''Mard ō mard'' (

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 ...

; literally "man to man") was an ancient

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

tradition of

single combat Single combat is a duel between two single combatants which takes place in the context of a battle between two army, armies. Instances of single combat are known from Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The champions were often combatants wh ...

, the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

being most known for using it. During a battle, the Sasanian troops would use taunts and war cries to provoke the enemy into a single duel with a Sasanian champion. The tradition meant much to the Sasanians—in 421, during

Bahram V Bahram V (also spelled Wahram V or Warahran V; ), also known as Bahram Gur (New Persian: , "Bahram the onager unter), was the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings (''shahanshah'') from 420 to 438. The son of the incumbent Sasanian shah Ya ...

's war against the Romans in 421–422, Ardazanes, a member of the " Immortals", was in a single duel killed by the Roman ''comes'' Areobindus, which contributed to Bahram V's acceptance of the defeat in the war and making peace with the Romans. In

Sasanian art Sasanian art, or Sassanid art, was produced under the Sasanian Empire which ruled from the 3rd to 7th centuries AD, before the Muslim conquest of Persia was completed around 651. In 224 AD, the last Parthian king was defeated by Ardashir I. The r ...

several ''mard o mard'' depictions are preserved in rock-reliefs in

Naqsh-e Rostam Naqsh-e Rostam (; , ) is an ancient archeological site and necropolis located about 13 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars province, Iran. A collection of ancient Iranian rock reliefs are cut into the face of the mountain and the mount ...

and in a cameo of Shapur I and Valerian. Single combats have been narrated 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 Book of Kings") of

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

, a notable example being those of the story of ''

Davazdah Rokh Davāzdah Rokh () (Twelve combats) is a story in Shahnameh. This relatively long story (almost 2,500 verses) is described as one of the finest stories of Shahnameh in terms of "plot, dramatic description, and insight into human nature". It takes pl ...

'' ("Twelve Combats").

References

Sources

* * {{cite encyclopedia , article = Army i. Pre-Islamic Iran , last = Shapur Shahbazi , first = A. , authorlink = Alireza Shapour Shahbazi , url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/army-i , editor-last = , editor-first = , editor-link = , encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 5 , pages = 489–499 , location = London et al. , publisher = , year = 1986 , isbn = Warfare by type Dueling Military history of the Sasanian Empire