Taken from: Different Parts of Kush-nameh by Daryoosh Akbarzadeh 2014.

 

Introduction: verses 1-226

Iranshah explains his book.

 

Hellenic Part: verses 227-918

A collection of Hellenic names is preserved in this part. Manush (1) sents books to Kush, from Plinius, Hippocrates … as well as tales of Roman rulers. Alexander’s tales take a most important place in this part. This tale confuses readers as Manush clashes with Kush in the beginning of this part. Manush’s (1) tale, is clearly flawed. Names such as Afriqos (3) and Doqyanos (Daqius) (6). This part, according to Matini (Kush-nameh by Matini 1998), can be affected by the Syriac texts. Iran-shah mentions in Alexander’s part of the text bilingual Pahlavi and Greek texts. We know very well Greco-Pahlaviinscriptions from Sasanian period. Furthermore, some Persian tales were translated into Greek in Post-Sasanian periods. Alexander’s conflicts with Fowr, India’s king, is found in post-Sasanian texts.

In short, Alexander met Maha-nosh (Great-life) in a mountain where is one the remains of King Jamshid (7). Maha-nosh explains his long life of around 300 years. This number (300 years) can be compared with the time between the collapse of Sasanian to the time of composing of the text. The 300 years by which Zoroastrians are away from their good situation. The conflicts between Jamshid and Maha-Raja remain an incomplete tale in this part. Maha-Raja sent a letter to Zahhak (8) to inform him about the appalling situation of survivors of Jamshid. It is obvious that Raja Raja the Great (Maha-Raja) made a close relationship with the Caliphs in Baghdad and had terrible conflicts with the Chinese in Post-Sasanian periods. Success of Maha-Raja against China’s king is apart of the history.

It is also in this part of the story that all the encounters with Africans take place.

 

Ba-Silla (9) Part: Verses 919-4080

From here, a community of Iranians appears in China as helpless and forlorn for fear of Zahhak (9).

In short, Iranians have conflicts with China’s government due to their bad conditions and they escaped finally to Ba-Silla (9) as refugees. This part is a main part of the text. It includs friendship between Iranians and Sillians. A marriage happened between an Iranian prince (=Abtin) and a Sillian princess. Faridun, the mythical hero, was born in Silla from this marriage. For this see the picture added to this text.

 

Faridun’s Traditional Myth: verses 4081-4682

Iranians return to Damavand Mountain (10) and Faridun grows up there. Faridun defeats Zahhak. Abtin dies here.

 

Return to Silla: verses 4683-6207

This part is about Taehur’s death (11), conflicts between Ba-Silla and China and the second stay of Iranians in Silla. The text makes much confusion for the readers to understand the relationship between Iranians and Sillians from here.

Taken from: The Kushnameh: The Persian Epic of Kush the Tusked By Iranshah. Transl. Kaveh Hemmat 2021.

 

(After winning a battle against a King of the Arabs.)

P50

KUSH WRITES A LETTER TO MANUSH

The great king sent a letter to Manush (1). The scribe picked up the slender reed-pen, and began: From the roving and vengeful king of the Arabs and Iran: Do not confront me, the world-conquering king whom the mountains cannot hold back. To Manush, the king of Rome, of the knights of that land, praise be to the lord of the sun and Saturn, who bestowed strength, glory, and victory! We will extirpate evil-doers from the land, cast the bodies of idolaters into the dust. We will crush all the idols under our feet, treading the path of God. Now that the Black Hordes have been stopped, driven bloodily back to Nubia and Zanj, we have rescued the world from malice, and struck a blow against those Arabs.(2) Now it is shown in the stars that we must oppose the Romans. ………..

 

p51

…………….

KUSH’S LETTER IS RECEIVED BY MANUSH, AND MANUSH WRITES BACK TO KUSH

He went until he reached Manush’s gate, forgetting all the weariness of the road. When Manush read the king’s words, his face turned the color of straw. He said to the envoy; Though this new king is a warlike champion, do not think I am like his defeated enemies, the Zangi and Arabs. If I go to that court, it will be with an army as the sands of the desert. ……..

 

P55

……….  He also sent five books reporting the deeds of kings, telling of what they endured: histories of the kings of Rome and their deeds in that land. One was about the reign of Efriqos,(3) with good advice for all kings—his father was Abraha, a well-born king. To speak of his far-reaching dominion, all the west was under his command, and demons fled his slicing blade. He built a city in the west, which his minister called Efriqiyeh. His commands were obeyed for two hundred years as if there were no other king in the world. In the companion volume were the deeds and works of ……..

 

P61

A STORY (OF ALEXANDER’S TRAVEL IN THE EAST) (4)

When the world was under Alexander’s rule, he wanted to tour the earth. From Darius of Iran to Porus of India, the world was delivered unto his gleaming sword. The world-seeking king came to the east, with an army that could block the wind. He went on until he reached the sea that conceals the sun.

At the edge of the deep sea were a group of terrifying men. Naked head to toe and black of hide, like the heart of a vengeful man, mouths and teeth like dogs and faster than dogs in the chase. Their weapons were javelins, and they tore apart ana ate each other. They soon saw Alexander’s army. Each one seized a man from the saddle. They ate many of the troops, and many were slain by the javelins. They tore them apart like dogs, leaving behind neither flesh, sinew, skin, nor veins.

Alexander turned his face to the heavens, he said, “O recourse for those who seek recourse! You are the creator of good and evil, you are the cultivator of tame and savage beast! Relieve my heart from this enemy, free my army from evil!”.

And then, he ordered that they rain death from their arrowheads like hail. When his forces reached into their quivers, they seized the ground from the Black Hordes. They killed so many that the sea turned red like blood, dark night came near. The army of the Black Hordes was routed and Alexander departed that place.

 

P284

(In the story of another world-concurer Qaren is given.)

When Qaren had returned from the land of the Slavs and Rome, having conquered by force every land and country, he had reached the east and the west, Beja (5) and Nubia all upended.

 

P302-303

So it was, until a cry rose up from the west, as ruin befell the entirety of that country. The Black Hordes gave it all to plunder, raising dust from that land that blotted out the sun.' Those who escaped the blades of the hordes fled and gave each other aid. The hordes from Nubia and Beja at once made those lands go up in smoke. Little by little, they approached Egypt and threw all of the cities into chaos. They sent an army against them and it returned wounded, distraught. The just king sent another army, but its travail bore no fruit. So many were killed by the Black Hordes’ blades. It was driven out and returned, its morale crushed. ………. Their bravery and calm at the time of battle arrested the Black Hordes with sword-blows. However much we suffered ourselves, we drove them back to their lands.

 

P307

The Black Hordes have again rebelled and are on the march, more numerous than fish in the sea. Because of them, the whole country has fallen into ruin, consigned to the lions and leopards. ………….. (they are finally beaten).

 

P327-331

KUSH THE TUSKED GOES TO WAR AGAINST THE BLACK HORDES OF BEJA AND NUBIA

After the business in the west, the quarrelsome Black Hordes became informed that the west had returned to its former condition, with gold and silver and all manner of things, cattle, farmland, and trees, such as had never been there before. A detachment traveled there stealthily to see, and found it better than anyone in Nubia had heard of. They brought back news of this discovery their words making it seem even greater, “This land in its stunning condition we found without king or army. This land is in stunning condition we found without king or army. The fields are all full of animals, of herds, we saw no shepherd guarding the flocks. From Nubia and Beja, thousands upon thousands emerged, ready for war. …………..

……….. The army became aware that the battlefield was emptied of Black Hordes. Those soldiers, devouring the carnage, became a mighty army that killed all of the Nubians. They tore and devoured so many of them, none of those honorable men remained.

 

P383-384

From Nubia they came, by way of Aswan, the horde surging like a flood. The hordes took over the west in its entirety, occupying the whole land. All of the marcher-lords packed their things and went to secure places. The Black Hordes crossed over the whole land, taking whatever they saw. They extended their hands in bloodshed and plunder …………..

……….. When night fell, Kush returned with no strength left in his limbs. He departed with a body of troops, while others met their end. He went to Egypt and his army stayed there.  He could not escape the terror of the Black Hordes, and his troubles increased.

 

(1) The name of the than Roman Emperor called the malevolent Christian.

(2) Only the war against the Arabs is given in the book; not the one against the Zanj.

(3) Efriqos was a king of Ethiopia who took over southern Arabia in the sixth century CE and, according to Islamic tradition, attempted to invade Mecca with elephants in his army in 570-71 CE. This year, which was also the year of Muhammad's birth, became known as the Year of the Elephant. Accounts of this invasion by the Ethiopians of Arabia are nearly non existing. A very vague one is found in my webpage of Tabari (922).

(4) The story of Alexander concurring the world and starting with East Africa is inserted into the Kushnama from p61 to 74. Then the adventures of Kush continue.

(5) Beja; a pastoral nomadic people between the Nile and the Red Sea north of Eritrea. But they are also the most southern people known to the author as this is a description of having concurred the whole world with the Slaves in the north and the Nuba and Beja in the south. Further in the book are still many wars between Kush against the Nuba and the Beja but the Ethiopians and Zanj who are further south are not mentioned.

(6) Doqyanos (Daqius): Darius ruler of Persia in the days of Alexander the Great.

(7) Jamshid is the most well-known of all the kings of the Shahnamah, the Persian national epic that relates the deeds of the heroes and kings of pre-Islamic Iran. Jamshid taught his subjects many crafts, which made their lives better and more fruitful. He taught them how to make arms and armour from iron and how to spin, weave and dye linen, silk and wool to produce clothes.

(8) The vassal ruler of Arabia, Zahhak, made war upon Jamshid. Jamshid fled from his capital halfway across the world, but he was finally trapped by Zahhak and brutally murdered. And humanity descended from the heights of civilization back into a Dark Age.

(9) Ba-Silla: or Silla is Korea.

(10) Damavand Mountain is the highest peak in Iran and Western Asia and the highest volcano in Asia.

(11) Taehur: King of Silla (=Korea).