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or Bānu Gošasb; entitled savār (knight), Rostam’s daughter and the wife of Gēv. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 170-171 GOŠASB BĀNU, (or Bānu Gošasb) entitled savār (knight), Rostam’s daughter and the wife of Gēv (qq.v.). She is the heroine of a short epic of some 900 verses, called Bānu Gošasb-nāma, by an unknown poet probably from the 5th/11th or 6th/12th century. There is a manuscript of the poem at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (Cat. Bibliothèque Nationale, p. 18, no. 1194). It was once printed with Farāmarz-nāma (ed. R. Tafti, Bombay, …

10th century Samanid poet. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 89 ʿABBĀSĪ RABENJANĪ, ABU’L-ʿABBĀS (or ABŪ ʿABDALLĀH), a Samanid poet from Rabenǰān, a city near Samarqand, south of the Soḡd river. He flourished in the first half of the 4th/10th century; a one-line fragment of his poetry praises the ruler Naṣr b. Aḥmad (r. 301-31/914-42) at the beginning of the year 331/914, and another fragment laments his passing and congratulates Nūḥ I on his accession (Lazard, Premiers poètes II, lines 1, 18-22). This five-line piece is the longest sample …

name of two heroes in the Šāh-nāma. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 171 GOSTAHAM (< OI.*Vistaxma, "wielder of far-reaching power"; New. Pers. Gostaham, BestÂām; see Justi, Nāmenbuch, pp. 371-72), name of two heroes in the Šāh-nāma. 1. Son of Nōḏar and younger brother of Ṭōs (Šāh-nāma, ed. Khaleghi, I, p. 302). Gostaham is first mentioned in the Šāh-nāma in the reign of his father, but his major adventures are in the episodes performed in the reign of Kay Ḵosrow. He is installed by Kay Ḵosrow as the ruler of a part of …

one of the foremost heroes of the national epic in the reigns of Kay Kāvūs and Kay Ḵosrow. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 6, pp. 577-578 GĒV, one of the foremost heroes of the national epic in the reigns of Kay Kāvūs and Kay Ḵosrow (qq.v.). According to the Šāh-nāma, he is the son of Gōdarz and father of Bēžan/Bīžan and a direct descendant of Kāva the Smith (Kāva-ye Āhangar; qq.v.) through his paternal grandfather, Kašvād. He probably was a historical personality from the Parthian era who, contrary to traditional a…

son of Milād, one of the heroes of the reigns of Kay Kāvus and Kay Ḵosrow and the head of the Milād family. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 163 GORGIN, son of Milād, one of the heroes of the reigns of Kay Kāvus and Kay Ḵosrow ( Šāh-nāma, ed. Khaleghi, III, p. 11,) and the head of the Milād family. Ṭabari’s mention of Gorgin (I, pp. 608, 614) as the name of both the son and father of Milād is possible, since it was not unusual to name the first grandson after his grandfather (cf. Gōdarz, q.v., which is the na…

daughter of Gaždaham, the castellan of Dež-e Sapid, the Iranian fortress on the frontier with Turān. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 138 GORDĀFARID, daughter of Gaždaham (q.v.), the castellan of Dež-e Sapid (q.v.), the Iranian fortress on the frontier with Turān. She plays a daringly martial role in the tragic episode of Rostam and Sohrāb ( Šāh-nāma, ed. Khaleghi, II, pp. 130-37). Upon Sohrāb’s attack on Dež-e Sapid and the defeat and capture of the Iranian hero, Hojir, Gordāfarid puts on her armor and challenges the…

an Iranian hero of Dež-e Safīd, a fortress near the border seperating Iran from Tūrān, during the reigns of the Kayanid kings Nōḏar and Kay Kāvūs. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 4, pp. 384 GAŽDAHAM, an Iranian hero of Dež-e Safīd (q.v.), a fortress near the border seperating Iran from Tūrān, during the reigns of the Kayanid kings Nōḏar and Kay Kāvūs ( Šāh-nāma, ed. Khaleghi, I, p. 305; II, pp. 130-40). Already an old man in the reign of Kay Kāvūs, Gaždaham was unable to fight Sohrāb when the latter invaded Iran and attacked the …

or Ferōd; son of Sīāvaḵš and half brother of Kay Ḵosrow. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 1, pp. 107 FORŪD (or Ferōd), son of Sīāvaḵš and half brother of Kay Ḵosrow. His mother is Jarīra (according to the Šāh-nāma; Ṭabarī mentions Borzāfarīd as her name), the eldest daughter, or the sister ( Mojmal, ed. Bahār, p. 29), of Pīrān, the commander-in-chief of Afrāsīāb’s (q.v.) army. In his first campaign against Afrāsīāb to avenge the murder of Sīāvaḵš, Kay Ḵosrow instructs Ṭōs, his commander-in-chief, not to take the route c…

officer, famous poet, and author in the reign of the Saljuq Sultan Moḥammad b. Malekšāh (498-511/1105-18). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 387 ABŪ ṬĀHER ḴĀTŪNĪ, MOWAFFAQ-AL-DAWLA, officer, famous poet, and author in the reign of the Saljuq Sultan Moḥammad b. Malekšāh (498-511/1105-18). He was the accountant ( mostawfī) for Gowhar Ḵātūn, wife of Sultan Moḥammad; hence, probably, his epithet Ḵātūnī. The title ( laqab) Kamāl-al-dīn ( Maǰmaʿ al-foṣaḥāʾ I, p. 141) is discredited by the earlier evidence of Asadī Ṭūsī ( Loḡat-e fors [Tehran], p. 41) …

Term applied to a genre of literature as well as to refined and well-mannered conduct; in Persian it is often synonymous with farhang. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 431-444 ADAB ADAB i. Adab in Iran The term and its synonyms. Apart from a genre of literature (see section ii), adab in Persian means education, culture, good behavior, politeness, proper demeanor; thus it is closely linked with the concept of ethics. The first occurrence of its use in Persian is in poems by Šahīd Balḵī, who died before 325/936 (Lazard, Premiers poètes, p. 24, nos. 11-13). Ad…

the fourth son of Kay Qobād in certain texts of the Šāh-nāma. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 5, pp. 483 ARMIN, the fourth son of Kay Qobād in certain texts of the Šāh-nāma (ed. Mohl, 11, v. 228; Borūḵīm, II, p. 314; Gozīda-ye loḡat-eŠāh-nāma, v. 191), apparently a misreading of the Av. Kavi Byaršan ( Yt. 13.132 and Yt. 19.7) found as Kay Āḏaraš, Kay Āras, Āraš in some other texts (e.g., [Moscow] II, p. 74; cf. Ṭabarī, I, pp. 534, 617). Spiegel and Nöldeke held that the misreading must date from long before Ferdowsī’s time,…

author of a Šāh-nāma, according to Bīrūnī ( Āṯār al-bāqīa, pp. 99f.). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 254-255 ABŪ ʿALĪ MOḤAMMAD B. AḤMAD BALḴĪ, author of a Šāh-nāma, according to Bīrūnī ( Āṯār al-bāqīa, pp. 99f.). Abū ʿAlī is said to have selected traditions regarding the beginning of the world from Sīar al-molūk by Ebn Moqaffaʿ and books by Moḥammad b. Jahm Barmakī, Hešām b. Qāsem, Bahrām b. Mardānšāh (mobad of the city of Šāpūr), and Bahrām b. Mehrān Eṣfahānī, and to have compared these versions with the book of…

Sufi, jurist, and traditionist, one of the first poets to write in New Persian. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 248-249 ABU’L- ʿABBĀS B. ḤANŪD MARVAZĪ, Sufi, jurist, and traditionist, one of the first poets to write in New Persian. Soyūṭī (d. 911/1505) and, following him, ʿAlāʾ-al-dīn Dede (d. 1007/1598) date his death to 300/912 (Ṣafā, Adabīyāt I, p. 178); while according to ʿAwfī ( Lobāb, pp. 21f.) and Maǰmaʿ al-foṣaḥāʾ (I, pp. vii, 131-32), he flourished towards the end of the 2nd/8th-9th century. ʿAwfī, who calls him simply ʿA…

name of several figures in the Šāh-nāma. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 4, pp. 382 ARDAŠĪR, name of several figures in the Šāh-nāma. 1. The mōbad-e mōbadān (chief Zoroastrian priest-jurisconsult) in the reign of Pērōz (459-84), and also in the reign of Ḵosrow I Anōšīravān (r. 531-79). Ardašīr was one of the Iranian notables taken prisoner in the war between Pērōz and the Hephthalite king called Ḵᵛošnavāz, (see Aḵšonvār); he remained in captivity until the reign of Balāš when Sūfarā (Sōḵrā) procured his release ( Šāh-nāma [Moscow] VIII, p. 25 vv. 319f.). A m…

a dehqān (landowner) of Ṭūs, official under the Samanids, and patron of a lost prose Šāh-nāma ( Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 335 ABŪ MANṢŪR MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-AL- RAZZĀQ B. ʿABDALLĀH B. FARROḴ, a dehqān (landowner) of Ṭūs, official under the Samanids, and patron of a lost prose Šāh-nāma ( Šāh-nāma-ye Abū Manṣūrī). When Khorasan was assigned to Abū ʿAlī Čaḡānī, Abū Manṣūr governed Ṭūs as his deputy until 335/946-47. He then joined Abū ʿAlī in rebellion against Amir Nūḥ b. Naṣr; and when Abū …

one of the so-called “first poets” in New Persian. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 294 ABŪ ḤAFṢ SOḠDĪ, one of the so-called “first poets” in New Persian. The concept of “first poet,” however, is simplistic; since poetry, like any stage of a language, evolves continuously and is rooted in its immediate past. The idea of “first poet” may have evolved from the lack of distinction in taḏkeras between the term earliest ( qadīmtarīn) and first ( awwal). Nor was Abū Ḥafs the first poet who used Arabic meter in his poetry. Others had already don…

(in the Šāh-nāma, Nōšzād; the name means “son of the immortal”), a son of Ḵosrow I Anōšīravān and leader of a revolt in ca. 550 CE. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 1, pp. 99-100 ANŌŠAZĀD (in the Šāh-nāma, Nōšzād; the name means “son of the immortal”), a son of Ḵosrow I Anōšīravān and leader of a revolt in ca. 550 A.D. Information about him comes mainly from Dīnavarī (ed. ʿA.-M. ʿĀmer, Cairo, 1960, pp. 69-71), Ferdowsī’s Šāh-nāma (Moscow, VIII, p. 95, v. 730f.), and a short account by the Byzantine historian Procopius, who gives his name as Anasozados ( Gotenkriege…

an illuminated and gilded manuscript of Ferdowsī’s Šāh-nāma measurꏂing 26.5 ⨉ 38 cm, containing 346 pages and twenty-one paintings, written in nastaʿlīq, and kept in the former Royal Library (Golestan Palace Museum, no. 6) in Tehran. i. The manuscript. ii. The paintings. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 1, pp. 9-11 i. The Manuscript The Bāysonḡorī Šāh-nāma manuscript was commissioned by the Timurid prince Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Bāysonḡor b. Šāhroḵ (d. 837/1433) in 829/1426 and was completed on 5 Jomādā 833/30 January 1430. According…

name of a Roman slave-girl of Bahrām Gōr. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 2, pp. 174 ĀZĀDA, name of a Roman slave-girl of Bahrām Gōr. According to Ferdowsī ( Šāh-nāma [Moscow] VII, p. 273, vv. 153ff.) and Ṯaʿālebī ( Ḡorar, pp. 541f.) Bahrām Gōr, during his stay as a young man at the court of his Arab mentor the Lakhmid Monḏer b. Noʿmān, became the owner of Āzāda (Āzādvār in Ḡorar), who was a fine harpist. Whenever a hunt was arranged, Bahrām would place her behind himself on his camel and take her with him to the hunting ground. On on…

(from Pahlavi Burzēn), the name of several figures in the Šāh-nāma. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 8, pp. 841 BARZĪN (from Pahlavi Burzēn), the name of several figures in the Šāh-nāma. Barzīn, a wealthy dehqān who lived at the time of Bahrām Gōr; he had three daughters (Māhāfarīd, Farānak, and Šanbalīd) skilled respectively in singing poetry, playing the harp, and dancing for Bahrām Gōr when he was their father’s guest. Ultimately, all three were married to the king ( Šāh-nāma [Moscow] VII, pp. 340-46). Barzīn Garšāsp, Iranian hero descended from J…