Tous son of Nowzar () is a mythological Iranian prince and hero from 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 ...

, whose deeds and adventures were told in

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 ''

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 ...

''. Tous was a wise and brave man but also proud and pugnacious. And because of these characteristics he did not possess the king's divine glory (Middle Persian: ''khvarrah''; Persian: ''farr'') and was not elected by the other nobles of Iran as heir to his father King Nowzar. Instead, his cousin Zaav became the new king of Iran and founder of the famous Kayanian dynasty. Nevertheless, Tous was a loyal vassal to the following kings Kai Kobad and Kai Kavoos and a great warrior. He defended Iran against her old arch-rival

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 ...

, the land of the Turanians. Among the first and noblest knights of Iran, Tous accompanied the king on several campaigns, and his

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

shows the device of a golden elephant as well as he and his kin wore golden shoes. But finally when Kai Kavoos chose his grandson

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 ...

as heir to the throne of Iran, Tous rebelled, and again declared his claims as oldest son of Nowzar. In Tous' opinion the House of Kai Kobad had lost its right to rule because

has had a Turanian mother and thus Tous feared that with his coronation at least Turan, Iran's arch-enemy, would come to power. A civil war about succession broke out between the House of Tous and the House of Godarz. Godarz was another heroic warrior of Iran, a loyal vassal to the king’s wishes and

s supporter. During this war on both sides many famous warriors were killed, like Rivniz (Tous' son-in-law), Zarasp (Tous' son) and Farud (Khosrow's half-brother). Thus, to end this bloody civil war the old Kai Kavoos decided to make an assessment between the claimant to the throne Tous and his own heir Kai Khosrow. Tous failed in the challenge for the throne but

won the test. And finally Tous accepted the result. He paid obedience to the new designed king and for his loyalty Tous was granted the greatest honours as a royal prince. After Tous protected Iran and the new king against several demons and dragons in many adventures,

marched with a huge army against

. Tous was commander-in-chief and at least the Iranians could defeat the Turanians in a final battle. Then one day in wintertime the whole royal court arranged a shoot in the woods, and also Tous was among

’s companions who rode into wilderness and suddenly disappeared completely behind the fallen snow. And it is said that "at the end of times, at Judgement Day he will occur again as one of the thirty Immortals, to fight at the side of the Holy Saviour for Good, and in the final apocalyptical battle he will destroy all creatures of Evil." Tous founded the city of Tous in the province of Khorassan next to today’s city of

Mashhad Mashhad ( ; ), historically also known as Mashad, Meshhed, or Meshed in English, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. ...

. It is said that the city of Tous was the capital of

Parthia Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemeni ...

and the residence of King

Vishtaspa Vishtaspa ( ; ; ; ) is the Avestan-language name of a figure appearing in Zoroastrian scripture and tradition, portrayed as an early follower of Zoroaster, and his patron, and instrumental in the diffusion of the prophet's message. Although V ...

, who was the first converted to Zoroastianism. The descendants following their mythological progenitor Tous were mentioned as the ''House of Tous'', the ''House Nowzari'' or at least as ''Shahzadegi Tous ben Naudharan'' and some Iranian families claim to be offspring of the hero Tous, like the tribe of Zarrin Kafsh.Ayazi: ''A'ineh'-ye Sanandaj'', 1360, p. 31.

Family Tree

References

Literature

Ayazi, Burhan: ''A’ineh’-ye Sanandaj'', Amir Kabir, Tehran 1360 (1981). Ferdowsi, Abul-Qasem: ''Shahnameh ("The Book of the Kings")'', edit. by Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh, Reclam Verlag, Stuttgart 2010. Justi, Ferdinand: ''Iranisches Namensbuch'', Marburg 1895, reprint: Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 1963. Yarshater, Ehsan: "Iranian National History", in: ''Cambridge History of Iran'', edit. by Ehsan Yarshater, Vol. 3 (1), Cambridge University Press, London 2003, pp. 359–480. {{Shahnameh Pishdadian dynasty Mythological princes Mythological city founders