Hojir ( fa, هُژیر) is an Iranian hero in

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 ...

, the

national epic A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation—not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with as ...

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 ...

. Hojir is son 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. His f ...

and brother of Giv and

Rohham Rohām ( fa, رهام) is an Iranian hero, described in the Iranian epic poetry, epic poem Shahnameh. Roham is son of Goudarz, grandson of Keshvad and the father of Farhad. He fought in the Keykhosrow wars and in wars to avenge his father's defeat ...

. Hojir first appears in the story of

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 wel ...

and

Sohrab use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Turan , death_cause = Killed in combat by his father, Rostam, with neither Rostam nor Sohrab awa ...

Hojir in the Shahnameh

He is castellan of Dez-e Sepid (White fortress) in the border of

and

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 ...

. When Sohrab arrives at Dez-e Sepid, Hojir came out to fight him, but he was defeated by Sohrab, however Sohrab does not kill Hojir and instead takes him as a prisoner. Sohrab, wishing to recognize Rostam, his father, asks Hojir to introduce leaders of Iranian army to him, but when he asks about Rostam, Hojir does not reveal Rustam's identity, fearing that Sohrab may kill Rostam. Hojir then participated in a series of battles between Iran and Turan, sometimes as a messenger. His most important role is in the story of

Davazdah Rokh Davāzdah Rokh ( fa, دَوازدَه رُخ) (Twelve combats) is a story in Shahnameh. This relatively long story (almost 2,500 verses) is described as one of the finest stories of Shahnameh in terms of "plot, dramatic description, and insight into ...

(Twelve combats), where he kills Sepahram, a Turanian hero in a pitched battle.

Other resources

Beside Shahnameh, Hojir was also mentioned in other sources such as Momjalal-tawāriḵ, where he is the chief companion of

Kay Khosrow Kay Khosrow ( fa, کیخسرو) is a legendary king of Iran of Kayanian dynasty and a character in the Persian epic book, ''Shahnameh''. He was the son of the Iranian prince Siavash who married princess Farangis of Turan while in exile. Befo ...

. His name is derived from Old Iranian *Hu-čiθra and it means "of good nature" or literally ''of good appearance''. In

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 ...

texts, his name was mentioned as hu-čihr and then it developed into New Persian Hožir/Hojir, meaning "beautiful, fair". َIts cognate in Modern Persian is Hu-čehr (هوچهر) or beh-čehr (بهچهر). It sometimes incorrectly pronounced as "Hajir".

Family tree

References

Sources

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 ...

Shahnameh. From the Moscow version. Mohammed Publishing.

External links

{{Other Shahnameh characters Shahnameh characters Shahnameh stories