Hāmāvarān ( fa, هاماوَران) is a place in

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...

and other Iranian writings. The consensus between scholars is that Hamavaran is usually identified with

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

. According to

Abdolhossein Zarrinkoob Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub ( Luri/ Persian: , also Romanized as ''Zarrinkoob'', ''Zarrinkub'', ) (March 17, 1923 – September 15, 1999) was a scholar and professor of Iranian literature, history of literature, Persian culture and history. He was ...

, it is an altered form of

Himyarite Kingdom The Himyarite Kingdom ( ar, مملكة حِمْيَر, Mamlakat Ḥimyar, he, ממלכת חִמְיָר), or Himyar ( ar, حِمْيَر, ''Ḥimyar'', / 𐩹𐩧𐩺𐩵𐩬) (fl. 110 BCE–520s CE), historically referred to as the Homerit ...

Hamavaran background

In some old writings, the name was mentioned as Sambarān, Shambarān, Shammarān, Samarān, and Shamarān. It has been suggested that these forms consists of "Shammar + ān". Shammar in the name of a Himyarite king in 3rd century, and so, Shammarān means "the land of Shammar".The journal of History of Iran, Issue 62, Yemen in Persian literature, p 191 In

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle ...

texts, Yemen is mentioned as Yamar, Yambar and Yamyar and that could be a possible form of Hāmāvarān. There are many stories about Hamavaran in

Persian literature Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...

. In Shahnameh,

Kay Kavus The name Kay is found both as a surname (see Kay (surname)) and as a given name. In English-speaking countries, it is usually a feminine name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but it is also used as a first name in its own r ...

fell in love with the daughter of Hamavaran's king, Sudabe. In Shahnameh, Hamavaran is located far away from Iran, and Kay Kavus goes to Hāmāvarān through sea. Hāmāvarān is bordered to the left by

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, and to the right by Barbarestan (possibly Sudan). In Sasanian era, Hamavaran was occupied by Abyssinian troops and the king of Hamavaran, asks Khosrow I to help him. Khosrow uses 800 prisoners that are sentenced to death in a war between Abyssinian and Persians, in which Abyssinians were defeated and Hamavaran became a province of Sasanian Empire.

Hamavaran background

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