''Draxt ī Āsūrīg'' (meaning "The Assyrian Tree" or "The Babylonian Tree") is a Parthian-language

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

consisting of about 120 verses and written in

Book Pahlavi Book Pahlavi is the cursive variant of the Pahlavi scripts, Pahlavi script, which was derived from the Aramaic alphabet, Aramaic script during the Sasanian Empire, Sassanid period to write the Middle Persian, Middle Persian language. Book Pahlav ...

script. The language shows influences from

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

. It is one of the oldest existing texts in the Parthian language. The poem is framed as a dialogue between a

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

and a

palm tree The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...

. At the end, the goat is proclaimed to be victorious. The Iranians may have adopted this genre from the oral traditions of ancient Mesopotamia. Ahmad Tafazzoli
"DRAXT Ī ĀSŪRĪG"
''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English-language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

'', December 15, 1995. Some scholars consider the goat and the palm tree to be the symbols of

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...

and the

Babylonian religion Babylonian religion is the religious practice of Babylonia. Babylonia's mythology was largely influenced by its Sumerian counterparts and was written on clay tablets inscribed with the cuneiform script derived from Sumerian cuneiform. The myths ...

, or simply the

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

life and

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

life, respectively. The poem is also considered

wisdom literature Wisdom literature is a genre of literature common in the ancient Near East. It consists of statements by sages and the wise that offer teachings about divinity and virtue. Although this genre uses techniques of traditional oral storytelling, i ...

. A similar but less significant story, "The story of the vine and the ewe" ( ''raz o mīš''), has been recorded in

Persian literature Persian literature 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 have been within Greater Iran including present-day ...

References

Dialogues Middle Persian Parthian language Poems in Persian Wisdom literature {{Iran-stub

See also

References