Battle of Rostam and Esfandiyār; An epic narrative of a historical phenomenon

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Department of History; Faculty of Law, Political Science, and History; Yazd University; Yazd; Iran

10.29252/kavosh.2021.16578.3059

Abstract

The story of Rostam and Esfandiyar, as one of the most widespread and rich epics in Iran, has been the subject of numerous researches and has been studied and interpreted from various perspectives. Each of these researches, for their part, have shed light on this story and sometimes, have clarified some aspects of the Iranian culture and history. The present study, which is descriptive-analytical research based on the historical research method, tries to re-read the story of Rostam and Esfandiyar from another perspective and to test the hypothesis that this epic is the product of the analysis of the wise Iranian historians of a phenomenon that has occurred many times in the history of Iran and other countries. This historical phenomenon is a constant conflict between the central power and the local powers, which centuries after the emergence and spread of the story of Rostam and Esfandiyar in Iran, Ibn Khaldun formulated it in the form of his famous theory of how states emerged and fell. While confirming the above hypothesis and presenting a new understanding of the story of Rostam and Esfandiyar, the result of this research is also a light on the characteristics of historiography and the historical perspective of ancient Iranians.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Kavoshnameh in Persian Language and Literature
Volume 23, Issue 52
May 2022
Pages 9-46

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