Manūchehr mænuː'tʃer">Help:IPA/English">mænuː'tʃer (, older Persian Manōčihr,

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

𐬨𐬀𐬥𐬎𐬱𐬗𐬌𐬚𐬭𐬀 Manuščiθra), is the eighth

Shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...

of the

Pishdadian dynasty The Pishdadian dynasty ( ) is a mythical line of primordial kings featured in Zoroastrian belief and Persian mythology. They are presented in legend as originally rulers of the world but whose realm was eventually limited to ''Ērānshahr'' or Gr ...

Persia 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 ...

according to ''

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 ...

''. He is the first of the legendary Iranian

s who ruled

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 ...

after the breakup of the world empire of Manūchehr's great-grandfather, Fereydūn. Manūchehr was the grandson of

Iraj Iraj (; Pahlavi: ērič; from Avestan: , literally "Aryan") is the seventh Shah of the Pishdadian dynasty, depicted in the ''Shahnameh''. Based on Iranian mythology, he is the youngest son of Fereydun. He was killed by his brothers Salm and ...

, who was the son of Fereydūn, and he avenged the death of Īrāj at the hands of Fereydūn's other two sons, Salm and Tur. From the death of Tūr in Manūchehr's war of vengeance sprang a war between the Iranians and Turanians that would last for centuries, until the reign of

Kai 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 ...

. Manūchehr died after a reign of 120 years, and was succeeded by his son

Nowzar Nowzar, Nouzar, Nowzer, Novzar or Nōzar (); () ; is the ninth Shah of the Pishdadian dynasty of Persia according to ''Shahnameh''. He is the son of Manuchehr and becomes the Shah of Iran after his father's death. His reign of seven years comes ...

Family Tree

Sources and references

* Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Dick Davis trans. (2006), ''Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings'' , modern English translation (abridged), current standard * Warner, Arthur and Edmond Warner, (translators) ''The Shahnama of Firdausi'', 9 vols. (London: Keegan Paul, 1905–1925) (complete English verse translation) *

Shirzad Aghaee Shirzad (, also Romanized as Shīrzād) is a village in Tolbozan Rural District, Golgir District, Masjed Soleyman County, Khuzestan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a coun ...

, ''Nam-e kasan va ja'i-ha dar Shahnama-ye Ferdousi'' (Personalities and Places in the Shahnama of

Ferdousi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poems created by a single poet, and the greatest epic of Persian ...

, Nyköping, Sweden, 1993. () * Jalal Khāleghi Motlagh, Editor, ''The Shahnameh'', to be published in 8 volumes (c. 500 pages each), consisting of six volumes of text and two volumes of explanatory notes. See
Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University

External links

''A king's book of kings: the Shah-nameh of Shah Tahmasp''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Manuchehr Mythological kings Pishdadian dynasty Longevity myths {{MEast-myth-stub