Fereydun ( ae, 𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀𐬊𐬥𐬀, Θraētaona, pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭩𐭲𐭥𐭭, ; New Persian: , ''Fereydūn/Farīdūn'') is an Iranian mythical king and hero from the

Pishdadian dynasty The Pishdadian dynasty ( fa, دودمان پیشدادیان) is a mythical line of primordial kings featured in Zoroastrian belief and Persian mythology, who are presented in legend as originally rulers of the world but whose realm was eventuall ...

. He is known as an emblem of victory, justice, and generosity in Persian literature. According to Abolala Soudavar, Fereydun is partially a reflection of

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...

(), the first Achaemenid

King of Kings King of Kings; grc-gre, Βασιλεὺς Βασιλέων, Basileùs Basiléōn; hy, արքայից արքա, ark'ayits ark'a; sa, महाराजाधिराज, Mahārājadhirāja; ka, მეფეთ მეფე, ''Mepet mepe'' ...

Etymology

All of the forms of the name shown above derive, by regular sound laws, from

Proto-Iranian Proto-Iranian or Proto-Iranic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Iranian languages branch of Indo-European language family and thus the ancestor of the Iranian languages such as Pashto, Persian, Sogdian, Zazaki, Ossetian, Mazandarani ...

''*Θraitauna-'' (Avestan ''Θraētaona-'') and

Proto-Indo-Iranian Proto-Indo-Iranian, also Proto-Indo-Iranic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Iranian/Indo-Iranic branch of Indo-European. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the late 3rd millennium B ...

''*Traitaunas''. Traitaunas is a derivative (with

augmentative An augmentative (abbreviated ) is a morphological form of a word which expresses greater intensity, often in size but also in other attributes. It is the opposite of a diminutive. Overaugmenting something often makes it grotesque and so in so ...

suffix -una/-auna) of ''Tritas'', the name of a deity or hero reflected in the Vedic '' Trita'' and the Avestan ''Θrita''. Both names are identical to the adjective meaning "the third", a term used of a minor deity associated with two other deities to form a

triad Triad or triade may refer to: * a group of three Businesses and organisations * Triad (American fraternities), certain historic groupings of seminal college fraternities in North America * Triad (organized crime), a Chinese transnational orga ...

. In the Indian Vedas, Trita is associated with thunder gods and wind gods. Trita is also called ''Āptya'', a name that is probably cognate with '' Āθβiya'', the name of Thraetaona's father in the ''

Avestā The Avesta () is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language. The Avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialect, or by usage. The principal text in the litu ...

'', Zoroastrian texts collated in the third century. Traitaunas may therefore be interpreted as "the great son of Tritas". The name was borrowed from

Parthian Parthian may be: Historical * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...

into

Classical Armenian Classical Armenian (, in Eastern Armenian pronunciation: Grabar, Western Armenian: Krapar; meaning "literary anguage; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at ...

as '' Hrudēn''.

In Zoroastrian literature

In the ''Avestā'', Thraetaona is the son of Aθβiya, and so is called ''Āθβiyāni'', meaning "from the family of ''Aθβiya''". He was recorded as the killer of the dragon Zahhak (''Aži Dahāk''). On the contrary, in Middle Persian texts, Dahāka/Dahāg was instead imprisoned on Mount Damavand in

Amol Amol ( fa, آمل – ; ; also Romanized as Āmol and Amul) is a city and the administrative center of Amol County, Mazandaran Province, Iran, with a population of around 300,000 people. Amol is located on the Haraz river bank. It is less than ...

In the ''Shahnameh''

According to

Ferdowsi Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a sin ...

's '' Shahnameh'', Fereydun was the son of Ābtin, one of the descendants of Jamšid. Fereydun, together with

Kāve Kaveh the Blacksmith ( fa, کاوه آهنگر – Kāve Āhangar ), is a 5000-year-old figure in Iranian mythology who leads a popular uprising against a ruthless foreign ruler, Zahāk. His story is narrated in the ''Shahnameh'', the national ...

, revolted against the tyrannical king, Zahāk, defeated and arrested him in the Alborz Mountains. Afterwards, Fereydun became the king, married

Arnavāz Arnavāz ( fa, اَرْنَواز) (Arənauuāčī in Avestan) is one of the two daughters (or possibly sisters) of Jamshid, the mythological king of Parsia. Arnavāz and her sister, Shahrnāz first married Zahhāk, but later married Fereydun, a ...

and, according to the myth, ruled the country for about 500 years. At the end of his life, he allocated his kingdom to his three sons, Salm, Tur, and Iraj. Iraj was Fereydun's youngest and favored son, and inherited the best part of the kingdom, namely Iran. Salm inherited Anatolia (" Rûm", more generally meaning the Roman Empire, the Greco-Roman world, or just "the West"), and Tur inherited Central Asia (" Turān", all the lands north and east of the Amu Darya, as far as

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

), respectively. This aroused Iraj's brothers' envy, and encouraged them to murder him. After the murder of Iraj, Fereydun enthroned Iraj's grandson, Manučehr. Manučehr's attempt to avenge his grandfather's murder initiated the Iranian-Turanian wars.

References

Sources

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External links

Stuart Cary Welch Stuart Cary Welch Jr. (2 April 1928 – 13 August 2008) was an American scholar and curator of Indian and Islamic art. Life and career Welch was born to a prominent family in Buffalo, New York. His maternal grandfather, Norman Edward Mack, was ...