Kai Bahman or -Wahman (and other variants) is a mythological figure of Greater Iranian legend and lore. The stock epithet Kai identifies Bahman as one of the Kayanian kings of Iranian oral tradition.
In the genealogy of the legendary dynasty, Bahman is the son of Esfandiyar (hence his also being referred to in Middle Persian as 'Vohuman Asfandyar'), grandson of Goshtasp, husband of [his own daughter] Komani/Homai, and father of Dara/Darab. Other details vary: Several different Arabic and Persian sources (e.g. al-Tabari and ibn al-Balkhi) assert that Bahman had five children; two sons, Dara/Darab and Sasan/Sassan, and three daughters, Komani/Homai (stock epithet: Chehrazad), Bahmandokht and Farnak.
In the Bahman-nama (composed ca. 1100 CE, not to be confused with a 15th-century hagiography of the Deccan Bahmanids) Bahman is portrayed as being asked by Rostam to marry Katayun/Kasayun, daughter of the King of Kashmir. Bahman does so, but subsequently has to flee to Egypt where he marries Homai, the daughter of the Egyptian king, with whom he has a daughter also named Homai. Other sources have Bahman marrying his own daughter Komani/Homai on account of her great beauty, and that Dara/Darab was the result of this union. In one tradition (reiterated by ibn al-Balkhi), the marriage was denied and Homai dies a spinster.
The name 'Bahman'/'Wahman' is a theophoric reflecting Middle Persian Vohuman, Avestan Vohu Manah, the Amesha Spenta (Ameshaspand) that is the hypostasis of the "Good Mind" or "Good Disposition." Unlike most figures of Iranian oral tradition, Bahman does not however appear in the surviving Avesta. He is however referred to in the Zand-i Wahman yasn (also known as the Bahman Yasht, which—despite that name—is not an Avestan Yasht, but a medieval pseudo-prophetic/apocaplyptic text). The figure is also mentioned in the 9-11th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition, specifically, the Middle Persian Bundahishn (GBd 36.9) and the Denkard (VII.6), both of which enumerate the Kayanian kings. In both the Zand-i Vohuman Yasht (3.20-29) and the Denkard, Bahman is described as "one of the greatest Mazdayasnian kings of Iran."
"The importance attached to Bahman's reign in Zoroastrian literature can be seen in a passage in the Bahman yašt where the reigns of the kings are likened to tree branches made of seven metals." In this comparison, which lists the reigns in order of perceived importance, the 'silver' reign of Bahman appears second, after the 'golden' reign of (likewise mythological) Goshtasp and before the 'brass' reign of the Sassanid Ardashir I, the 'bronze' reign of the Arsacid Balash, the 'tin' reign of the Sassanid Bahram V Gor, the 'steel' reign of the Sassanid Khosrow I Anushirvan, with 'iron' (which is considered impure in Zoroastrianism) representing the "rule of the shaggy-haired demons (dēws) born of the seed of anger, probably referring to the rule of the Arabs." (Khaleghi-Motlagh 1989, p. 489)
In Firdausi's Shahnameh (ca. 1000 CE), which versifies and embellishes previous tradition, Bahman's father Esfandiar is portrayed as having been killed by Rostam. The Shahnameh goes on to describe how Bahman sets off with a large army to avenge his father's death. In the meanwhile however, Rostam had already been treacherously killed by Bahman's half-brother Shagad. Frustrated, Bahman instead kills Rostam's son Faramarz, imprisons Rustom's father Zal (whom he however releases on the behest of his uncle Peshotan), and lays waste to Rostam's feudal lands.
Again, the details in other sources vary. According to al-Tabari, al-Masudi and al-Atir, Bahman himself killed not only Rostam but Faramarz, Zal and Rostam's brother Zavara as well. Ibn al-Balkhi includes only Faramarz and Zal. The Bahman-nama has Bahman mourning for Rostam, who—along with Zavara—are described as having been killed by the king of Kabul. In this text, Bahman does however travel to Rostam's (now Faramarz's) fiefdom, where he battles Rostam's son (who then flees) but where he takes Zal prisoner. Bahman then pursues Rostam's daughter's Banu Goshasp and Zar Banu to Kashmir, and then Faramarz to India, where Faramarz is finally slain. Having captured Rostam's/Faramarz's lands, Bahman then seeks to destroy the tombs of Rostam and his ancestors (Garshasp, Nariman and Sam). At each of the respective tombs he receives a precious gift and a message asking him to stay his hand, which he does. Chastened, he then frees Zal and Rostam's daughters, and rebuilds everything he had previously destroyed. In the Bahman-nama, Bahman is killed by a dragon while out hunting. In Iranian tradition, such a fate is typically reserved for villains, and this is the only instance in which a legitimate king is said to have been killed in such a fashion.
The length of his reign varies; the Middle Persian Bundahishn and most of the Arabic and Persian sources note 112 years, others note 120 and yet others 80 years. The sources agree on the line of succession and state that Bahman selected his daughter (or daughter/wife) Homai to succeed him, instead of Sassan, the heir-apparent (see below for the result of the conflict that ensued). In another version of the tale, Homai succeeds Bahman only because Dara is not yet born when Bahman dies.
Although there is no epigraphically attested figure to whom the Bahman of legend corresponds, several post-Sassanid Arabic and Persian commentaries assign the mythological king several features and events that do correspond to historical figures. Several sources ascribe to Bahman deeds that are known to have been performed by Cyrus II, including freeing the Jews fromBabylonian captivity, and two sources assert that Cyrus was appointed to this task by Bahman. Other sources give Bahman the epithet "the long-handed," which identifies him with Artaxerxes I 'Longimanus' ("the long-handed"). Yet other sources identify the figure of legend as 'Ardeshir Bahman', perhaps a reference to Artaxerxes II 'Mnemon', who probably had the Old Persian form of 'Bahman' (> Greek 'Mnemon' "mindful") as a name. In one legend, Bahman's elder son Dara(b) is killed in battle with Alexander the Great, that is, Dara/Darab is identified as Darius III and which then makes Bahman a figure of the 4th century BCE. In another tradition, Alexander is the son of Dara/Darab and his wife Nahid, who is described to be the daughter of "Filfus of Rûm" i.e. "Philip the Greek" (cf. Philip II of Macedon).[1][2]
In the typically contrived genealogies of Iranian dynasties, Ardashir I—founder of the Sassanid dynasty—traces his lineage to Bahman. In one tale (which in the Shahnameh is a continuation of the above-mentioned story of Bahman and Faramarz), Bahman's second son Sassan, resenting his father's choice of Homai as heir, leaves the house and travels to Nishapur, where he takes a wife, and with whom he has a son whom he names after himself, and who would be the grandfather of Ardashir I. In another tale later in the Shahnameh, Dara has a son named Sassan, who went to India where he took a wife, and whose descendents were all named Sassan, and whose great-great-grandson was the father of Ardashir I. The first Shahnameh story, though differing from the older Bundahishn and al-Tabari in the intervening lineage, concur in that they all trace Ardashir's lineage to Bahram through Bahram's younger son Sassan. On the other hand, the Shahnameh's second story is consistent with the account of the Karnamag in that it traces Ardashir's lineage to Bahram through Humai. "In any case all these stories were obviously fabricated in the Sasanian period to provide evidence for the legitimacy of Ardašīr and his descendants." (Khaleghi-Motlagh 1989, p. 489).
Vishtaspa (Vištāspa) is the Avestan-language name of a figure of Zoroastrian scripture and tradition, portrayed as an early follower of Zoroaster, and his patron, and instrumental in the diffusion of the prophet's message. Although Vishtaspa is not epigraphically attested, he is – like Zoroaster also – generally assumed to have been a historical figure, and – again, like Zoroaster – that figure is obscured by accretions from legend and myth.
In Zoroastrian tradition, which builds on allusions found in the Avesta, Vishtaspa is a righteous king who helped propagate and defend the faith. In the non-Zoroastrian Sistan cycle texts, Vishtaspa is a loathsome ruler who intentionally sends his eldest son to a certain death. In Greco-Roman literature, Zoroaster's patron was the pseudo-anonymous author of a set of prophecies written under his name.
Contents
[hide]In scripture[edit]
Vishtaspa is referred to in the Gathas, the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism which were considered to have been composed by Zoroaster himself. In these hymns, the poet speaks of Vishtaspa as his ally (Yasna 46.14), follower of the path of Good Thought (Y. 51.16), and committed to spreading the prophet's message (Y. 51.16, 46.15, 53.2). In Yasna 28.1–28.7, Zoroaster appeals to Mazda for several boons, including the power to vanquish their foes for Vishtaspa and himself. Considered collectively, the Gathas celebrate Vishtaspa as the "patron of Zoroaster and the establisher of the first Zoroastrian community."[1]
The Gathic allusions recur in the Yashts of the Younger Avesta. The appeal to Mazda for a boon reappears in Yasht 5.98, where the boon is asked for the Haugvan[n 1] and Naotara families, and in which Vishtaspa is said to be a member of the latter.[n 2] Later in the same hymn, Zoroaster is described as appealing to Mazda to "bring Vishtaspa, son of Aurvataspa, to think according to the Religion, to speak according to the Religion, to act according to the Religion." (Yt. 5.104–105). In Yasht 9.25–26, the last part of which is an adaptation of the Gathic Yasna 49.7,[3] the prophet makes the same appeal with regard to Hutaosa, wife of Vishtaspa.[4]
In Yasht 9.130, Vishtaspa himself appeals for the ability to drive off the attacks of the daeva-worshipping Arejat.aspa and other members of drujvantHyaona family. Similarly in Yasht 5.109, Vishtaspa pleads for strength that he may "crush Tathryavant of the bad religion, the daeva-worshipper Peshana, and the wicked Arejat.aspa."[5] Elsewhere (Yt. 5.112–113), Vishtaspa also pleads for strength on behalf of Zairivairi, who in later tradition is said to be Vishtaspa's younger brother. The allusions to conflicts (perhaps battles, see below) are again obliquely referred to in Yasht 13.99–100, in which the fravashis of Zoroaster and Vishtaspa are described as victorious combatants for the Truth, and the rescuers and furtherers of the Religion. This description is repeated in Yasht 19.84–87, where Zoroaster, Vishtaspa and Vishtaspa's ancestors are additionally said to possesskhvarenah.[6] While the chief hero of the conflicts is said to be Vishtaspa's son, Spentodhata, (Yt. 13.103)[5] in Yasht 13.100, Vishtaspa is proclaimed to have set his adopted faith "in the place of honor" amongst peoples.[7][8]
Passages in the Frawardin Yasht (Yt. 13.99–103) and elsewhere have enabled commentators to infer family connections between Vishtaspa and several other figures named in the Avesta.[9] The summaries of several lost Avestan texts (Wishtasp sast nask, Spand nask, Chihrdad nask, and Varshtmansar nask), as reported in theDenkard (respectively 8.11, 8.13, 8.14, and 9.33.5), suggest that there once existed a detailed "history" of Vishtaspa and his ancestors in scripture.[10]
The meaning of Vishtaspa's name is uncertain. Interpretations include "'he whose horses have (or horse has) come in ready (for riding, etc.)'";[11] "'he who has trained horses'";[12] and "'whose horses are released (for the race)'".[13][n 3]
In tradition and folklore[edit]
In Zoroastrian tradition[edit]
In the Gathas, Vishtaspa is repeatedly (Y. 46.14, 51.16, 53.2) referred to as a kavi, which is etymologically a term for a mantic seer, or poet-priest, and in Yasna 28.11 is also used of Zoroaster's enemies.[14] In the Younger Avesta the term is also applied to wise men generally, to include Vishtaspa and his ancestors. In tradition however, the kavis are kings, "evidently because Vīštāspa and his forbears, the 'kavis' par excellence, were princely rulers. Presumably the gift of prophecy, of mantic poetry, was hereditary in their family."[14] Both scripture and tradition refer to Vishtaspa's ancestors but do not mention Vishtaspa's successors; Vishtaspa was apparently the last of his line, and the last of the kavis.[8] In Zoroastrian apocalyptic chronology, the dynasties of the world are divided into seven ages, each named after a metal. According to this chronology (Zand-i Wahman yasn 2.16, Dabistan 140), Vishtaspa (in ZoroastrianMiddle Persian Wishtasp) ascent to the throne ended the reign of silver, and his reign was over the age of gold.[15] In tradition, the works of Zoroaster were said to have been kept in a royal library that was then destroyed by Alexander the Great. In Denkard 3.420, it is Vishtaspa who is said to have been the king who had those texts made and placed in the royal library.
The Yasht's allusions to conflicts are amplified in the 9th–11th century books of Zoroastrian tradition, where the conflicts are portrayed as outright battles of the faith. So for example the surviving fragments of a fragmentary text that celebrates the deeds of Zairivairi, Vishtaspa's brother and captain of his forces against Arejat.aspa, chief of the Hyonas. According to that text (Ayadgar i Zareran, 10–11), upon hearing of Vishtaspa's conversion, Arejat.aspa sent messengers to demand that Vishtaspa "abandon 'the pure Mazda-worshipping religion which he had received from Ohrmazd', and should become once more 'of the same religion'" as himself. The battle that following Vishtaspa's refusal left Vishtaspa victorious.[8]
The conversion of Vishtaspa is likewise a theme of the 9th–11th century books, and these legends remain the "best known and most current" among Zoroastrians today.[16][17] According to this tradition, when Zoroaster arrived at Vishtaspa's court, the prophet was "met with hostility from the kayags and karabs (kavis and karapans), with whom he disputed at a great assembly–a tradition which may well be based on reality, for [Vishtaspa] must have had his own priests and seers, who would hardly have welcomed a new prophet claiming divine authority."[18] The tradition goes on to relate that Zoroaster triumphed after three days of debate, only to be maligned by his enemies to Vishtaspa, who then had the prophet imprisoned. But, from prison, Zoroaster cured one of Vishtaspa's favourite horses (which had suddenly become paralyzed), for which the prophet then gained Vishtaspa's support and admiration. The tale is obliquely referred to in the Anthology of Zadspram (24.6), which seems to presume that the reader already knows it,[19] and it is summarized in the Denkard (7.4.64–86), and – as "workings of popular fancy"[18] – described in detail in the later Book of Zoroaster (942–1094).[n 4] In the myth, Zoroaster cures each of the horse's four legs in exchange for four concessions: first, that Vishtaspa himself accept Zoroaster's message; secondly, that Vishtaspa's son Spentodata (MP: Esfandiar) do the same; third, that Vishtaspa's wife Hutaosa (MP: Hutos) also convert;[n 5] and finally that the men who maligned Zoroaster be put to death. When these four wishes are granted, the horse stands up rejuvenated. Vishtaspa, having accepted the faith from Zoroaster, then asks for four favours in return:[21] first, that he, Vishtaspa, should know his place in the next world; secondly, that he should become invulnerable; third, that he should know the future; and fourth that his body should not leave his soul until the resurrection. Zoroaster replies that these are too great to all be given to one man, and that he should choose one. Vishtaspa agrees, and chooses the first. Zoroaster then gives him consecrated wine to drink, which puts Vishtaspa in a trance in which he has an epiphany; he sees his spirit ascend to heaven where it beholds the glories of God.[n 6] Vishtaspa's conversion is traditionally said to have taken place during Zoroaster's forty-second year, "a figure undoubtedly reached by later calculation".[7]
In medieval Zoroastrian chronology, Vishtaspa is identified as a grandfather of "Ardashir", i.e. the 5th century BCE Artaxerxes I (or II).[23] This myth is tied to the Sassanid (early 3rd–early 7th century) claim of descent from Artaxerxes, and the claim of relationship to the Kayanids, that is, with Vishtaspa and his ancestors. The full adoption of Kayanid names, titles and myths from the Avesta by the Sassanids was a "main component of [Sassanid] ideology."[24] The Sassanid association of their dynasty with Vishtaspa's is a development dated to the end of the 4th century, and which "arose to some extent because this was when the Sasanians conquered Balkh, the birthplace of Vishtasp and the 'holy land' of Zoroastrianism."[25][n 7]
As was also the case for the fourth century Roman identification of Zoroaster's patron with the late-6th century BCE father of Darius I (see below) – the identification of Vishtaspa as a grandfather of "Ardashir" (Artaxerxes I/II) was once perceived to substantiate the "traditional date" of Zoroaster, which places the prophet in the 6th century BCE. The traditional descriptions of Vishtaspa's ancestors as having chariots (a description that puts them fully in the Bronze Age) also contribute to the academic debate on the dating of Zoroaster; for a summary of the role of Vishtaspa's ancestors in this issue, see Boyce 1984, p. 62, n. 38.[n 8]
In the Sistan heroic cycle [edit]
Non-Zoroastrian literature in New Persian and Arabic uniformly reflects the regular development of Middle Persian wi- into gu-, with Middle Persian 'Wishtasp' (etc.) thus becoming 'Goshtasb' in Sistan national history (Tarikh-e Sistan), 'Goshtasp' in Firdausi's Book of Kings (Shahnameh), 'Goshtasf' in the Mojmal al-tawarikh.[1] (the usual Arabic form is Kushtasb or Kushtasf)
In these legends, Goshtasb/Goshtasf (etc.) is an abominable figure, altogether unlike the hero of Zoroastrian tradition. The reason for this discrepancy is unknown. According to the "Sistan" tradition, Goshtasb is of the House of Rostam, lord of Sistan. Goshtasb demands the throne from his father, but is rebuffed, so he storms off to India. Goshtasb's brother Zareh (Zareh/Zarer etc., Avestan Zairivairi) is sent to fetch him, but Goshtasb flees to "Rum" (Roman/Byzantine territories) where he marries daughter of the Roman king, becomes a military commander for the emperor, and encourages the emperor to demand tribute from Iran. Again Zareh is sent to fetch Goshtasb, who is then promised the throne, and is thus persuaded to return. Back in Sistan, he imprisons his own son Esfandiar (Esfandiar/Isfandiar etc., Avestan Spentodata), but then has to seek his help in defeating Arjasp (Avestan Aurvataspa). Goshtasb promises Esfandiar the throne in return for his help, but when Esfandiar is successful, his father stalls and instead sends him off on another mission to suppress a rebellion in Turan. Esfandiar is again successful, and upon his return Goshtasb hedges once again and – aware of a prediction that foretells the death of Esfandiar at the hand of Rostam – sends him off on a mission in which Esfandiar is destined to die. In the Shahnameh, the nobles upbraid Goshtasb as a disgrace to the throne; his daughters denounce him as a heinous criminal; and his younger son Bashutan (Avestan Peshotanu) condemns him as a wanton destroyer of Iran.[10]
| Preceded by Kai Lohrasp | Legendary Kings of the Shāhnāma | Succeeded by Esfandiar |
In Greek and Roman thought [edit]
The name 'Visthaspa' is 'Hystaspes' in the Greek and Latin texts of the Hellenistic era. Besides referring to historically attested persons named Vishtaspa, it was also applied to Zoroaster's patron, who the Greeks and Romans imagined to be a sage of great antiquity, and the putative author of a set of prophecies written under his name.[n 9] Although the works attributed to Pseudo-Hystaspes draw on real Zoroastrian sources, the Greek and Roman portraits of his person are just as fanciful as those of the other two les Mages hellénisés, Pseudo-Zoroaster andPseudo-Ostanes.[28] While Pseudo-Zoroaster was identified as the "inventor" of astrology, and Pseudo-Ostanes was imagined to be a master sorcerer, Pseudo-Hystaspes seems to have been stereotyped as an apocalyptic prophet.
None of the works attributed to him are still extant, but quotations and references have survived in the works of others, especially in those of two early Christian writers – Justin Martyr (ca. 100 CE) in Samaria and the mid-3rd century Lactantius in North Africa – who drew on them by way of confirmation that what themselves held to be revealed truth had already been uttered.[29] Only one of these pseudepigraphic works – referred to as the Book of Hystaspes or the Oracles of Hystaspes or just Hystaspes – is known by name. This work (or set of works) of the first century BCE is referred to by Lactantius, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Lydus, and Aristokritos, all of whom describe it as foretelling the downfall of the Roman empire, the return of rule to the east, and of the coming of the saviour.[30]
Lactantius provides a detailed summary of the Oracles of Hystaspes in his Divinae Institutiones (Book VII, from the end of chapter 15 through chapter 19). It begins with Hystaspes awaking from a dream, and needing to have it interpreted for him. This is duly accomplished by a young boy, "here representing, according to convention, the openness of youth and innocent to divine visitations."[31] As interpreted by the boy, the dream "predicts" the iniquity of the last age, and the impending destruction of the wicked by fire. The divine fire will burn both the righteous and the wicked, but only the wicked will be hurt and neither will be destroyed. During the eschatological inferno, the "followers of truth" will separate themselves from the wicked and ascend a mountain. The evil king who dominates the world will be angered on hearing this, and he will resolve to encircle the mountain with his army. The righteous implore to "Jupiter", who sends them a saviour, who will descend from heaven accompanied by angels and before him a flaming sword. Hystaspes "prophesies" that the wicked king (i.e. the Roman emperor) will survive the destruction of his armies, but will lose power. It was "presumably"[32] the prophecy of the destruction of a victorious power (i.e. the Roman empire) that caused the work to be proscribed by Rome; according to Justin Martyr (Apologia, I.44.12), reading the work was punishable by death.[33][34]
Unlike the works attributed to the other two les Mages hellénisés, the Oracles of Hystaspes was apparently based on the genuine Zoroastrian myths, and "the argument for ultimate magian composition is a strong one. [...] As prophecies they have a political context, a function, and a focus which radically distinguish them from the philosophical and encyclopedic wisdom of the other pseudepigrapha."[35] Although "[p]rophecies of woes and iniquities in the last age are alien to orthodox Zoroastrianism", there was probably a growth of Zoroastrian literature in the late fourth-early third centuries denouncing the evils of the Hellenistic age, and offering hope of the coming kingdom of Ahura Mazda.[36]
The Greco-Roman obsession with Zoroaster as the "inventor" of astrology also influenced the image of Hystaspes. So for example in Lydus' On the months (de Mensibus II.4), which credits "the Chaldeans in the circle of Zoroaster and Hystaspes and the Egyptians" for the creation of the seven-day week after the number of planets.[37]
The fourth century Ammianus Marcellinus (xxvi.6.32) identifies Zoroaster's patron with another Vishtaspa, better known as Hystaspes in English, the (late-6th century BCE) father of Darius I.The sixth century Agathias was more ambivalent, observing that it wasn't clear to him whether the name of Zoroaster's patron referred to the father of Darius or to another Hystaspes (ii.24). As with the medieval Zoroastrian chronology that identifies Vishtaspa with "Ardashir" (see above), Ammianus' identification was once considered to substantiate the "traditional date" of Zoroaster.[38]
Notes[edit]
- ^ YAv. Haugvan is Gathic Hvogva. Named members of this clan are Jamaspa and Frashaoshtra (Y 51.17-18, Gatha 3), two members of Vishtaspa's court. In Yasna 53 (Gatha 5), Zoroaster is the celebrant priest at the marriage of his daughter, Pouruchista, to Jamaspa Hvogva. In Zoroastrian tradition (e.g. Denkard 21.17), one of Zoroaster's wives, Hvovi, is the daughter of the other named Hvogva, Frashaoshtra.
- ^ In Yasht 15.95–96, Vishtaspa's wife Hutaosa is also said to be a member of the Naotara clan. In Yasht 17, Ashi (Fortune) is said to have fled from the "swift-horsed" Naotaras. The meaning of this myth is obscure.[2]
- ^ For a review of older (early 20th century) interpretations, see Kent 1945, pp. 55–57.
- ^ "On theological issues, the Book of Zoroaster does not demonstrate significant differences to the older Middle Persian tractates. However, the untypical focus on the figure of Zoroaster on the one hand, and the assimilation of the figure of Zoroaster with the prophetic "type" intrinsic to Mohammed on the other hand, are unmistakable. Without losing its Zoroastrian character, the text portrays Zoroaster as the bearer of the perfect book, as the figure of a prophet in the Islamic sense. The perhaps most obvious example of the Islamization of Zoroaster's functions is in the scene in which, according to the Book of Zoroaster, Zoroaster presents himself to Vishtaspa with 'I am the prophet that God has sent to you' [ZN 281], in which the originally Arabic word rasul – in Islam used for the 'Prophet of God' – is used."[20]
- ^ In an alternate tradition based on Yasht 9.25–26, Hutaosa is said to have been the first to listen to Zoroaster's teachings.[3]
- ^ In the Book of Zoroaster, Zoroaster performs the dron yasht, a lesser service at which he consecrates wine, milk, incense and a pomegranate. The wine he gives to Vistaspa, who then falls into a dream in which he learns of his soul's ascent to heaven. The remaining three favors are distributed among Vishtaspa's son Peshotanu (MP: Peshotan), who becomes undying by drinking the milk: Vishtaspa's minister Jamasp, who gains all knowledge by inhaling the incense; and Spentodata, who attains invincibility by eating the pomegranate.[22]
- ^ In "a legend [that] persisted down to Sasanian times and beyond, [...] both Zoroaster and his patron Vishtaspa [were associated] with the Bactrian capital of Balkh",[26] Bactria was not the only region that claimed Vishtaspa for its own; as recorded in post-Sassanid sources (but apparently older), at least four other Iranian provinces – Parthia, Drangiana (Sistan), Atropatene and Persia – also attributed events in their local history to Vishtaspa.[27]
- ^ Additionally, and within the framework of the arguments that Cyrus the Great was a Zoroastrian, Boyce 1982, pp. 68–69 speculates that the reason why "[Cyrus'] name is never mentioned in the Pahlavi books or in the later royal genealogies" was because tradition identified Cyrus with Vishtaspa, with the use of Vishtaspa's name instead of Cyrus', thus leading to "complete oblivion for Cyrus in Zoroastrian tradition".
- ^ For the primary sources, see Bidez & Cumont 1938, vol. I: pp. 215–223; vol. II: pp. 359–377.
Rule[edit]
| Preceded by Esfandiar | Legendary Kings of the Shāhnāma 112 years | Succeeded by Homai daughter of Bahman |