Kai Kobad is a mythological figure of Iranian folklore and oral tradition. The 'Kai' stock epithet identifies Kobad as a Kayanian

Kayanian dynasty

The Kayanian, also Kays or Kayanids or Kaianids, are a dynasty of Greater Iranian tradition and folklore. Considered collectively, the Kayanian kings are the heroes of the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, and of the Shahnameh, Iran's national epic.As an epithet of kings and the reason...

, a (semi-)mythological dynasty that in tradition Kai Kobad was also the founder of.

In the tradition preserved in the Shahnameh

Shahnameh

The Shahnameh or Shah-nama is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c.977 and 1010 AD and is the national epic of Iran and related societies...

, Kai Kobad was a descendant of Manuchehr

Manuchehr

Manūchehr , older Persian Manōčihr, Avestan Manuščiθra, is a character in Shahnameh. He is the first of the legendary Shāhs who ruled Iran after the breakup of the world empire of Manūchehr's great-grandfather, Fereydūn....

, and lived in the Alborz

Alborz

Alborz , also written as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran stretching from the borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the northwest to the southern end of the Caspian Sea, and ending in the east at the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan...

 mountains, and was brought to the Estaxr (the capital) by Rustam. Under Nowzar

Nowzar

Nowzar is a character in Shahnameh. He is the son of Manuchehr and becomes the Shah of Iran after his father's death. His reign of seven years comes to an end when he is killed by Afrasiab during a battle....

, who loses the for oppressing the Iranians, the Pishdādi dynasty

Hushang

Hushang or Hōshang , older Persian Hōšang, was the second Shāh to rule the world according to Ferdowsi's Shāhnāma. Hushang is based upon the legendary figure Haošyaŋha in the ancient Zoroastrian scripture of the Avesta....

 grows weak, and Iran falls to the Aniran

Aniran

Anīrān or Anērān is an ethno-linguistic term that signifies "non-Iranian" or "non-Iran." Thus, in a general sense, 'Aniran' signifies lands where Iranian languages are not spoken...

ian General Afrasiab

Afrasiab

Afrasiab is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan.-The Mythical King and Hero:According to the Shahnameh , by the Persian epic poet Ferdowsi, Afrasiab was the king and hero of Turan and an archenemy of Iran...

, who kills Nowzar in battle. Then however, Kobad defeats Afrasiyab in personal combat, and for this feat and because he possesses the he is elected king by the Iranians, and the descendents of Nowzar—Zou, Garshasp and Gastham—pay him allegiance.

Sources and references

• Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Dick Davis trans. (2006), Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings ISBN 0-670-03485-1, modern English translation (abridged), current standard
• Warner, Arthur and Edmond Warner, (translators) The Shahnama of Firdausi, 9 vols. (London: Keegan Paul, 1905-1925) (complete English verse translation)
• Shirzad Aghaee, Nam-e kasan va ja'i-ha dar Shahnama-ye Ferdousi(Personalities and Places in the Shahnama of Ferdousi, Nyköping, Sweden, 1993. (ISBN 91-630-1959-0)
• Jalal Khāleghi Motlagh, Editor, The Shahnameh, to be published in 8 volumes (ca. 500 pages each), consisting of six volumes of text and two volumes of explanatory notes. See: Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University.