Table of Contents

  • KAYĀNIĀN v. Kauui Usan, Kay-Us, Kay Kāvus

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    With Kauui Usan (Usaδan), Pahlavi Kay Us (Kāy Us), Persian Kay Kāvus, the sources become a bit more substantial. His name corresponds to Old Indic Kāvya Uśánas.

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  • KAYĀNIĀN vi. Siiāuuaršan, Siyāwaxš, Siāvaš

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    Siiāuuaršan, “the one with black stallions,” is listed in the Avesta in Yašt 13.132 as a kauui and the third with a name containing aršan “male.” 

  • KAYĀNIĀN vii. Kauui Haosrauuah, Kay Husrōy, Kay Ḵosrow

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    The name Haosrauuah is a vriddi formation of *husrauuah “he who has good fame” and ought to mean “good fame” by itself.

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  • KAYĀNIĀN viii. Kay Luhrāsp, Kay Lohrāsb

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    In the Avesta, Vištāspa’s father is Auruuaṯ.aspa, who is mentioned only once, when Zarathustra asks Anāhitā for the ability to make Vištāspa, son of Auruuaṯ.aspa, help the daēnā along with thoughts, words, and deeds, a wish he is granted.

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  • KAYĀNIĀN ix. Kauui Vištāspa, Kay Wištāsp, Kay Beštāsb/Goštāsb

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    The name Vištāspa presumably means “he who gives the horses free rein” (cf. Rigveda 6.6.4víṣitāso áśvāḥ “horses let loose or given free rein”).

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  • KAYĀNIĀN x. The End of the Kayanids

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    In the Pahlavi texts. The Bundahišn only records that, when Wahman, son of Spandyād, came to the throne, Iran was a wasteland, and the Iranians were quarreling with one another.

  • KAYĀNIĀN xi. The Kayanids and the Kang-dez

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    According to the Pahlavi texts, Kay Siāwaxš built the Kang castle (Kang-diz) by miraculous power (Pahlavi Rivāyat: with his own hands, by means of the [Kavian] xwarrah and the might of Ohrmazd and the Amahrspands).

  • KAYĀNIĀN xii. The Kavian XVARƎNAH

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    The nature of the Avestan xᵛarənah and its three subtypes, the Aryan (airiiana), the “unseizable” (? axᵛarəta), and the Kavian (kāuuaiia).

  • KAYĀNIĀN xiii. Synchronism of the Kayanids and Near Eastern History

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    The desire of the medieval historians to fit all the ancient narratives into one and the same chronological description of world history from the creation led them to coordinate the Biblical, Classical, and Iranian sources.

  • KAYĀNIĀN xiv. The Kayanids in Western Historiography

    Prods Oktor Skjærvø

    In Western historiography up into the 19th century, the historicity of the pre-Achaemenid Persian dynasties was taken for granted, and the Kayanids, the “second dynasty of Persian kings,” were commonly identified with the Babylonian, Assyrian, and Median kings.

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