Are you thinking, "Where does she dig up this stuff?" Well, look back to this post and you will know my inspiration.Honestly the personal travel to Iran and having been an English major aside, the main reason I was curious about Rostam was because a c-section in Persian is a Rostamzad. It made me think, well why is a cesarean called a cesarean anyway? Julius Caesar wasn't born by cesarean - or at least it is assumed he was not because women didn't survive them when he was born and his mother did survive the birth. Reading about Rostam gave me some insight. Rostam was abnormally huge - think John Henry in American folklore - and I can imagine having people think that you were so big even as a child as to necessitate a cesarean would translate into you being bigger than life as an adult too. That is my take on it, I don't have outside evidence to strengthen my position.
The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam is an excerpt of a larger epic poem called the Shahname (Book of Kings). It is the story of how Rostam has to kill his own son, Sohrab, to protect the shah of Iran. It isn't quite that cold hearted though. Rostam doesn't know Sohrab is his son - Sohrab, like his father is abnormally huge and at ten years old appears to be a young, but equal opponent. Being only ten years old, Sohrab's immature pride leads him to plan an overthrow of the shah to put his own father on the throne. He enlists the help of the Turks - an enemy from whom only Rostam has been able to protect the country. Since neither one has ever seen the other, they battle in ignorance until Sohrab is fatally wounded, then he warns his opponent, Rostam, that his father, Rostam, will avenge his death. The truth all comes out and Rostam is horribly grieved. He threatens to kill himself, but the shah talks him out of it because he is so essential to national security that they whole country will be lost if he dies.
This is an ancient (pre-Arab/pre-Islamic) story and only one of many stories about Rostam. I can imagine he was a greatly loved character for children. The greatness of Rostam aside, the real theme of this story is that death is inevitable and the inability to understand God. The ancient Persians were Zoroastrians and so far as I know, some Iranians still are today.
Thanks for this post! I never think about ancient Persian stories, but there must be tons of them. It's a real shame that Iran is so closed off to tourism - I think that it might do very well. Did you read this to the kiddos?
ReplyDeleteI didn't. I think it was a little over their heads - and no pictures (definitely still a requirement for Annalise, although Caleb sometimes will sit for a pictureless story). Maybe another time though. I think other parts of the Shahname is are also translated into English.
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