrasiyab; Arash; Fereydun; Gayomard; Jamshid; Kaveh; Zahhak

  Further Reading

  Avery. Peter. The Spirit of Iran: A History of Achievement from Adversity. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2007.

  Ferdowsi. Shahnameh. Edited by Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh. New York: Mazda Publishers, 1997.

  Ibn al-Balkhi. Farsnama. Edited by G. Le Strange and R. A. Nicholson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1921.

  Pahlavi Texts, Part I: The Bundahishn. Translated by E. W. West. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1965.

  Pahlavi Texts, Part III: Dina-i Mainog-i Khirad. Translated by E. W. West. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1965.

  Pahlavi Texts, Part V: Marvels of Zoroastrianism; Dinkard. Translated by E. W. West. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1965.

  Sunjana, Peshotun Dustoor Behramjee. The Dinkard. 1876; reprint, n.p.: CreateSpace, 2013.

  Yarshater, Ehsan. “Iranian National History.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 359–480. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  The Zend-Avesta, Part II: The Sirozahs, Yashts and Nyayish. Translated by James Darmesteter. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1965.

  Rostam

  The mightiest and most accomplished of all heroes of Iran’s legendary history. Rostam’s action-packed life, numerous illustrious accomplishments, and at times tragic encounters are celebrated and immortalized by the Persian epic poet Ferdowsi in his masterpiece, the Shahnameh [Book of Kings]. Many of Rostam’s extraordinary feats and exploits on and off the battlefield are performed in defense of the Kayanian kings of Greater Iran. But the story of Rostam is not confined to these adventures. It also is filled with tragic recklessness and devastating foolhardiness. In one instance Rostam kills his own son, Sohrab, a mighty warrior in his own right, without recognizing him until afterward. In another instance, Rostam defeats and kills the great hero Esfandiyar, the crown prince of King Goshtasp, the first monarch to accept the teachings of the Iranian prophet, Zarathustra.

  Rostam is the son of the legendary hero Zal and the grandson of a
nother great hero, Sam, who rules for a time as the king of Sistan, the region corresponding to eastern Iran and southwestern Afghanistan. Rostam’s mother is Rudabeh, the daughter of the king of Kabul. Because of his enormous size as a baby in his mother’s womb, Rostam is born through Caesarean section, which is performed by the magical bird Simorgh. Simorgh saves Rudabeh and her child because of her special relationship with Rostam’s father, Zal. Simorgh had adopted Rostam’s father, Zal, who as a child had been abandoned by his father because he was born an albino. Simorgh would reappear in Rostam’s life again to assist him in his battle against Esfandiyar, the crown prince of King Goshtasp.

  As a young man Rostam has a love affair with a woman named Tahmineh but is unaware that she has become pregnant as a result. Their love affair results in the birth of a son, who is named Sohrab. Sohrab grows up to become a handsome and strongly built young man as well as a mighty warrior. Later in life the father and the son would fight on the battlefield, with Sohrab defeating Rostam in their first encounter and Rostam winning the second confrontation, in which Sohrab is killed at the hands of his own father, who does not discover the true identity of the mighty knight he has killed until after Sohrab’s death.

  In one tale of the Shahnameh, Rostam travels to Turan to rescue another Iranian hero, Bijhan, who has been imprisoned by King Afrasiyab. Accompanied by his friend Gorgin, Bijhan enters the territory of Iran’s enemy, Turan. Encouraged by his friend, Bijhan manages to meet the beautiful Manijheh, a daughter of the Turanian king Afrasiyab. Bijhan and Manijheh fall in love, and the Turanian princess convinces the Iranian knight to meet her in her chamber, where the two lovers are found by Manijheh’s father, Afrasiyab. Infuriated by the brazen nature of Bijhan’s behavior, Afrasiyab orders the Iranian warrior to be imprisoned in a deep well, which is covered by a large and heavy rock. Manijheh manages to sneak some food and water through a crack in the rock. Meanwhile, Gorgin manages to return to Iran. Though embarrassed by the entire episode, Gorgin is forced to reveal the story of Bijhan and his capture. The only individual capable of rescuing Bijhan is Rostam, who agrees to travel to Turan. Rostam frees Bijhan from the well in which he has been imprisoned, and after he and Manijheh are reunited, Rostam brings them back with him to Iran.

  In another story, Rostam confronts Esfandiyar, the crown prince of the Kayanian monarch Goshtasp. The challenge confronting Rostam is that Esfandiyar has an impenetrable body. The only means to defeat and kill Esfandiyar is by targeting his eyes. Once again, the magical bird Simorgh intervenes. Simorgh heals the wounds that Rostam and his horse Rakhsh have suffered in their first encounter with Esfandiyar. Then the wise bird reveals the secret of fighting and defeating Esfandiyar. The Kayanian crown prince can only be killed if Rostam strikes his eyes with an arrow, which Rostam does with great success, killing Esfandiyar on the battlefield. Rostam is also renowned for undergoing seven trials, known as the Haft Khan, fighting demons and defeating them in each battle. Rostam’s illustrious career comes to a sudden end when he and his brother, Zavareh, fall victim to a plot hatched by the king of Kabul. Faramarz, the son of Rostam, retrieves the body of his father and then avenges his death by attacking Kabul, killing its king, and destroying the city.

  Illustration from Shahnameh [Book of Kings], by the Persian epic poet Ferdowsi, depicts the legendary Kayanian prince Esfandiyar battling Iran’s most distinguished legendary hero, Rostam. Despite initial setbacks on the battlefield, Rostam manages to kill Esfandiyar by shooting an arrow made of the branches of the tamarisk tree at the eyes of the prince. (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)

  See also: Legendary Kings: Afrasiyab; Kay Khosrow; Siyavash; Zahhak; Zal; Prophets: Ferdowsi

  Further Reading

  Ferdowsi. Shahnameh. Edited by Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh. New York: Mazda Publishers, 1997.

  Khaleghi-Motlagh, Djalal. “Farāmarz.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1999, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/faramarz.

  Shahbazi, A. Shapur, and Simone Cristoforetti. “Zāl.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2009, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zal.

  Yarshater, Ehsan. “Iranian National History.” In Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 359–480. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

  Simorgh

  The Persian name of a majestic, wise, and powerful mythical bird that plays an important role in Iran’s legendary history. In the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book, Simorgh appears as “meregho saeno” or “the bird Saena” and as “the great bird, the Saena” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Bahram Yasht, 41). Saena is associated with “the tree of the eagle,” also called “the tree of good remedies, the tree of powerful remedies, the tree of all remedies, … on which rest the seeds of all plants” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Rashn Yasht, 17). The “tree of eagle” stands in the middle of the sea called Vouru-Kasha (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Rashn Yasht, 17). In Bahram Yasht, the victorious war deity Verethraghna is likened to the great bird Saena as he bestows fortune on the house of the faithful “with its wealth in cattle” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Bahram Yasht, 41). Verethraghna is like “the great bird Saena,” who resembles “the big clouds, full of water that beat the mountains” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Bahram Yasht, 41). In the Pahlavi texts, the nest of Seno-Muruv, the Avestan Saeno Meregho, which is described as the griffin bird, is on “the many-seeded tree” (Pahlavi Texts, Part III: Dina-i Mainog-i Khirad, 62.37). Whenever the griffin bird “rises aloft, a thousand twigs will shoot out from that tree, and when he alights, he breaks off the thousand twigs and bites, the seed from them” (Pahlavi Texts, Part III: Dina-i Mainog-i Khirad, 62.38–40). In another Zoroastrian religious text, namely the Bundahishn, Simorgh appears as an actual bird among the 110 species of birds, which also include eagles, vultures, crows, cranes, and even bats (Pahlavi Texts, Part I: Bundahishn, 14.23). Here again, Simorgh is associated with “the tree of many seeds” that “has grown amid the wide-formed ocean, and in its seed are all plants,” believed to be by some as “the proper-curing” and by others as “energetic curing” and yet by a third group as “all curing” (Pahlavi Texts, Part I: Bundahishn, 18.9).

  In the legendary history of Iran, the bird Simorgh is associated with the great hero Zal or Dastan. Zal is one of the great mythological heroes of Greater Iran. In Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, Zal appears as the father of Rostam, the greatest legendary warrior of ancient Iran. Zal himself is the son of Sam and the grandson of Nariman, both legendary heroes in Iranian mythology. Because Dastan is born with snowy white hair, he is called Zal, which is the word for “albino” in Persian. His father, Sam, who blames the evil spirit, or Ahriman, for the “curious” and “unusual” appearance of his son, curses his fate and decides to abandon the infant Zal in the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. The child cries out in his loneliness, hunger, and desperation until he is observed by the wise and powerful bird Simorgh, who is hunting for food to feed her young. Simorgh carries the infant to her nest. Having rescued the child, Simorgh adopts Zal as her own son, nursing, feeding, and raising him in her nest. The young boy grows up to become a strong and handsome man. Meanwhile, Zal’s father, Sam, a vassal of the king of Iran, Manuchehr, becomes the ruler of Sistan in eastern Iran. One night Sam has a dream that jolts him to the realization that he should search for his abandoned son. The aging king regrets his decision to abandon his son and embarks on a journey to recover him. In his search for his lost son, Sam travels to the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran. After pleading with god to return his son safely to him, Sam finally discovers Zal. At first the young man refuses to abandon his adopted mother, Simorgh, and return to his father, but after the bird promises him a brilliant future and hands him samples of her feathers, Zal agrees to descend from the mountain and join his father. Simorgh assures Zal that in times of need, despair, and peril he should throw one of the feathers, which contains god’s glory, into a fire, and the bird will appear at once to guide and assist him. These individual feathers from Simorgh would play an important role in the life
of Zal and his family, particularly in the birth and heroic feats of his son, Rostam.

  Illustration from Kitab ajayib al-makhluqat va gharaib al-mowjudat [The Book of the Marvels of Creatures and the Strange Things Existing], a 13th-century Persian scientific book written by Zakariya Qazvini, depicts the mythical bird Simorgh. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

  Because of his enormous size as a baby in his mother’s womb, Rostam can cause the death of his own mother, Rudabeh. In his desperation to save the life of his wife and unborn child, Zal puts one of the feathers, which Simorgh had given him, into a fire. Simorgh appears instantly. Zal explains the situation to the bird, who suggests a Caesarean section. Thus, Simorgh saves Rudabeh and her child, who is named Rostam. Simorgh reappears in Rostam’s life again to assist him in his battle against Esfandiyar, the crown prince of the Kayanian monarch Goshtasp.

  When Rostam goes to battle with Esfandiyar, he immediately realizes that despite his experience in fighting and defeating numerous demons, dragons, and warriors, he is no match for the brilliant prince. During the first day of battle, Rostam and his legendary horse Rakhsh are gravely wounded by Esfandiyar’s sharp arrowheads, which pierce body armors designed to protect the knight and his steed. Rostam tries desperately to reciprocate by shooting arrows at Esfandiyar’s body, but they prove to be ineffective because the body of the Iranian prince is invincible, as he has been blessed by the prophet Zarathustra.

  Desperate to save his son from humiliation and death at the hands of Esfandiyar, Rostam’s father, Zal, appeals to Simorgh for assistance. Upon burning one of Simorgh’s feathers, the magnificent bird appears once again. Zal explains the deadly situation that he, his son, and their entire family confront. Simorgh immediately attends to Rostam’s wounds after removing Esfandiyar’s arrows from his body. The wise bird then uses her healing feathers to revive Rostam’s horse, Rakhsh. Once Simorgh has healed their injuries, the wise bird reveals the secret of fighting and defeating Esfandiyar. The Kayanian crown prince can only be killed if Rostam discharges an arrow against his eyes. Rostam follows Simorgh’s instructions, striking Esfandiyar in his eyes and killing the Kayanian prince on the battlefield.