The Kayanians (
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
: 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 Kayanian kings are the heroes 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 ...
, the sacred texts 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 ...
, and of the ''
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 ...
'',
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 ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
's national epic.
As an epithet of kings and the reason the dynasty is so called,
Middle 𐭪𐭣 and
New Persian
New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thre ...
''kay(an)'' originates from
Avestan
Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
''𐬐𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬌'' ''kavi'' (or ''kauui'') "king" and also "poet-sacrificer" or "poet-priest". Kavi may have originally signified an insightful fashioner in Proto-Indo-Iranian, which later acquired a poetic aspect in Indic and warrior and royal connotation in Iranian. The word is also etymologically related to the Avestan notion of ''
kavaēm kharēno'', the "divine royal glory" that the Kayanian kings were said to hold. The
Kiani Crown
The Kiani Crown (Persian: تاج کیانی) was the traditional coronation crown in the Iranian Crown Jewels, worn by the Qajar shahs of Iran (1789–1925). The crown was designed under the first Qajar shah Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar () as a way ...
is a physical manifestation of that belief.
In scripture
The earliest known foreshadowing of the major legends of the Kayanian kings appears in the
''Yashts'' 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 ...
, where the dynasts offer sacrifices to the god -Ahura Mazda in order to earn their support and to gain strength in the perpetual struggle against their enemies, the
''Anaryas'' (non-Aryans, sometimes identified as the
Turan
Turan ( ae, Tūiriiānəm, pal, Tūrān; fa, توران, Turân, , "The Land of Tur") is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical re ...
ians).
In ''Yasht'' 5, 9.25, 17.45-46, Haosravah, a Kayanian king later known as
Kay Khosrow, together with
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 ...
and
Jamasp (a premier of Zoroaster's patron
Vishtaspa
Vishtaspa ( ae, 𐬬𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬁𐬯𐬞𐬀 ; peo, 𐎻𐏁𐎫𐎠𐎿𐎱 ; fa, گشتاسپ ; grc, Ὑστάσπης ) is the Avestan-language name of a figure of Zoroastrian scripture and tradition, portrayed as an early followe ...
, another Kayanian king) worship in
Airyanem Vaejah
(; ; ; , 'expanse of the Aryans') is considered in Zoroastrianism to be the homeland of the early Iranians and the place where Zarathustra received the religion from Ahura Mazda. The Avesta also names it as the first of the "sixteen perfect ...
. The account tells that King Haosravah united the various
Aryan
Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
(
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
) tribes into one nation (''Yasht'' 5.49, 9.21, 15.32, 17.41).
In
Mandaeism
Mandaeism (Classical Mandaic: ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ ; Arabic: المندائيّة ), sometimes also known as Nasoraeanism or Sabianism, is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, S ...
,
Book 18 of the ''
Right Ginza
The Right Ginza is one of the two parts of the Ginza Rabba, the longest and the most important holy scripture of Mandaeism. The other part of the Ginza Rabba is the Left Ginza.
Summaries of each book (or tractate), based mostly on Häberl (2007 ...
'' lists several Kayanian kings, namely
Kay Kawād,
Kay Kāvus
Kay Kāvus ( fa, کیکاووس; ae, 𐬐𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬌 𐬎𐬯𐬀𐬥 Kauui Usan); sometimes ''Kai-Káús'' or ''Kai-Kaus'', Firdawsī, ''The Sháh námeh of the Persian poet Firdausí''. Oriental Translation Fund. Volume 21 of Publicat ...
(Uzava),
Kay Khosrow,
Kay Lohrasp, and
Vishtaspa
Vishtaspa ( ae, 𐬬𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬁𐬯𐬞𐬀 ; peo, 𐎻𐏁𐎫𐎠𐎿𐎱 ; fa, گشتاسپ ; grc, Ὑστάσπης ) is the Avestan-language name of a figure of Zoroastrian scripture and tradition, portrayed as an early followe ...
.
In tradition and folklore
Towards the end of the
Sassanid
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 ...
period,
Khosrow I
Khosrow I (also spelled Khosrau, Khusro or Chosroes; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩; New Persian: []), traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan ( [] "the Immortal Soul"), was the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from ...
(named after the Kay Khosrow of legend) ordered a compilation of the legends surrounding the Kayanians. The result was the ''
Khwaday-Namag
''Khwadāy-Nāmag'' ( pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭲𐭠𐭩 𐭭𐭠𐭬𐭪; New Persian: ; ) was a Middle Persian history from the Sasanian era. Now lost, it was imagined by Theodor Nöldeke to be the common ancestor of all later Persian-language historie ...
'' or "Book of Lords," a long historiography of the Iranian nation from the primordial
Gayomart
Keyumars or Kiomars ( fa, کیومرث) was the name of the first king (shah) of the Pishdadian dynasty of Iran according to the ''Shahnameh''.
The name appears in Avestan in the form of ''𐬔𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬊 𐬨𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬙𐬀𐬥 Gai ...
to the reign of
Khosrow II
Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩, Husrō), also known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian king (shah) of Iran, ruling fr ...
, with events arranged according to the perceived sequence of kings and queens, fifty in number.
The compilation may have been prompted by concern over deteriorating national spirit. There were disastrous
global climate changes of 535-536 and the
Plague of Justinian
The plague of Justinian or Justinianic plague (541–549 AD) was the first recorded major outbreak of the first plague pandemic, the first Old World pandemic of plague, the contagious disease caused by the bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. The dis ...
to contend with and the Iranians would have found much-needed solace in the collected legends of their past.
Following the collapse of the Sassanid Empire and the subsequent rise of Islam in the region, the Kayanian legends fell out of favour until the first revival of Iranian culture under the
Samanids. Together with the folklore preserved in 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 ...
, the ''
Khwaday-Namag
''Khwadāy-Nāmag'' ( pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭲𐭠𐭩 𐭭𐭠𐭬𐭪; New Persian: ; ) was a Middle Persian history from the Sasanian era. Now lost, it was imagined by Theodor Nöldeke to be the common ancestor of all later Persian-language historie ...
'' served as the foundation of other epic collections in prose, such as those commissioned by Abu Mansur Abd al-Razzaq, the texts of which have since been lost. The
Samanid-sponsored revival also led to the resurgence of
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...
literature, such as the
Denkard
The ''Dēnkard'' or ''Dēnkart'' (Middle Persian: 𐭣𐭩𐭭𐭪𐭠𐭫𐭲 "Acts of Religion") is a 10th-century compendium of Zoroastrian beliefs and customs during the time. The Denkard is to a great extent considered an "Encyclopedia of Ma ...
, book 7.1 of which is also a historiography of Kayanians. The best known work of the genre is however
Firdowsi
, image = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus, Iran 3 (cropped).jpg
, image_size =
, caption = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus by Abolhassan Sadighi
, birth_date = 940
, birth_place = Tus, Samanid Empire
, death_date = 1019 or 1025 (87 years old)
, de ...
's ''
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 ...
'' "
Book of Kings", which - though drawing on earlier works - is entirely in verse.
Kayanian dynasts
*
Kay Kawād
*
Kay Kāvus
Kay Kāvus ( fa, کیکاووس; ae, 𐬐𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬌 𐬎𐬯𐬀𐬥 Kauui Usan); sometimes ''Kai-Káús'' or ''Kai-Kaus'', Firdawsī, ''The Sháh námeh of the Persian poet Firdausí''. Oriental Translation Fund. Volume 21 of Publicat ...
*
Kay Khosrow
*
Kay Lohrasp
*
Vishtaspa
Vishtaspa ( ae, 𐬬𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬁𐬯𐬞𐬀 ; peo, 𐎻𐏁𐎫𐎠𐎿𐎱 ; fa, گشتاسپ ; grc, Ὑστάσπης ) is the Avestan-language name of a figure of Zoroastrian scripture and tradition, portrayed as an early followe ...
*
Kay Bahman
Kay Bahman or -Wahman (from Middle Persian: 𐭥𐭤𐭥𐭬𐭭 ''Wahman'' "good mind") is a mythological figure of Greater Iranian legend and lore. The stock epithet ''Kai'' identifies Bahman as one of the Kayanian kings of Iranian oral traditio ...
*
Humay Chehrzad
Humay-ē Chehrzad (Middle Persian: ''Humag'', Avestan: ''Humāiiā-'') was a legendary Kayanian dynasty queen of Iran for around 32 years. She was daughter and perhaps also wife (sources vary) of Kay Bahman.
Rule
Bahman becomes ill when Humay is 6 ...
*
Kay Darab
*
Dara II
Dara II or Darab II was the last king of the mythological Kayanian dynasty, ruling between 14 and 16 years. He is generally identified with Darius III (), the last king of the Achaemenid Empire. In Middle Persian literature and Islamic chronicles ...
References
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{{Authority control
Zoroastrian dynasties
Persian mythology