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Kush-e Pildandān, the Anti-Hero: Polemics of Power in Late Antique Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Saghi Gazerani
Saghi Gazerani*
Affiliation:
Ohio State University with research interests in historiography and literary narrative in early Islamic Iran
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Abstract

This study examines the character of Kush-e Pildandān, the anti-hero of the Kushnāmeh, by arguing that the protagonist of the poem represents the monarchs of the Kushan dynasty. In order to substantiate this claim, the Kushnāmeh is introduced and the process of its formation and its reflections of Kushan history are examined. Then the various components of this image of the enemy are discussed. What is revealed is a polemical strategy of creating an enemy, a unique insight into the political ideology of the Sasanian period. The study offers a glimpse into the ideological discourse of political power in the Late Antique period, and how they drew upon a shared conceptualization of the past.

Keywords

KushnāmehKushanSasanianShāhnāmeh TraditionLate Antique Historiography
Type
Regular Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 52 , Issue 5-6: Special Section: Saʿdi at Large , November 2019 , pp. 859 - 901
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2019

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