An Assyrian Motif in the Shahnama

Iranica Antiqua, vol. XXXVIII, 2003

AN ASSYRIAN MOTIF IN THE SHAHNAMA

BY Parivash JAMZADEH

In the accounts of the last Dara in the Shahnama of Firdawsi relating to the wars of Darius III the Achaemenid king (336-330 B.C.) with Alexan- der and his flight from the Greek army, occurs the description of a scene that finds close similarities with the victory relief of Assurbanipal (668- 627 B.C.) at his palace in Nineveh (Pl. 1). Furthermore, other features in this section of the Book of Kings dealing with the last hours of the last Achaemenid king also find parallels in the final destiny of the last independent Elamite king Tempt-Humban-Inshushinak (668-653 B.C.) known in Assyrian sources as Te-Umman. It is argued that the tradition of the court poets and minstrels at the service of powerful kings would have facilitated the transference of certain knowledge, while a folkloric story emanating from the common pool of the historic memories of Elamites and Persians who for centuries had peacefully co-existed in the south and west of Iran seems to have affected and modified to a certain degree and in stages, the transmission of the original strand of information. According to the Shahnama, Dara following his defeat from the forces of Alexander at a river, sends him a letter asking for clemency as well as the safe return of his family members. Alexander upon reading the letter exclaims that naturally any sacrilegious acts or even any ill intent towards the deposed king's relatives would only result in disaster for the perpetra- tor and so to explain his intention uses an edifying example that comes close to the description of the Assurbanipal relief. Sekandar cho an nameh barkhvand guft- ke ba jan-e dara kherad bad juft kasi ku garayad be payvand-e oi- be pushideh-ruyan o farzand-e oi nabinad magar takhteh gur takht- gar avikhteh sar az shakh-e derakht1

1 Shahnama, Moscow, Vol. 6, 1967, p. 397 168 P. JAMZADEH

Alexander upon reading the letter said may always wisdom be with Dara. Who-ever makes a move against his kin- against his female relatives and his children, shall see only a bier for a throne- or his head hanging from a tree.

This description may be compared with Assurbanipal's victory relief at his palace in Nineveh where following his victory over Elam he is depicted as reclining on a couch in a garden under a vine in the company of his enthroned queen drinking wine and listening to the sounds of birds and the music and songs of his musicians and minstrels. The decapitated head of the Elamite king is also included, hanging from a tree2 (Pl. 1). This scene forms the final episode of the palace decorations at Nineveh depicting the Elamite campaign which in 653 B.C. with the death of Te-Umman came to its victorious end3. Since this Elamite king had posed a considerable threat to Assurbanipal's might, usurping a vassal Elamite king and attack- ing Mesopotamia4, his final defeat after ten years of rule would have been considered as a major victory for the Assyrian king so to justify his grandiose commemoration of the event. The Elamite king in his last hours accompanied by his son flees from the Assyrian army, crosses the river Ulai and seeks refuge in a nearby palm-grove. But the cross-pole of his chariot breaks, Assyrian troops arrive, cut off his head, take it to Assurbanipal and throw it in front of the wheels of his chariot at the gate of Assur in Nineveh5. In his hour of victory the Elamite king had sent two ambassadors to Assur- banipal's court demanding the return of some 60 fugitive Elamite princes, relatives of the king he had deposed6. But the request had been denied by the Assyrian king7. At this hour and after his death these two ambassadors also appear on the scene taking the severed head to Assurbanipal8.

2 H. Frankfort, The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, Penguin Books, 1977, pp. 192-194, Fig. 217 3 P. Amiet, Art of the Ancient Near East, New York, 1980, p. 251, Fig. 634 4 W. Hinz, The lost world of Elam, New York, 1973, pp. 152 f. 5 Ibid., pp. 155 f. 6 Ibid., p. 153 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid., p. 156 AN ASSYRIAN MOTIF IN THE SHAHNAMA 169

In the story of Dara as related by Firdawsi, also two of his counsel- lors, two priests, ‘dasturs’ play a major role in his betrayal. Judging his victory over Alexander impossible they decide to finish him off in the hope of receiving a rich reward from Alexander9. In the histories of Alexander, however, it is Darius' satrap of Bactria by the name of Bessus, and a member of the royal family who betrays and kills Darius and declares himself king10. With reference to certain details in the Shahnama one can see that Firdawsi is familiar with the Greek histori- ans' works. But his primary source for the story of Alexander seems to be the Pahlavi translation of the d recension of the Pseudo-Callis- thenes11. One such detail is his reversal of what in Arrian appears as a very sentimental farewell to the dying Alexander by the line of his friends and generals12. In the Shahnama Firdawsi includes the same scene but has the Greek philosophers addressing Alexander's corpse with reproaches that enumerate his greed and other vices13. However, in the story of Dara the inclusion of the two traitors seems to be rather due to a folkloric story. Similarities between the fate of the last independent Elamite king and what is related about the last Achaemenid king in the Shahnama is probably due to the transference of the story of the Elamite king as a folkloric memory attached to and related also about the last Achaemenid king, Darius III. The fact that both these local indigenous kings had been vanquished by powerful intruding foreign forces and both in their last hours had suffered betrayal by their close associates may have resulted in the transmission of certain features from the history of the former king finding its way in the stories told about the latter. The medium of this conveyance seems to be the popular local memory aided by patriotic nationalistic feelings. A similar formation has been seen before, also in the Alexander story in the Shahnama, where a popular memory about the site of the Achaemenid tombs at Naqsh-i Rustam had declared Alexander unworthy of the

9 Shahnama, op. cit., pp. 398 f. 10 Arrian III, 22-30; Plutarch, Alexander 43 11 T. Nöldeke, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Alexanderromans, Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse 38, 1890, pp. 11 f. 12 Arrian VII, 26 13 Shahnama, op. cit., Vol. 7, 1968, pp. 108 f. 170 P. JAMZADEH

Achaemenids' eternal throne or their final resting place14. It was argued there that Firdawsi had consciously included this pacifying and patriotic story to his account of the Alexander story. Thus in harmony with Iranian nationalistic feelings he had declared the Achaemenids as the final victors in their combat15. Nevertheless, the description of Assurbanipal's throne scene, albeit sum- marized and condensed in referral, and the severed head of the Elamite king seems to originate from an Assyrian milieu repeating the message of the relief. One may perhaps note the medium of court poets and minstrels at the service of powerful kings as responsible for the transmission of this description to the Book of Kings. That a similar process seems to have been behind the occurrence of some specific scenes in the Shahnama that find precise associations in the relief programs of Persepolis, has been demon- strated before16. Furthermore the popularity and longevity of the minstrels ‘ tradition has been seen as responsible for transmitting ideas from an Achaemenid setting to Medieval European courts17. The Assyrian court most probably would have had its own stock of minstrels at the service of the king's propaganda. Thus ideas and programs developed at the court and presented in relief, could also be put into words and songs and sang to the glory of the king at various public and private gatherings. While this route that is the medium of court minstrels, their schooling and their tendency towards applying suitable motifs for various relevant subjects18 may have originally been responsible for the occurrence of this description in the Shahnama, the fact that it is seen in a setting that seems to be the repeat of the Elamite king's story, would also argue for a folkloric medium conduct- ing the information ultimately to Shahnama. Thus a folkloric story absorbing the minstrely propaganda as well as the accounts of the last

14 P. Jamzadeh, “Remnants of the legacy of the Achaemenids in the Shahnama of Firdawsi”, Proceedings of the second European conference of Iranian studies, eds., B. G. Wagner et al., Roma, 1995, pp. 317-323 15 Ibid. 16 Id., “An Achaemenid motif seen in later epic and art”, Iranica Antiqua XXXV, 2000, pp. 47-56 17 Id., “Royal rhetoric and minstrel poetry: transmission of formulas from Achaemenid court to Medieval European courts”, Journal of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, 64, 2001 pp. 18-26. 18 Ibid. AN ASSYRIAN MOTIF IN THE SHAHNAMA 171 hours of the Elamite king would have acted as the venue for the transference of the complete story to the local memory about the last Achaemenid king. This conclusion would not contradict the present state of knowledge about the affinity of Elamites and Persians especially prior to and following the advent of the Achaemenid empire. That the Elamite and Persian cultures had for a long period of time reciprocally affected each other, is evident from the abundant presence of Iranian words in Elamite language19 and the Elamites' apparent inclination towards adoption of Iranian names20. Furthermore, the evidence of the Achaemenid reliefs at Persepolis reveals the close proximity of Elamites and Persians in many aspects and the special status that Elamites evidently enjoyed in the Achaemenid empire. Based on the reliefs, identifying the various ethnic groups com- prising the Achaemenid empire, the clothing of Elamites and Persians seem virtually identical except for some minor details21. And in various positions the Elamites command a significantly prestigious status22, thus proving their close kinship with their Persian overlords. The cultural importance of certain sites to both ethnic groups, such as the area of Naqsh-i Rustam in Fars23 may also be viewed as indicative of their close cultural affinity. Therefore in view of the existence of such overwhelming evidence, the presence of mutual patriotic memories and the juxtaposing of similar folkloric stories in the historical background of both groups may be seen as a natural outcome of centuries of shared history and culture.

19 I. Gershevitch, “Iranian nouns and names in Elamite garb”, Transactions of the Philological Society 1967-70, pp. 165-200 20 Ibid.; M. A. Dandamaev & V. G. Lukonin, The Culture and Social Institutions of Ancient Iran, Cambridge, 1989, pp. 293 21 E. F. Schmidt, Persepolis I, Sculptures. Reliefs. Inscriptions, Chicago, 1953, pl. 21; for the tri-lingual legends above the figures of the representatives of the peoples of the Achaemenid empire, as throne-bearers on the tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-i Rustam and also tomb of Artaxerxes II at Persepolis see E. F. Schmidt, Persepolis III, The Royal tombs and other monuments, Chicago, 1970, p. 109 22 Schmidt, Persepolis I, op. cit., pls. 21, 50, 51; P. Jamzadeh, “The Apadana stairway reliefs and the metaphor of conquest”, Iranica Antiqua XXVII, 1992, p. 126 23 Schmidt, Persepolis III, op. cit., p. 121 172 P. JAMZADEH tree. , London, 1978, fig. 155 The Archaeology of Mesopotamia From S. Lloyd, Pl. 1. Assurbanipal’s victory relief at Nineveh showing him enthroned with the head of defeated Elamite king hanging from a