Shahnama manuscript depicting Kiumars. Kiumars instructs his officers to combat the Ahriman

Keyumars (Persian: کیومرث, older Persian Kayōmart) was the first shāh of the world according to the poet Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. In the Avesta he is called Gayō Marətan and in later Zoroastrian texts Gayōmard or Gayōmart. The character was based upon a figure from a Zoroastrian creation myth.^[which?]

[edit] Name

The etymology of the name Keyumars can be traced to two words in the Avestan language: gaya meaning Cow or "life" and marətan meaning "mortal" or "human" (cf. Persian mard مرد "man"). According to Zoroastrian tradition, Gayō Marətan was the first human being, but his name may also stands for "Cow worshipping People" or "human life" in its entirety. Keyumars is also a popular first name in contemporary Iran.

[edit] In Zoroastrian literature

According to the Zoroastrian creation myth, Gayōmart was the first human being, created by Ahura Mazda after he had created the Earth. Druj, the force of Evil, sent a demon to kill Gayōmart, from whose body sprang a tree, which bore the first man, Mashya, and the first woman, Mashyana.

[edit] In the Shāhnāma

Firdausī's great epic poem, the Shāhnāma, begins with the story of Keyumars. He was the first king to arise among humans, who at that time lived in mountain caves and wore the skins of leopards. God (Ahura Mazda) granted him the supernatural radiance called farr (Avestan xvarənah), reserved to kings. His son was Siyāmak (سیامک) was beloved of all except the devil Ahriman, who raised an army under the command of his own demonic son. When the angel Sorush (Avestan Sraoša) warned Keyumars, Siyāmak led an army of his own. Siyāmak accepted a challenge to single combat and died at the hands of the demon.

Keyumars mourned for a year, and then Sorush advised him to fight Ahriman once more. Siyāmak's son Hushang was grown by this time and led the army that defeated Ahriman's son, who was bound and beheaded. Keyumars died after a thirty-year reign, leaving his throne to Hushang.

[edit] Sources and references

• Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Dick Davis trans. (2006), Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings ISBN 0-670-03485-1, modern English translation (abridged), current standard
• Warner, Arthur and Edmond Warner, (translators) The Shahnama of Firdausi, 9 vols. (London: Keegan Paul, 1905-1925) (complete English verse translation)
• Shirzad Aghaee, Nam-e kasan va ja'i-ha dar Shahnama-ye Ferdousi (Personalities and Places in the Shahnama of Ferdousi, Nyköping, Sweden, 1993. (ISBN 91-630-1959-0)
• Jalal Khāleghi Motlagh, Editor, The Shahnameh, to be published in 8 volumes (ca. 500 pages each), consisting of six volumes of text and two volumes of explanatory notes. See: Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University.