Giv or Gev () is a legendary Iranian knight and one of the main heroes in the

New Persian New Persian (), also known as Modern Persian () is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian (8th ...

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

of ''

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 ...

'' (Book of Kings), 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 ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. A member of the

House of Karen The House of Karen (; ; , or ), also known as Karen-Pahlav (), was one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran during the rule of Parthian and Sasanian Empires. The seat of the dynasty was at Nahavand, about 65 km south of Ecbatana (present-day ...

, he is the son of Godarz, brother of Roham and father of Bizhan, as well as a descendant of

Kaveh the Blacksmith Kaveh the Blacksmith (, ) is a figure in Iranian mythology who leads an uprising against a ruthless foreign ruler, Zahāk. His story is narrated in the ''Shahnameh'', the national epic of Iran (Persia), by the 10th-century Persian poet Ferdow ...

. Giv also appears in another New Persian text, the ''Banu Goshasp-nama'', where he marries

Banu Goshasp Bānu Goshasp () or Goshasp Banu is an important heroine in Iranian mythology.Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh
"G ...

, the daughter of the mythological warrior

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. The character of Giv is most likely based on a historical figure—the father of the Parthian monarch Gotarzes II (). Giv is mentioned in the

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 ...

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

document of ''

Bundahishn The ''Bundahishn'' (Middle Persian: , "Primal Creation") is an encyclopedic collection of beliefs about Zoroastrian cosmology written in the Book Pahlavi script. The original name of the work is not known. It is one of the most important extant ...

'' as "Beirazd the wrestler," where he is referred to as one of the immortals that will aid the

eschatological Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negative world ...

Zoroastrian saviour Saoshyant. The medieval historian

al-Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...

(died 923) records Giv's name as ''Bīy'', while Hasan ibn Muhammad Qumi refers to him as ''Bīb'', and credits him with the foundation of a rural district in the city of

Qom Qom (; ) is a city in the Central District of Qom County, Qom province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. The city is ...

. The

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

orientalist Theodor Nöldeke states that the names ''Bīy'' and ''Bīb'' are derived from the older form ''Wēw'', which was still in use by

Hamza al-Isfahani Ḥamza ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Mū'addib al-Iṣbahānī Abū ‘Abd Allāh (; – after 961), commonly known as Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī or Hamza Esfahani (), was a Persian philologist and historian, who wrote in Arabic during the 'Abbasid and ...

(died after 961) in his ''Mujmal al-tawarikh''. Giv brought Kay Khosrow back from

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 ...

to Iran after a seven-year search. As a reward, he received the invincible mailcoat of Siyavash. Despite Giv's leading role as a commander-in-chief of the army during the reign of Kay Kavus and Kay Khosrow, his personality is to some extent eclipsed by that of Godarz and Bizhan.

The story of Kay Khosrow

Kay Khosrow is one of the greatest kings of Shahnameh and he is the son of Siavash and Farangis and the grandson of Kay Kavus. Kay Khosrow was born and grown up in

. One day the Soroush (angel) comes to

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 ...

in his dream and tells him that the son of Siavash is in Turan and Iranians should go there and bring him back to Iran. He tells Goudarz that only his son, Giv, could do this job. Goudarz then sends Giv to Turan in search of Kay Khosrow and after seven years, Giv finally finds Kay Khosrow and brings him back to Iran.

Disappearance

Giv along with most of other Iranian heroes, disappears in snow during Kay Khosrow's ascent, because they don't have Farr-e Izadi (a divine force).

Family tree

References

Sources

* * {{Shahnameh Shahnameh characters