Ayādgār ī Zarērān
Also known as: Ayadgar-i Zareran, Memorial of Zarer, Ayātkār ī Zarērān, Yādgār-i Zarīr, Ayādgār-ī Zarērān
A Middle Persian heroic tale recounting the war of King Wištāsp against Arjāsp after the king’s acceptance of Zoroaster’s faith. Zarēr, Wištāsp’s brother, falls in battle, and his young son Bastwār avenges him, striking down the killer and turning the tide.
Description
Ayādgār ī Zarērān (“Memorial of Zarer”) is a compact Middle Persian prose epic rooted in an earlier Parthian lay. Set at the moment when King Wištāsp embraces Zoroaster’s doctrine, it dramatizes the clash with Arjāsp of the Xyon and the martyr-like death of the champion Zarēr. The narrative moves from councils and omens to a brutal field battle where Zarēr is slain by Bīdrafš. In a swift reversal, the boy-hero Bastwār avenges his father, and the Iranians rout their foes. The text preserves archaic names and courtly motifs later diffused through the Iranian epic cycle, bridging Avestan figures and the New Persian Šāhnāmeh tradition.
Historiography
The work survives in Middle Persian (Pahlavi) prose and is commonly regarded as a translation or adaptation of an earlier Parthian poem. Scholarly comparison with Avestan and later Persian sources (e.g., the Šāhnāmeh) illuminates onomastic continuity and epic formulae. Modern editions rely on late manuscripts whose orthography reflects Pahlavi conventions; restorations often turn on parallel passages and Iranian epic onomastics.
Date Notes
Widely considered a Middle Persian redaction of a Parthian heroic lay; preserved in later Pahlavi manuscripts with likely earlier oral substrate.
Symbols
Major Characters
- Zarēr
- Vishtaspa
- Esfandiyar
- Arjasp
- Jamasb
Myths
- War of Vishtasp against the Khyonites
- Martyrdom of Zarer
- Vengeance of Bastwar
Facts
- Often regarded as the oldest surviving Middle Persian narrative with clear epic features.
- Preserves Parthian-era heroic onomastics for figures also known from Avestan and later Persian sources.
- Centers on Wištāsp’s acceptance of Zoroastrianism as the casus belli with Arjāsp.
- Zarēr is slain by Bīdrafš; his son Bastwār immediately avenges him.
- Jamāsp’s divinatory counsel frames the battle with prophecy and omen-reading.
- Motifs and characters resonate with episodes later elaborated in Ferdowsi’s Šāhnāmeh.
- The text’s prose style likely reflects translation/adaptation from a lost verse original.
- Xyon/Xyōn designates the enemy host, sometimes linked to steppe tribes in later tradition.
- Manuscript transmission is late; editorial reconstructions rely on comparative Iranian epic material.
- The narrative exemplifies the fusion of religious conversion themes with heroic warfare.