Kayanian dynasty
The Kayaniden (also Kayanian, Kaianiden or Kay ) are a semi- mythological dynasty of the great Iranian tradition. Generally considered the Kayanidenkönige are the heroes of the Avesta, the sacred books of Zoroastrianism, and the Shahnameh, the national epic of the Iranian world. Some scholars such as Biruni translated the Kayaniden with the Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids same.
The epithet is derived from Kai over the medium-and New Persian Kay ( to ) from Avestan Kavi or Kauui, which can mean king and poet - sacrificer or poet - priest. The word is also etymologically related to the Avestan concept of Kavaēm kharēno ( Divine royal splendor ), which should have had the kayanidischen kings. The Kiani Crown was the manifestation of that belief.
In the writings
A first sign of the great legends of the kayanidischen kings found in the Yaschts of the Avesta, where the dynasty offereth sacrifice to the gods, so their support and strength for their constant battle against their enemies, who, sometimes referred to as Anaryas Turanian to gain.
In the Yascht 5, 9:25, 17.45-46 practice Haosravah, later known as Kai Khosrow, together with Zoroaster and Jamasp, the Premier of the patron of Zoroaster Wischtaspa in Airyanem Vaejah worship from. About King Haosravah is said that he, the various Aryan tribes into a nation united ( Yascht 5:49, 9:21, 15:32, 17:41 ).
In tradition and poetry
The Sassanian Khosrow II Parwez ( 590-628 ) ordered a collection of the legends surrounding the Kayaniden. The result was the Khwaday - Namag, "The Book of Men ," a long historiography of the Iranian nation from the primordial Gayomarth until the reign Chosraus II with events that are arranged according to the sequence of fifty kings and queens.
The collection may have been arranged because of the decrease or shrinkage of the national spirit or self-consciousness. There were disastrous global climate changes in 535-536 and the Justinian plague, and the Iranians would find the needed solace in the collected legends of their past.
After the collapse of the Sassanid Empire and the rise of Islam, the legends of the Kayaniden fell into oblivion until the Samanids revived the Iranian culture. Together with the information of the Avesta was the Khwaday - Namag as the basis for other epic prose collections such as that of Abu Mansur Abd al - Razzaq, but they are lost. The revival also led to the resurgence of Zoroastrian literature, such as the work Denkard ( acts of religion), which also contains a history of the book Kayaniden 7.1. The most famous work of this kind was Firdausi's Shahnameh, which is written entirely in verse.
Some rulers and princes of Kayaniden
- Kai Kobad
- Kai Kawous
- Kai Khosrau
- Lohrasp
- Goštāsp
- Bahman
- Kai Darab
- Siyawasch
- Esfandiyar