Zariadres
Zariadres is the name of an ancient fictional character who also appears in a different form in the Iranian world of legends.
An excerpt from the history of the Alexander historian Chares of Mytilene has been preserved in the Deipnosophistai of Athenaios , in which Chares tells of a romance-like love story that was popular with the Persians .
Hystaspes and Zariadres were sons of Aphrodite and Adonis . Hystaspes rule over the media and the neighboring countries, Zariadres over the land above the Caspian Gate as far as Scythia . Zariadres saw the beautiful king's daughter Odatis in a dream and they both fell in love. Zariadris wooed Odatis, but her father refused him because he wanted to marry her off to a relative. The king held a festival and there ordered Odatis to choose a husband. Then Zariadres appeared unexpectedly, for he had heard of the plan. Odatis recognized Zariadres from her dream and chose him; together they fled from the royal court and lived together from then on.
Chares also reports that this story is very well known among the “barbarians” in Asia, and paintings of it can even be seen in palaces, temples and private houses. It is noticeable that Chares incorporated characters from Greek mythology into the story, although the original oral narrative appears to have a Persian origin.
The story shows strong similarities to descriptions in the epic Shāhnāme des Firdausi : There a certain Katayun is mentioned, the daughter of the ruler of Rûm (Rome), who falls in love in a dream with the exiled Iranian king Gostasp . They meet at a festival where Katayun is supposed to choose a husband and finally they get together. When Gostasp returns to his homeland, which his brother Zariadres / Tsar persuaded him to do, Katayun accompanies him.
Gostasp ( Goshtasp ) is a semi-mythical figure of Iranian history, where he appears as the Kayanid king Vištāspa , who is said to have been a patron of Zarathustra . This Vištāspa had a brother named Zairiwairi , who is probably the historical core of the fictional character Zariadres.
The story, which Chares recorded in writing and which also lives on in the later Iranian saga, apparently goes back to older stories that were probably circulated in several versions in the following years. Originally it was perhaps a story from the Medieval times. The paintings described by Chares could point to an originally mythical tale with sacred elements, for example with regard to the cult of a god of love. The romantic heroic story then seems to have been handed down to the late antique Sassanid period (albeit in a different form), until it was finally processed later by Firdausi in his epic.
literature
- Mary Boyce : Zariadres and Zarer. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 17, 1955, pp. 463-477.
Remarks
- ↑ Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 13,35 = The Fragments of the Greek Historians , No. 125 (Chares of Mytilene), fragment 5.
- ↑ For details see Mary Boyce: Zariadres and Zarer. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 17, 1955, p. 463ff.
- ↑ Article Katayun in the Encyclopædia Iranica .
- ↑ See also article Gostasp in the Encyclopædia Iranica .
- ↑ See Mary Boyce: Zariadres and Zarer. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 17, 1955, pp. 465ff.
- ↑ Mary Boyce: Zariadres and Zarer. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 17, 1955, pp. 470f.
- ↑ Mary Boyce: Zariadres and Zarer. In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 17, 1955, pp. 471ff.