Denag (
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
: ''Dēnag'') was a 3rd-century
Sasanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
queen (''
banbishn
''Bānbishn'' was a Middle Persian title meaning "queen", and was held by royal women in Sasanian Iran who were the king's daughters and sisters, and also by the consorts of the Sasanian princes that ruled parts of the country as governors. The fu ...
''), who was the wife and sister of the Sasanian king (
shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
)
Ardashir I
Ardashir I (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥, Modern Persian: , '), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new emp ...
().
Biography
She was one of the daughters of
Pabag
Pabag ( pal, 𐭯𐭠𐭯𐭪𐭩, ''Pāpak/Pābag''; New Persian: ''Bābak''), was an Iranian prince who ruled Istakhr, the capital of Pars, from 205 or 206 until his death sometime between 207–210. He was the father, stepfather, grandfather, ...
, a local ruler in
Pars
Pars may refer to:
* Fars Province of Iran, also known as Pars Province
* Pars (Sasanian province), a province roughly corresponding to the present-day Fars, 224–651
* ''Pars'', for ''Persia'' or ''Iran'', in the Persian language
* Pars News A ...
; her brothers were
Shapur Shahpur, Shapur, Shahpoor, or Shahapur ( fa, شاه پور) may refer to:
People
* Shapur (name), Persian given name and a list of people with the name
Places
India Bihar
* Shahpur, Bihar, a city in Bhojpur district
** Shahpur, Bihar A ...
, Ardashir I, and Balash. She later became the wife of Ardashir I in accordance with the Zoroastrian law of
consanguine marriage
Consanguine marriage is marriage between individuals who are closely related. Though it may involve incest, it implies more than the sexual nature of incest. In a clinical sense, marriage between two family members who are second cousins or closer ...
. She was thus given the title of ''bānbishnān bānbishn'' ("Queen of Queens") and is assumed to have been represented the figure on the far right of the investiture relief of Ardashir at
Naqsh-e Rajab
Naqsh-e Rajab ( fa, نقش رجب, ) is an archaeological site just west of Istakhr and about 5 km north of Persepolis in Fars Province, Iran.
Together with Naqsh-e Rustam, which lies 2.5 km away, the site is part of the Marvdasht ...
. She later lost her title of ''bānbishnān bānbishn'' after the death of her husband in 242.
References
Sources
* {{Encyclopaedia Iranica , volume = 7 , fascicle = 3 , article = Dēnag , last = Gignoux , first = Philippe , author-link = , url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/denag , page = 282
3rd-century Iranian people
3rd-century deaths
Sasanian queens
3rd-century women
Sasanian princesses