The Cypress of Kashmar was a
cypress
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...
tree regarded as sacred to followers of
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, du ...
. According to the
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian epic ''
Shahnameh
The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,00 ...
'', the tree had grown from a branch
Zoroaster
Zoroaster,; fa, زرتشت, Zartosht, label=New Persian, Modern Persian; ku, زەردەشت, Zerdeşt also known as Zarathustra,, . Also known as Zarathushtra Spitama, or Ashu Zarathushtra is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastria ...
had carried away from
Paradise
In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...
and which he planted in honor of King
Vishtaspa's conversion to Zoroastrianism in
Kashmar
Kashmar () ( fa, کاشمر, also Romanized as ''Kāshmar''; formerly ''Keshmar'', '' Torshīz'' or ''Soltanabad'') is a city and the capital of Kashmar County, in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. Kashmar is located near the river Shesh Tara ...
balkh. The spreading branches of the tree are used as an allusion to the spread of Zoroaster's creed.
On 10 December 861 AD,
Abbasid Caliph
The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib.
The family came t ...
al-Mutawakkil
Abū al-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim bi-ʾllāh ( ar, جعفر بن محمد المعتصم بالله; March 822 – 11 December 861), better known by his regnal name Al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh (, "He who relies on God") was t ...
ordered the tree be felled and transported to his capital in
Samarra
Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...
where its wood would be used as beams for his new palace. The villagers who lived near the tree pleaded with the caliph and offered money for its protection, to no avail. But one day before the cypress trees arrived, the caliph was killed by his own slaves. The palace and its spiral minaret still stand today.
See also
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Adur Burzen-Mihr
*
Zoroastrian Sarv
*
Torshiz
Turshiz ( fa, ترشیز ''Turshēz''), also known as Turaythith (), is a medieval district and city of the Quhistan region. It corresponds to the Kashmar area, located in the present-day Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. This region is divided into ...
*
List of individual trees
The following is a list of notable trees. Trees listed here are regarded as important or specific by their historical, national, locational, natural or mythological context. The list includes actual trees located throughout the world, as well as ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cypress Of Kashmar
860s individual tree deaths
Persian literature
Persian mythology
Trees in religion
Individual conifers
Trees in mythology
Kashmar County
Mythology
Abbasid Caliphate
Mythological archetypes
Zoroastrianism
Destroyed individual trees
History of Kashmar