''Kay'' (meaning "king") was a ruling title used in

Iranian mythology Iranian mythology or Iranic mythology may refer to any of the following mythologies of various Iranian peoples: * Persian mythology * Kurdish mythology * Scythian mythology ** Ossetian mythology * Azerbaijani mythology See also * Iranian religio ...

by the

Kayanians The Kayanians (Persian: دودمان کیانیان; also Kays, Kayanids, Kaianids, Kayani, or Kiani) are a legendary dynasty of Persian/Iranian tradition and folklore which supposedly ruled after the Pishdadians. Considered collectively, the Kay ...

of the

Avesta 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 ...

, later to be adopted by the

Kushano-Sasanians Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom (also called Kushanshahs, KΟÞANΟ ÞAΟ ''or Koshano Shao'' in Bactrian, or Indo-Sasanians) is a historiographic term used by modern scholars to refer to a branch of the Sasanian Persians who established their rule in ...

, followed by the

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 ...

monarchs of

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 ...

References

Sources

* * * {{cite book , last1=Schindel , first1=Nikolaus , authorlink1=, editor-last=Potts, editor-first=Daniel T., title=The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran , date=2013 , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0199733309 , chapter=Sasanian Coinage Iranian words and phrases Royal titles Government of the Sasanian Empire Titles in Iran