Rostam
Encyclopedia
- For the historical general who fought at the Battle of al-QādisiyyahBattle of al-QadisiyyahThe Battle of al-Qādisiyyah was fought in 636; it was the decisive engagement between the Arab muslim army and the Sassanid Persian army during the first period of Muslim expansion. It resulted in the Islamic conquest of Persia, and was key to the conquest of Iraq...
for the Sassanid EmpireSassanid EmpireThe Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
, also mentioned in the ShahnamehShahnamehThe 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...
, see Rostam FarrokhzādRostam FarrokhzadRostam Farrokhzād was the Ērān Spāhbod of the Sāsānian Empire under the reign of Yazdgird, r. 632 - 651...
.
Rostam is the national hero of Greater Iran
Greater Iran
Greater Iran refers to the regions that have significant Iranian cultural influence. It roughly corresponds to the territory on the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains, stretching from Iraq, the Caucasus, and Turkey in the west to the Indus River in the east...
from Zabulistan
Zabulistan
Zabulistan , also spelled Zabolestan, is a historical region in the border area of today's Iran and Afghanistan.-History of Zabulistan:...
in Persian mythology
Persian mythology
Persian mythology are traditional tales and stories of ancient origin, some involving extraordinary or supernatural beings. Drawn from the legendary past of the Iranian cultural continent which especially consists of the state of Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Central Asia, they reflect the...
and son of Zal
Zal
Zāl , also transliterated Zaal, is a legendary Persian warrior from the old Persian "The Book of Kings/ The king of books" or Shahnameh.-Background:...
and Rudaba
Rudaba
Rūdāba or Roodabeh is a Persian mythological female figure in Ferdowsi's epic Shahnameh. She is the princess of Kabul, daughter of Mehrab Kaboli, and later she becomes married to Zal, as they become lovers. They had two children, including Rostam, the main hero of the Shahnama.-Etymology:The word...
. In some ways, the position of Rostam in the historical tradition is parallel to that of Surena
Surena
Surena or Suren may refer to either a noble family of Parthia also known as the House of Suren, or to a renowned 1st century BC General Surena who was a member of that family....
, the hero of the Carrhae
Battle of Carrhae
The Battle of Carrhae, fought in 53 BC near the town of Carrhae, was a major battle between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic. The Parthian Spahbod Surena decisively defeated a Roman invasion force led by Marcus Licinius Crassus...
. His figure was endowed with many features of the historical personality of Rostam. The latter was always represented as the mightiest of Iranian paladin
Paladin
The paladins, sometimes known as the Twelve Peers, were the foremost warriors of Charlemagne's court, according to the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. They first appear in the early chansons de geste such as The Song of Roland, where they represent Christian martial valor against the...
s, and the atmosphere of the episodes in which he features is strongly reminiscent of the Arsacid period
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
. He was immortalized by the 10th century poet Ferdowsi of Tus
Ferdowsi
Ferdowsi was a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and related societies.The Shahnameh was originally composed by Ferdowsi for the princes of the Samanid dynasty, who were responsible for a revival of Persian cultural traditions after the...
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...
or Epic of Kings, which contain pre-Islamic folklore and history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
.
Background
In FerdowsiFerdowsi
Ferdowsi was a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and related societies.The Shahnameh was originally composed by Ferdowsi for the princes of the Samanid dynasty, who were responsible for a revival of Persian cultural traditions after the...
's 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...
, Rostam is a Persian hero. Rostam is the champion of champions and is involved in numerous stories, constituting some of the most popular (and arguably some of most masterfully created) parts of the Shahnameh. As a young child, he slays the maddened white elephant
White elephant
A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth...
of the king Manuchehr with just one blow of the mace owned by his grandfather Sam, son of Nariman. He then tames his legendary stallion, Rakhsh
Rakhsh
Rakhsh is the stallion of main protagonist Rostam in the Persian national epic, Shahnameh of Ferdowsi.The color of Rakhsh is described as "rose leaves that have been scattered upon a saffron ground" and it is first noticed by Rostam amongst the flocks of horses brought over from Zabulistan and Kabul...
. The etymology of the name Rostam is from Raodh+Takhma, where Raodh means growth, reaped, developed and Takhma means brave. In the Avesta, the form is *Raosta-takhma and in Pahlavi *Rodastahm.
Mehrdad Bahar regards the etymology of the name to be "Ruta-staxma", i.e. the river that descends, and argues that Rostam could have been an ancient god of the river Helmand. The fact that Rustam's mother is called Rudabeh (i.e. The river of water) and his father is Zal
Zal
Zāl , also transliterated Zaal, is a legendary Persian warrior from the old Persian "The Book of Kings/ The king of books" or Shahnameh.-Background:...
who has a white hair, Bahar continues the argument to say that Zal is a metaphor for mountains from which the river forms, whose head is always white with snow.
Birth
In Persian mythologyPersian mythology
Persian mythology are traditional tales and stories of ancient origin, some involving extraordinary or supernatural beings. Drawn from the legendary past of the Iranian cultural continent which especially consists of the state of Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Central Asia, they reflect the...
, Rudaba's labor of Rostam was prolonged due to the extraordinary size of her baby. Zal
Zal
Zāl , also transliterated Zaal, is a legendary Persian warrior from the old Persian "The Book of Kings/ The king of books" or Shahnameh.-Background:...
, her lover and husband, was certain that his wife would die in labor. Rudaba was near death when Zal decided to summon the Simurgh
Simurgh
Simurgh , also spelled simorgh, simurg, simoorg or simourv, also known as Angha , is the modern Persian name for a benevolent, mythical flying creature...
. The Simurgh appeared and instructed him upon how to perform a "Rostamzad" (Persian equivalent for Caesarean section
Caesarean section
A Caesarean section, is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen and uterus to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus...
), thus saving Rudaba and the child.
Haft Khan
He passes through a hero's journey to save his sovereign, Kay Kavus who is captured by the demons (Divs) of Mazandaran. This journey is called "Rostam's Seven Quests" (Persian: Haft Khan-e Rostam).
It is thought that the tale of Rostam and Sohrab
Rostam and Sohrab
Rustam and Sohrab is a tragedy from the Persian epic Shahnameh. It tells the tragic story of the heroes Rustam and his son, Sohrab.-Plot:...
is somehow related to the Lay of Hildebrand
Lay of Hildebrand
The Lay of Hildebrand is a heroic lay, written in Old High German alliterative verse. It is one of the earliest literary works in German, and it tells of the tragic encounter in battle between a son and his unrecognized father...
.
There are some similarities between the legends of Rostam and those pertaining to the great Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
hero Cúchulainn
Cúchulainn
Cú Chulainn or Cúchulainn , and sometimes known in English as Cuhullin , is an Irish mythological hero who appears in the stories of the Ulster Cycle, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore...
. They both defeat a ferocious beast as a very young man, slay their sons in combat, are virtually invincible in combat, and are murdered by treachery while killing their murderer on their last breath.
Two Persian heroes, Rustam and Esfandyar, share Labours stories with Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
.
Alternate views
It is written by the Royal Central Asian Society in the Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society that the struggle between Rostam and the white demon represents a struggle between Persians and invaders from the north, from the Caspian provinces.Descent and other relations
With TahminehTahmineh
Tahmeena, Tahmina or Tahmineh is a female character in the Shahnameh. Her name is mentioned as the wife of Rostam and as the daughter of Samanganshah, the sovereign of Samangan.-References in the Shahnameh:...
, princess of Samangam, Rostam had a son called Sohrab
Sohrab
Sohrāb or Suhrāb is a character from the Shahnameh, or the Tales of Kings by Ferdowsi in the tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab. He was the son of Rostam, who was an Iranian warrior, and Tahmineh, the daughter of the king of Samangam, a neighboring country. He was slain at a young age by his father...
, who was killed accidentally by his father in the time of Kay Kavus. Rostam later had a daughter called Banu Goshasp
Banu Goshasp
Banu Goshasp or Goshasp Banu is an important heroine in Iranian mythology. She is the daughter of Rustam and the wife of the hero Giv. She is mentioned in several Persian epics including the Banu Goshasp Nama.-Banu Goshasp Nama:...
, who had a full brother called Faramarz, and both became renowned heroes in Turan and India. Goshasp, through her marriage with Giv had a son, Bijan
Bijan and Manijeh
Bijan and Manijeh is a love story in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh . Bijan was the son of Giv, a great warrior of Iran during the reign of Kai Khosrow and Banu Goshasp, the heroine daughter of Rostam...
.
Rostam had also a half brother called Shaghad
Shaghad
Shaghad was the half-brother of Rostam, the mighty Iranian hero of the Shahnameh, who killed Rostam by dropping him into a pit full of swords or other sharp objects.-Plot:...
, who was always jealous of him and provoked his death.
Just as famous as Rostam was his horse Rakhsh
Rakhsh
Rakhsh is the stallion of main protagonist Rostam in the Persian national epic, Shahnameh of Ferdowsi.The color of Rakhsh is described as "rose leaves that have been scattered upon a saffron ground" and it is first noticed by Rostam amongst the flocks of horses brought over from Zabulistan and Kabul...
, which had an incredibly long life like Rostam, due to divine protection, and died at the same time as Rostam.
Rostam and Shabrang
In ancient myth, Kolak Chall in AlborzAlborz
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...
was the house of Div-e-Sepid, who was slain by the great Persian hero Rostam.
Some years later, Shabrang (literally "dark as night"), the son of Div-e-Sepid, came to fight with Rostam. Their first battle was also in Kollak Chall.
See also
- SurenaSurenaSurena or Suren may refer to either a noble family of Parthia also known as the House of Suren, or to a renowned 1st century BC General Surena who was a member of that family....
- List of Shahnameh characters
- Rostam and SohrabRostam and SohrabRustam and Sohrab is a tragedy from the Persian epic Shahnameh. It tells the tragic story of the heroes Rustam and his son, Sohrab.-Plot:...
- Banu GoshaspBanu GoshaspBanu Goshasp or Goshasp Banu is an important heroine in Iranian mythology. She is the daughter of Rustam and the wife of the hero Giv. She is mentioned in several Persian epics including the Banu Goshasp Nama.-Banu Goshasp Nama:...
External links
- Web Resources
- Shahnameh, by Hakim Abol-Qasem Ferdowsi Tusi, the complete work (64 Epics), in Persian (ParsTech). This work can be freely downloaded (File size, compiled in the form of an HTML Help File: 1.4 MB).
- Iraj Bashiri, Characters of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, Iran Chamber Society, 2003.
- Rustam, English comic book adaptation of tales from the Shahnameh.
- Shahnameh, English translation by Helen ZimmernHelen ZimmernHelen Zimmern was a German-British writer and translator.-Biography:Zimmern and her parents emigrated in 1850 to Britain, where her father became a Nottingham lace merchant. She was naturalized upon coming of age. She was the sister of the suffragist Alice Zimmern and a cousin of the political...
. - Shahnameh. Helen Zimmern translation.
- Shahnameh, Arthur and Edmond Warner translation.
- New Translation of 'Persian Book of Kings' - March, 2006 from NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, and "The Epic of Iran" - April, 2006, from the New York Times. Also, on 14 May 2006, Washington Post Pulitzer Prize winning book critic Michael Dirda reviewed Dick Davis's translation "Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings" "This marvelous translation of an ancient Persian classic brings these stories alive for a new audience.". The illustrated three-volume slipcase edition of this translation is ISBN 0-934211-97-3