The hero-king of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh who overthrows the tyrant Zahhak after the blacksmith Kaveh's revolt, binding him in chains inside Mount Damavand rather than killing him; Feridun later divides his kingdom among his three sons, Salm, Tur and Iraj, an act whose jealous aftermath, Iraj's murder by his brothers, sets the pattern for generations of dynastic conflict in the rest of the epic.
Facts
Attributions
Mythic AssociationFeridun's division of his kingdom among his three sons, and the fratricide it provokes when Salm and Tur murder Iraj out of jealousy, functions in the Shahnameh as the founding wound behind the epic's long war between Iran and Turan. 2 TraditionZoroastrian scripture remembers him under the name Thraetaona in the Avesta as a hero who slays the three headed dragon Azi Dahaka, a feat later Persian epic tradition in the Shahnameh recasts as his binding, rather than killing, of the tyrant Zahhak inside Mount Damavand. 1 History
Historical NoteFeridun corresponds to the Avestan hero Thraetaona, who binds the dragon Azi Dahaka in the older Zoroastrian scripture, so the Shahnameh's account of his triumph over Zahhak is a later Persian epic retelling of a figure attested centuries earlier in the Avesta. 1 Practice
LineageDescended from Jamshid's royal line, the deposed dynasty Zahhak had usurped 2 Identity
SymbolHe is traditionally depicted wielding an ox-headed mace, the gorz-e gavsar, the weapon with which he strikes down Zahhak in the Shahnameh's account of the tyrant's overthrow. 1 Canonical ReferenceHe appears far earlier than Ferdowsi's tenth century epic, in the Avesta, where he is called Thraetaona and credited with the same defeat of the three headed dragon Azi Dahaka, the Avestan original from which the Shahnameh's Zahhak descends. 1 Attestation
HistoricityLegendary: known from narrative tradition, not the historical record 2 Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 1 Traditions Revering This Figure Position Profile
Key TextShahnameh, the overthrow of Zahhak and its aftermath; his forerunner Thraetaona appears in the Avesta 1 Status
Status Within the TraditionRead across the Shahnameh as the just king who ends Zahhak's tyranny, his own later act of dividing his kingdom among his three sons sets off the jealous rivalry, Iraj's murder by his brothers, that drives generations of dynastic conflict in the rest of the epic. 1 Life
Office HeldKing of Iran after overthrowing Zahhak, restoring the Pishdadian line the tyrant had usurped 2 Place of ActivityThe Shahnameh locates his overthrow of the tyrant Zahhak at Mount Damavand, where he is said to have chained his defeated rival within the mountain rather than killing him outright, a captivity poets held would end only as the world approached its final ruin. 2 Origins
Origin of the NameFerdowsi's Feridun descends directly from the Avestan Thraetaona, itself built on an old Indo-Iranian root, so the New Persian hero-king's name carries a documented linguistic lineage stretching back through the Avesta's own older Zoroastrian scripture rather than originating with the Shahnameh itself. 1 Connections
Associated With
This source names Feridun directly: "by the smith Kaveh and the hero Feridun, in Dick Davis's verse and prose translation."
Source Divinity Atlas Original Articles, Second Edition
Source Shahnameh: The Persian Book of KingsAbolqasem Ferdowsi, translated by Dick Davis
Belongs to Tradition
Source The AvestaAnonymous (Zoroastrian tradition)
Depicted In
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's own title for this Shahnama folio names Faridun in the palace of the tyrant Zahhak.
Source Faridun in the Palace of Zahhak, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Originated In
Source Fereydun (Wikipedia)
Related To
Source Shahnameh: The Persian Book of KingsAbolqasem Ferdowsi, translated by Dick Davis
Revered In
Sources
1. The Avesta
2. Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings
Abolqasem Ferdowsi, translated by Dick Davis, Viking Penguin, 2006
Faridun in the Palace of Zahhak, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of ArtDepicted In: Faridun in the Palace of Zahhak (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Metropolitan Museum of Art 68.215.20View the Source Fereydun (Wikipedia)
Originated In: Persia, Lead paragraph, originated-inQuote, Originated In: Persia, Lead paragraph, originated-in
Fereydun (Avestan: 𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀𐬊𐬥𐬀, Middle Persian: 𐭯𐭫𐭩𐭲𐭥𐭭, Persian: فریدون) is a hero and king in Iranian mythology.
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