Bahram is an Iranian hero in

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

, the

national epic A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks to or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation—not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group wi ...

Greater Iran Greater Iran or Greater Persia ( ), also called the Iranosphere or the Persosphere, is an expression that denotes a wide socio-cultural region comprising parts of West Asia, the South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia (specifica ...

. He is son of

Goudarz Goudarz () is one of the main Iranian heroes in Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran, and progenitor of one of its most prominent families. He is son of Kashvad, father of Giv (Shahnameh), Giv and Roham and the grandfather of Bizhan (Shah ...

and brother of Rohham, Giv and Hojir. In the story of Siavash, he and Zange-ye Shavaran are Siavash's counselors. They unsuccessfully try to convince Siavash not to go to

Turan Turan (; ; , , ) is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of th ...

. When Siavash goes to Turan and abandons Iranian army, Bahram is put in command of the Iranian army until the arrival of Tous. His most important adventure is in the story of

Farud Farud or Forud (Persian: فرود) was an ancient king of Kelat in his early youth and makes up a chapter in the Shahnameh "The Book of Kings" (940-1020) by Ferdowsi where he is mentioned as the brother of Kai Khosrow. After becoming the ruler of ...

, where he fights with

Turanian Turanian is a term that has been used in reference to diverse groups of people. Many of the uses of the word are obsolete. It may refer to: *An Iranic ethnic group mentioned in the Avesta **See Turanian (Avesta) **See Turan *The Turanid race *Any ...

army along with other Iranian heroes . When Iranian army is marching toward Turan, they encounter Farud, who along with Tokhar (تُخوار) are standing on a mountain. Tous, the

spahbed ''Spāhbad'' (also spelled ''spahbod'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbad'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Military of the Sasani ...

of Iranian army does not know Farud and think that he is a Turanian foe. He sends Bahram to go there and kill both of them. When Bahram arrives at Farud, Farud introduces himself and says that he is son of Siavash and want to avenge Afriasiab. Bahram comes back to Tous and tells him that they are not enemy and instead they want to join Iranian army to fight against

Afrasiab Afrasiyab ( ''afrāsiyāb''; ; Middle-Persian: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic ''Shahnameh'', written by Ferdowsi. Name and origin ''Afrā'' is the po ...

. Tous, however, does not believe this and orders to kill Farud. Bahram unsuccessfully tries to restrain Tous and Iranians from killing Farud and his companion. However, Farud was eventually slain by Rohham and Bizhan. Bahram, seeing himself as somehow to blame for Ferud's death, he no longer cares for his own life. In a subsequent war between Iran and Turan shortly after Farud's death, he lost his whip in the battlefield. Although Goudarz, his father, and Giv, his brother advice him to not go for the whip, he sees this incident as a bad omen and puts his life to danger and returns to the battlefield solely in search of his whip. He finds an injured Iranian soldier and binds his wounds. He finally finds his whip, but at the last minute, he was surrounded by Turanian men. He bravely fights with them but at last, he was severely injured by Tazhāv (تَژاو) and shortly after he dies of the wound. The unknown author of Mojmal al-tavarikh mentions him as the master of ceremonies (amīr-e majles) in

Kay Khosrow Kay Khosrow () is a legendary king of Iran of Kayanian dynasty and a character in the Persian epic book ''Shahnameh''. He was the son of the Iranian prince Siavash who married princess Farangis of Turan while in exile. Before Kay Khosrow wa ...

's reign.

Family tree

References

{{Shahnameh Shahnameh characters