A. D. H. Bivar, The Role of Allegory in the Persian Epic
The divergences on the history of ancient Iran presented by the results
of western research, based on Greek and Latin texts, inscriptions and cuneiform
tablets, numismatics, and other sources, and the traditional Persian narratives
contained in epics, especially the Shahnama, and in Zoroastrian texts, have
long been a puzzle for scholarship. The theme of the present paper is that
these largely derive from the fact that this traditional history was compiled
in late antiquity from minstrel sagas in which the more or less transparent
concealment of personal names by the use of allegory was as much a literary
convention as a political necessity. This characteristic was stressed previously
by Mary Boyce. Historical names were altered, but the episodes in which
they took part are still often recognizable. Amongst epic personalities
who can be identified in this way, there is discussion of Afrasiab, Kay Khosrow,
Azidahaka, Faridun, Godarz, and Rustam. All these, it argued, reflect the
roles of personages known also to the Classical tradition, and the identity,
or at least similarity of names, can often be demonstrated.