Siamak ( , sometimes transliterated as Siyamak or Siamac) is a character 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 ...

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 ...

's great

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 ...

begins with the story of

Keyumars Keyumars or Kiomars () was the name of the first king (shah) of the Pishdadian dynasty of Iran according to the ''Shahnameh''. The name appears in Avestan in the form of , or in medieval Zoroastrian texts as ''Gayōmard'' or ''Gayōmart''. ...

, the first king to arise among humans, who at that time lived in mountain caves and wore the skins of

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

s. God ('' Hormazd'') granted him the supernatural radiance called '' farr'' reserved for kings. His son was Siāmak and was beloved by all, except the destructive spirit ''

Ahriman Angra Mainyu (; ) is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the Spenta Mainyu, the "holy/creative spirits/mentality", or directly of Ahura Mazda, th ...

'', who raised an army under the command of his own demonic son. When the divine figure

Sorush Sraosha ( or ; ), is the Avestan name of the Zoroastrian ''yazata'' of "Conscience" and "Observance", which is also the literal meaning of his name. In the Middle Persian commentaries of the 9th-12th centuries, the divinity appears as '', S(a)r ...

warned Keyumars, Siāmak led an army of his own. Siāmak accepted a challenge to single combat and died at the hands of the demon. Keyumars mourned for a year, and then Sorush advised him to fight Ahriman once more. Siāmak's son

Hushang Hushang (; ), also spelled Hōshang, is an early hero-king in Iranian mythology. He is known from Avestan, Middle Persian, and Sasanian-based Persian and Arabic sources. He appears to have been one of several 'first man/king' figures in different ...

led the army that defeated Ahriman's son, whom he bound and beheaded. Keyumars died after a thirty-year reign, leaving his throne to Hushang.

Etymology and meaning

In terms of etymology, it has been suggested that the word is a compound of ''siāh'' (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: سیاه, meaning 'black') + ''moo'' (Persian: مو, meaning 'hair') + ''-ak'' (suffix of endearment in Persian), hence giving the overall meaning of "beloved black-haired boy" or simply "possessor of black hair". Other meanings have been also suggested; among others: "bringer of joy" and "great emperor".

References

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 Siamak Pishdadian dynasty {{Shahnameh-stub