Bizhan or Bijan ( fa, بیژن) is one of the main Iranian heroes in 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 ...

, the national epic of Greater Iran. Bizhan is son of Giv and Banu Goshasp and grandson of

Goudarz Goudarz ( fa, گودرز) is one of the main Iranian heroes in Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran, and progenitor of one of its most prominent families. He is son of Kashvad, father of Giv and Roham and the grandfather of Bizhan. Hi ...

and

Rostam use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a w ...

. Although he appears in almost all stories in the heroic age of Shahnameh, he has a significant role in the story of

Bizhan and Manizhe ''Bijan and Manijeh'' (also ''Bizhan and Manizheh'', Persian بيژن و منيژه - ''Bīžan ow Manīža'') is a love story in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. Bijan was the son of Giv, a famous Iranian knight during the reign of Kay Khosrow, the Sha ...

, where he fell in love with Manizhe, the daughter of

Afrasiab Afrasiab ( fa, ''afrāsiyāb''; ae, Fraŋrasyan; Middle-Persian: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi. The mythical king ...

, the king of

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 ...

and longtime enemy 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 ...

. Beside Shahnameh, he has been celebrated in other epics such as

Faramarznameh ''Faramarz-nama'' or ''Faramarz-nameh'' ( fa, فرامرزنامه, italic=yes) is a Persian epic recounting the adventures of the hero Faramarz"FARĀMARZ-NĀMA" in Encyclopedia Iranica by Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh. Accessed April 4, 2010/ref> wh ...

. Another epic poem named Bizhannameh is dedicated to his adventures. It consists of almost 1,900 verses. It has been suggested that Bizhan is a Parthian figure. Vizhan is the name of the grandson of

Gotarzes I Gotarzes I ( xpr, 𐭂𐭅𐭕𐭓𐭆 ''Gōdarz'') was king of the Parthian Empire from 91 BC to 87 or 80 BC. He was the son and successor of Mithridates II (), and was succeeded by his son Orodes I. Name "Gotarzes" is from Middle Iranian ''G ...

and the grandfather of Gotarzes II. According to Nöldeke, noble Parthian families who were guardians of Iranian national epics, later attributed some of the exploits of the ancient heroes to their own ancestors.

Family tree

References

{{Shahnameh Shahnameh characters