The Persian Empire
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With Jamshid losing divine glory after he has declared himself to be a god, the world plunges into a long period of chaos. In a desperate attempt to find a successor for Jamshid, the court dignitaries agree to invite Zahhak to assume the reins of power. Once he has ascended the throne, Zahhak embarks on a long search for Jamshid. When Jamshid is finally captured, Zahhak orders his body to be sawed in half. Having split Jamshid into two pieces, Zahhak secures the throne, marries Jamshid’s two sisters, and rules with oppression and injustice for 1,000 years. The demonic nature of the evil king continues to unfold, represented by the continuous demand of the two serpents, which have grown on his shoulders, for more human brains. Thus, Zahhak becomes known as Mardush (Serpent/Snake Shoulder). At last, the tyranny of Zahhak comes to an end after a blacksmith named Kaveh revolts against the tyrannical king. Kaveh brings Fereydun, a direct descendant of Jamshid, out of his hiding place. After overthrowing Zahhak and dragging him in chains to a cave at the summit of Mount Damavand in the Alborz mountain range of northern Iran, Fereydun ascends the throne as the legitimate king.
See also: Legendary Kings: Fereydun; Kaveh; Zahhak; Primary Documents: Document 39
Further Reading
Avery, Peter. The Spirit of Iran. Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers, 2007.
Ferdowsi. Shahnameh. Edited by Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh. New York: Mazda Publishers, 1997.
The Zend-Avesta, Part III: The Yasna, Visparad, Āfrīnagān, Gāhs, and Miscellaneous Fragments. Translated by James Darmester. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1965.
Katayun
One of the heroines of Iran’s legendary history. Katayun appears in the Shahnameh [Book of Kings] of Ferdowsi as the daughter of the king of Rum; the wife of the Kayanian prince, Goshtasp; and the mother of Esfandiyar, a hero in Iranian national history. In the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi portrays Goshtasp as the crown prince of King Lohrasp, a monarch of the Kayanian dynasty who ruled Greater Iran. Goshtasp, who is becoming increasingly alienated from his father, decides to leave Iran and travel west to the kingdom of Rum. Rum refers to Asia Minor, the core territory of the East Roman Empire. Living anonymously in Rum, Goshtasp fails to find employment and a source of income. On the brink of impoverishment and starvation, he stumbles upon a nobleman who invites him to live at his house as a guest of honor. Meanwhile, the king of Rum is looking for a husband for his eldest daughter, Katayun. In accordance with established tradition, the king organizes a reception intended to allow his daughter to pick her husband from among the princes who would attend the banquet. The night before the banquet, Katayun dreams of a prince who will become her husband. When she attends her father’s banquet, however, she does not meet the prince she had seen in her dream. Having witnessed the sadness and disappointment of his daughter, the king organizes a second gathering to which he invites a larger number of eligible bachelors, including the sons of high government officials. With the encouragement of the nobleman who is acting as his host, Goshtasp attends the second reception organized by the king of Rum. As soon as Katayun sets her eyes on the Iranian prince, she recognizes him as the man in her dream and hands him the bouquet of flowers she had prepared for her future husband. Unaware of Goshtasp’s royal lineage and stunned and angered by the decision of his daughter to select a foreigner as her spouse, the king threatens to kill Katayun. The intercession of courtiers, however, convinces the king to spare his daughter’s life. Instead, the enraged monarch expels Katayun from the royal palace. Banished and without a source of income, Goshtasp and Katayun are forced to live with the patron of Goshtasp, relying solely on the sale of a few pieces of jewelry, which Katayun had taken with her at the time of her banishment. The situation changes suddenly, however, when the king of Rum observes the bravery, courage, and brilliance of Goshtasp in archery and polo competitions. The king showers favors on Goshtasp, who criticizes the monarch for his callous and heartless behavior toward his daughter.
The king of Rum and Katayun remain unaware of Goshtasp’s actual identity. The truth about the royal lineage of the Kayanian prince is revealed when his brother Zarir arrives in Rum. The purpose of Zarir’s visit is to convince Goshtasp to return to his homeland. Goshtasp agrees to return with Katayun as his wife. Having discovered the truth about Goshtasp, the king of Rum apologizes to the Kayanian prince and showers his daughter with numerous gifts and a large dowry. Once Goshtasp arrives at the court of his father, King Lohrasp, the aging monarch places the royal crown on the head of Goshtasp and abdicates in favor of his son. From this union between Goshtasp, the crown prince of the Kayanian dynasty, and Katayun, the princess of Rum, one of Iran’s most brilliant and tragic heroes, Esfandiyar, is born. It is during the reign of Goshtasp that the Iranian prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster) arrives at the royal court. Goshtasp welcomes the prophet and eventually converts to his religion. Following their royal master, the court dignitaries and high officials also convert to the new religion.
The account by Ferdowsi in the Shahnameh contradicts the lineage of Esfandiyar as stated in the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book. The name of the mother of Esfandiyar in the Avesta is not Katayun but Hutaosa (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Farvardin Yasht, 139; The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Ashi Yasht, 46), “she of the many brothers, of the Naotara house,” who begs of Vayu, the Iranian deity of wind, for a boon so that she “may be dear and loved and well-received in the house of the king Vishtaspa” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Ram Yasht, 35–36). The German scholar Friedrich Spiegel has shown the striking similarity between the story of Goshtasp in the Shahnameh and the story of Zariadres and Odatis. This story was featured among the Greek texts related to Persian customs and beliefs.
See also: Legendary Kings: Esfandiyar; Goshtasp; Lohrasp
Further Reading
Ferdowsi. Shahnameh. Edited by Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh. New York: Mazda Publishers, 1997.
Moazami, Mahnaz. “Katāyun.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2013, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/katayun.
The Zend-Avesta, Part II. Translated by James Darmesteter. Delhi: Motilal Banarsdass, 1965.
Kaveh
Kaveh, or Kaveh-ye Ahangar (Kaveh the Blacksmith), is one of the most popular and beloved heroes of Iran’s legendary history. He has been described as a simple and honest blacksmith who lived during the long reign of Zahhak, the most reviled and repugnant tyrant in Iranian mythology. In the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book, Zahhak appears as Azhi Dahaka, “the three-mouthed, the three-headed, and the six-eyed” monster who “has a thousand senses” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Aban Yasht, 34). The Zoroastrian scriptures describe him as “the most powerful, fiendish Druj [the lie], that demon, baleful to the world, the strongest Druj that Angra Mainyu [the evil spirit] created against the material world, to destroy the world of good principle” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Aban Yasht, 34). The Azhi Dahaka of the Avesta worships Aredvi Sura Anahita in a castle in the land of Bawri, which has been identified by some as Babylon. The principal opponent of Azhi Dahaka in the Avesta is Thraetaona, “the heir of the valiant Athwya clan” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Aban Yasht, 33). Thraetaona begs the goddess Aredvi Sura Anahita to give him a boon so that he can overcome and defeat Azhi Dahaka (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Aban Yasht, 33).
In Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh [Book of Kings], Azhi Dahaka is transformed into Zahhak, a vicious, ruthless, and cruel tyrant who personifies evil, while his opponent, the Thraetaona of the Avesta, appears as Fereydun, a young and courageous descendant of King Jamshid who is destined to overthrow Zahhak. Zahhak seizes power when the reigning monarch Jamshid loses his divine glory after he proclaims himself to be divine. Jamshid, who had ruled men and demons for 616 years and 6 months, is considered the greatest of all kings of the legendary Pishdadian dynasty.
The chaos that prevails after Jamshid’s departure from the throne allows Zahhak to seize the reins of power. Once on the throne, Zahhak embarks on a long search for Jamshid. When Jamshid is finally captured, Zahhak orders his body to be sawed in half. Zahhak rules with oppression and injustice for 1,0
00 years. During his long reign, the demonic king murders young men, whose brains he then feeds to the two snakes that have appeared on his shoulders. His persistent demand to sacrifice innocent human beings to feed his hungry serpents outrages his subjects, who are too frightened to protest his heinous acts.
The sons of the blacksmith Kaveh are among those who are detained and transported to the royal palace so that their brains might be fed to the snakes on Zahhak’s shoulders. Kaveh, however, refuses to allow his sons to be sacrificed without voicing any protest. The defiant blacksmith marches to the palace and protests the king’s cruelty and injustice. After listening to Kaveh’s protest, Zahhak orders the blacksmith’s sons to be released but demands that in return for this demonstration of royal mercy and compassion Kaveh sign a proclamation that declares Zahhak to be a just ruler. This demand enrages Kaveh, who tears up the proclamation and storms out. As he leaves the palace, Kaveh places his blacksmith’s leather apron on a long pole to use it as his standard. Crowds gather around Kaveh, and his protest quickly turns into a mass uprising. The defiant blacksmith and his supporters march to the Alborz Mountains seeking Fereydun, son of Abtin, a descendant of King Jamshid, who lives in the mountains in hiding, fearing for his life. Fereydun emerges from hiding and marches at the head of an army against Zahhak, who is defeated and captured. The demonic tyrant is then dragged in chains to a cave at the summit of Mount Damavand in northern Iran. With Fereydun ascending the throne, power is restored to the rightful line of kings of the Pishdadian dynasty, and peace and justice are restored.
The story of Kaveh was widely known in ancient Iran. During the reign of the Sasanian dynasty (r. 224–651 CE), the leather standard of Kaveh, known in Persian as Derafsh-e Kavyan, emerged as the national flag of the empire and the symbol of Iranian pride and independence. Upon ascending the throne, each Sasanian king attached a precious jewel of his own to the leather apron. The standard of Kaveh accompanied the Persian kings onto every major battlefield because its presence was believed to bring triumph and victory to Iranian armies. The jewel-covered Derafsh-e Kavyan fell into the hands of Arab Muslims in the Battle of Qadisiyyah in 636 CE. The jewels were detached from the leather apron, and the apron itself was either burned or discarded.
The story of Kaveh and his revolt lived on and reappeared in the Shahnameh [Book of Kings] by Ferdowsi, who transformed the evil Azhi Dahaka of Zoroastrian tradition into Zahhak, an Arab ruler who seizes the throne of Iran and rules with oppression and injustice. For Ferdowsi, the revolution of the Iranian people that led to the overthrow of the demonic Zahhak and the restoration of legitimate rule under Fereydun was not merely an uprising against tyranny and injustice but a patriotic revolution to remove foreign rule from the ancient land of Iran.
Another writer of the Islamic era, Abu Rayhan Biruni (973–1048/1050 CE), linked the story of Kaveh to the celebration of the ancient Iranian feast of Mihragan (Mehrgan). According to Biruni, the Sasanian kings of ancient Iran celebrated the 16th day of the Iranian month of Mihr/Mehr by adorning their heads with a crown on which appeared the image of the sun and the wheel upon which the sun rotated (Biruni: 207, 40). Biruni went on to explain that he and his contemporaries believed that the day of Mihragan was especially venerated because it celebrated the joy that mankind felt upon first hearing Fereydun coming forward to rule after Kaveh had revolted against the evil Zahhak and had called upon the people to rally round Fereydun as their new king (Biruni: 207, 40–208, 1). Biruni also reminded his readers that Kaveh was the man whose gold- and jewel-encrusted leather standard, the Derafsh-e Kavyan, the Persian kings had adopted as their own (Biruni: 208, 1).
See also: Legendary Kings: Fereydun; Zahhak
Further Reading
Biruni, Abu Rayhan. Athar ul-Baqiya [Vestiges of the Past]. Translated by C. Edward Sachau as The Chronology of Ancient Nations. London: W. H. Allen, 1879.
Browne, Edward G. A Literary History of Persia, Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1929.
Gardizi. Tarikh-e Gardizi. Edited by Abdol-Hay Habibi. Tehran: Donya-ye Ketab, 1985.
The Zend-Avesta, Part II: The Sirozahs, Yashts and Nyayish. Translated by James Darmesteter. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1965.
Kay Kavus
The second king of the legendary Kayanian dynasty, Kay Kavus is the successor to the first Kayanian monarch, Kay Qobad (Kay Kavata), himself a descendant of the great king Fereydun. In Farvardin Yasht, Kay Kavus appears as the holy king Usadhan and one of the four sons of Aipivanghu. His brothers are listed as Arshan, Pisanah, and Byarshan (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Farvardin Yasht, 132–133). In Aban Yasht, he is mentioned as Kavi Usa, “the great” and “most wise” who offers a sacrifice of “hundred male horses, a thousand oxen,” and “ten thousand lambs” to the goddess of waters, Aredvi Sura Anahita, from a mountain called Erezifya so that he may “become the sovereign lord of all countries, of the Daevas [demons] and men, of the Yatus [wizards] and Pairikas [witches], of the oppressors, the blind and the deaf” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Aban Yasht, 45–46). In Zamyad Yasht, his name is included in a list of the Kavis, or the mighty rulers of the Kayanian dynasty, “all of them brave, all of them strong, all of them healthful, all of them wise, all of them happy in their wishes, all of them powerful kings” (The Zend-Avesta, Part II: Zamyad Yasht, 71–72). In the Pahlavi text, Bundahishn, he is called Kai Kaus, a grandson of Kavad (Kai Kavad) and one of the four sons of Kai Apiveh. He himself is the father of “Siyavakhsh” (Siyavash) and the grandfather of “Kai Khusrob” (Kay Khosrow) (Pahlavi Texts, Part I: Bundahishn, 31.25).
In the writings of the historians of the Islamic era, Kay Kavus appears as a ruthless and ambitious monarch who has a tendency to bungle and mismanage critical situations. The historian Tabari describes him as a king who protected his country and subjects from foreign invaders (Tabari: 2.421). Kay Kavus also sends his son, the beautiful and gifted Siyavakhsh, to the great legendary hero Rostam in Sistan in eastern Iran to educate him in various fields of knowledge, including the art of horseback riding (Tabari: 2.421). Siyavakhsh returns home a young, handsome, and highly able young man. Kay Kavus tests his son and is pleased with his vast knowledge and exceptional talents. During Siyavakhsh’s absence, Kay Kavus has married a new wife, Sudabeh. According to Tabari, Sudabeh, who is a sorcerer, falls in love with Siyavakhsh and tries to seduce the Kayanian crown prince. Siyavakhsh, however, rejects Sudabeh’s advances. Humiliated and infuriated by this rejection, Sudabeh slanders Siyavakhsh in front of Kay Kavus, who changes his feelings toward his son. Having realized the change in his father’s attitude toward him, Siyavakhsh begs Rostam to convince his father to appoint him as the commander of the Kayanian forces fighting Afrasiyab, the king of Turan (Tabari: 2.422). Siyavakhsh intends to be as far away from his stepmother, Sudabeh, as possible. When the armies of Siyavakhsh and Afrasiyab join in battle, the two sides opt for a peace treaty. Siyavakhsh writes to his father and informs him of the peace treaty he has signed. Kay Kavus is infuriated by news of the treaty signed between his son and the hated Afrasiyab. Kay Kavus therefore writes to Siyavakhsh and orders him to resume the campaign against the Turanian monarch. Siyavakhsh refuses to break his peace treaty with the Turanians and flees Iran for Turan, seeking refuge at the court of Afrasiyab.
In Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh [Book of Kings], Kavi Usadhan or Kavi Usa appears as Kay Kavus, the second king of the Kayanian dynasty, an arrogant and reckless monarch who embarks on unnecessary campaigns against dangerous and powerful enemies. In one campaign he attacks the demons of Mazandaran, who inflict a humiliating defeat on Kay Kavus and his army. The Kayanian monarch is captured by Div-e Sefid, the powerful white demon, who imprisons the imprudent king and his commanders in a cave after he takes away their eyesight and puts them in chains. Addressing Kay Kavus, the white demon declares:
Kavus, you’re like a willow, fruitless and scared.
You once thought your army could invade
Mazandaran, …
Since you have ascended the
throne of Iran,
Good judgment has deserted you, good reasoning has flown away.
Here is the end of everything you sought,
Here is the punishment for which you fought!
Kavus is only rescued from the clutches of the white demon after Rostam, the greatest hero of legendary Iran, travels to Mazandaran and fights and defeats the white demon in hand-to-hand combat. Having scored an impressive victory over the white demon, Rostam unshackles Kay Kavus, who also regains his sight after his eyes are brushed with the blood of the white demon.