Rostam
رستم
the crown-giver
The pivot of the entire epic. Serves one king after another across nine reigns, holds Iran together almost single-handedly, and is rewarded with a dead son, a war he does not want, and a pit lined with spears.
- Spans
- 9 reigns
- Years, as the poem counts
- 691
- From reign to reign
- Manuchehr → Goshtasp
Bound to
Appears in
- The Seven Trials of Rostam
The king got himself captured by demons. Somebody had to go.
- Rostam and Sohrab
Two champions fight for three days without ever exchanging names.
- Bizhan and Manizheh
He was left in a covered pit to die. She begged in the streets to keep feeding him.
- Rostam and Esfandiyar
Two men who like each other, ordered into a fight neither one wants.
- The Death of Rostam
Five hundred years of war, and it ends with a hunting trip and a half-brother.