Abtin: The Noble Father of Faridun
- Sherko Sabir
- Jun 3
- 12 min read
Introduction
Abtin is a noble figure of the early Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings: the father of the great hero Faridun, a man of the ancient royal line who lived in the dark age of the tyrant Zahhak and was slain by his agents, his death setting his son upon the path to free the world.
Abtin was a descendant of the ancient kings, of the line of Jamshid, and the husband of the brave Faranak. When the tyrant Zahhak, warned by a dream that a child named Faridun would bring about his downfall, sought to destroy all who might threaten him, his agents found and killed Abtin. Though his life was cut short, his son Faridun, saved by Faranak, would live to overthrow the tyrant and avenge his father.
Like all the figures of the Book of Kings, Abtin belongs to the shared epic and mythological heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world. To know Abtin is to encounter the noble father of the deliverer, the righteous man of the ancient line whose death at the hands of the tyrant is part of the great tale of Zahhak and Faridun.
Contents
Who Is Abtin?
Abtin, also spelled Abteen or Athwya in the older tradition, is a noble man of the early Shahnameh, the father of the great hero Faridun and the husband of Faranak. He was a descendant of the ancient royal line, of the house of Jamshid, living in the dark age of the tyranny of Zahhak. When the tyrant, warned by a dream that a child named Faridun would overthrow him, sought to destroy those who might threaten his reign, his agents found and killed Abtin. His death left Faranak to save their infant son alone, and though Abtin did not live to see it, his son Faridun would grow up to overthrow the tyrant and avenge his father, freeing the world from the long oppression. Abtin is remembered as the noble father of the deliverer, the righteous man of the ancient line slain by the tyrant.
Of the Line of the Ancient Kings
Abtin was of noble and royal descent, a man of the ancient line that traced back to the early kings of the Shahnameh. In the tradition, he is reckoned a descendant of Jamshid, the great king of the golden age, and so of the royal house that had ruled before the usurpation of the tyrant Zahhak.
This royal descent is of great importance to Abtin's place in the tale, for it is as a scion of the ancient royal line that he, and more particularly his son, posed a threat to the usurping tyrant. The legitimate royal line, descended from the early kings of the golden age, stood in contrast to the illegitimate rule of Zahhak, who had seized the throne by usurpation and held it by tyranny. Abtin, as a descendant of this ancient line, carried in his blood the legitimacy of the old kings, and his son Faridun would be the one to restore that legitimate line to the throne by overthrowing the usurper. The royal descent of Abtin thus connects the deliverer Faridun to the ancient kings, establishing his claim and his destiny as the restorer of the rightful line. It is as a man of the line of the ancient kings, a descendant of Jamshid, that Abtin holds his place in the tale, the noble bearer of the legitimate royal blood in the dark age of the usurper. His lineage is the foundation of his significance and of his son's destiny, the royal descent that made Faridun the rightful heir and the destined overthrower of the tyrant Zahhak.
Key Takeaways
Abtin is the noble father of the hero Faridun in the Shahnameh.
He was a descendant of the ancient royal line of Jamshid.
He lived in the dark age of the tyrant Zahhak.
He was the husband of the brave Faranak.
He was found and killed by the agents of Zahhak.
His son Faridun would later overthrow the tyrant and avenge him.
Quick Facts
Name: Abtin (also Abteen, Athwya)
Role: Father of Faridun; noble of the ancient line
Descent: From the royal house of Jamshid
Wife: Faranak, who saved their son
Son: Faridun, the deliverer of the world
Setting: The dark age of Zahhak's tyranny
Fate: Slain by the agents of Zahhak
Significance: Father of the deliverer; the avenged victim
Avenger: His son Faridun
Heritage: Shared Iranic epic tradition
In the Dark Age of Zahhak
Abtin lived in the long, dark age of the tyranny of Zahhak, the serpent-shouldered usurper who had seized the throne from Jamshid and ruled the world with cruelty for a thousand years. It was a perilous time for a man of the ancient royal line.
The age of Zahhak was a dark and oppressive one, in which the tyrant fed the serpents that grew from his shoulders with the brains of the young, and oppressed the world with his cruelty and his demonic rule. For a man like Abtin, of the ancient royal line, the danger was especially great, for the tyrant, fearing any threat to his usurped throne, was suspicious of those who carried the legitimate royal blood. When Zahhak was warned by a dream and by his interpreters that a child named Faridun, of the old line, would one day overthrow him, his fear turned to a deadly search for the child and for those connected to him. Living in this dark age, as a noble of the threatened royal line, Abtin was in grave danger, marked by his very lineage as a potential threat to the tyrant. The dark age of Zahhak is thus the perilous setting of Abtin's life and death, the time of tyranny in which a man of the ancient line lived under the shadow of the usurper's fear and suspicion. It is in this dark age, under the threat of the tyrant's deadly search, that the tale of Abtin and his family unfolds, the perilous time from which the deliverer Faridun would arise to bring the long oppression to an end.
Husband of Faranak
Abtin was the husband of Faranak, the brave and devoted woman who would save their infant son Faridun from the tyrant. Together, Abtin and Faranak were the parents of the deliverer, the noble father and the courageous mother of the hero who would free the world.
The marriage of Abtin and Faranak brought forth the child Faridun, the destined overthrower of the tyrant Zahhak. As the parents of the deliverer, the two are bound together in the tale, though their roles differ: Abtin, the noble father of the ancient line, would be cut down by the tyrant before he could see his son grow, while Faranak, the brave mother, would survive to save and raise the child and set him on his path. The pairing of the noble father and the courageous mother is part of the family story at the heart of the tale of Faridun's origins, the union of the royal line through Abtin with the protective devotion of Faranak. Together they gave the world its deliverer, the one passing on the legitimate royal blood, the other preserving the child through the deadly peril of the tyrant's search. As the husband of Faranak and the father of Faridun, Abtin holds his place in this family at the origin of the great deliverance, the noble father whose royal line and whose death would shape the destiny of his son. The bond of Abtin and Faranak, and the child it produced, is the human heart of the tale of the rise of Faridun against the tyrant.
The Death of Abtin
The defining event of Abtin's tale is his death at the hands of the agents of the tyrant Zahhak. When the tyrant, fearing the prophecy of his downfall, sent his agents to find and destroy those who might threaten his reign, they found and killed Abtin.
In the tradition, Abtin was caught by the agents of the tyrant and put to death, a victim of Zahhak's fear and cruelty, his life given to the horror of the serpent-king's reign. His death was part of the dark toll of the tyranny, the killing of a noble man of the ancient line by the agents of the usurper. For his wife Faranak, the death of Abtin meant that she was left alone with their infant son in a time of deadly peril, the tyrant still seeking the child's life. The death of Abtin is recounted in the tradition soberly, as one of the grievous wrongs of the age of Zahhak, the slaying of a righteous man by the agents of the evil king. It is a death that calls for vengeance, and that vengeance would come, in time, through Abtin's son. The death of Abtin is thus the dark turning point of his tale and a spur to the events that follow, the wrong that must be answered, the killing of the noble father that would one day be avenged by the son he did not live to see grow. In his death, Abtin becomes the martyred father of the deliverer, the righteous victim whose fate deepens the evil of the tyrant and sharpens the justice of his eventual overthrow.
The Father Avenged
Though Abtin was slain by the tyrant, his death did not go unanswered, for his son Faridun, saved and raised by Faranak, would grow up to overthrow Zahhak and so avenge his father and free the world.
When Faridun came of age and learned from his mother the truth of his lineage and the fate of his father, he was filled with the resolve to overthrow the tyrant and avenge the wrong done to his family. With the support of the people, roused by the blacksmith Kawa whose own sons had been taken by the tyrant, Faridun rose against Zahhak, defeated him, and bound him beneath Mount Damavand, bringing the long tyranny to an end. In this great deliverance, the death of Abtin was avenged, the noble father answered by the triumph of his son. The overthrow of the tyrant was thus not only the freeing of the world but the vengeance for Abtin and for all the victims of Zahhak's cruelty. The father avenged is the resolution of Abtin's tale, the answering of his death by the triumph of the son he had given to the world. Though Abtin did not live to see it, his royal blood and his death were vindicated in the deliverance wrought by Faridun, the deliverer who overthrew the tyrant and restored the rightful line. In this way, the noble father slain by the tyrant was avenged and honoured in the great deed of his son, his death a part of the dark prelude to the triumphant freeing of the world.
Symbolism and Meaning
Abtin embodies, above all, the righteous victim of tyranny, the noble man cut down by the cruelty and fear of the usurper Zahhak. As a man of the ancient royal line slain by the tyrant, he represents the wrong done by the usurper to the legitimate order, the killing of the righteous that cries out for vengeance and justice.
Abtin embodies, too, the theme of the legitimate royal line, the bearer of the ancient royal blood whose son would restore the rightful kingship after the dark age of the usurper. In this, he represents the continuity and legitimacy of the true line of kings, preserved through him and restored through his son Faridun. And as the father of the deliverer, slain before he could see his son's triumph, Abtin embodies the poignant theme of the father who gives his life and his line to a destiny he does not live to see fulfilled, the martyred parent of the hero. In all this, Abtin is a figure of real significance in the early epic, embodying the righteous victim of tyranny, the legitimate royal line, and the martyred father of the deliverer. He is the noble father of Faridun, the man of the ancient line whose death at the hands of the tyrant is part of the great tale of the rise of the deliverer and the freeing of the world from the long oppression of Zahhak.
Abtin and the Kurds
Abtin, like all the figures of the Shahnameh, belongs to the shared epic and mythological heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition that the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world. The great tale of Zahhak and Faridun, in which Abtin figures as the hero's father, is part of the common inheritance of these peoples.
It is worth noting that the tale of Zahhak's overthrow, to which Abtin belongs as the father of the deliverer, has a special resonance in Kurdish tradition, for the defeat of the tyrant by the rising of the people, associated with the blacksmith Kawa and celebrated at Newroz, is held especially dear among the Kurds. Abtin, as the father of the hero Faridun who accomplished this deliverance, belongs to this cherished tale. Yet it is honest and accurate to understand Abtin himself, and the wider epic in which he appears, as part of the shared Iranic heritage, rather than as a uniquely Kurdish figure, for the figures and tales of the Shahnameh are the common inheritance of all the Iranic peoples. As an Iranian people, the Kurds share in this broad heritage, of which Abtin is a part, even as the larger tale of Zahhak's overthrow holds a special place in Kurdish tradition. In presenting Abtin, then, we present a figure of the shared Iranian heritage to which the Kurds, as an Iranic people, are heirs alongside their neighbours.
Debates and Misconceptions
What was Abtin's lineage? In the tradition, Abtin is reckoned a descendant of the ancient royal line, of the house of Jamshid, the great king of the golden age, and thus of the legitimate line that had ruled before the usurpation of Zahhak. In the older Avestan tradition, the father of the hero corresponding to Faridun bears the name Athwya, and Abtin is the later form of this ancient name. This royal and ancient lineage is central to Abtin's significance, for it is as a bearer of the legitimate royal blood that he and his son posed a threat to the usurping tyrant, and it is through this line that Faridun would restore the rightful kingship.
Did Abtin live to see his son's triumph? No; this is part of the poignancy of his tale. Abtin was slain by the agents of Zahhak while his son Faridun was still an infant, and so did not live to see the child grow and overthrow the tyrant. It was the brave Faranak, Abtin's wife, who saved and raised the child after the father's death. Abtin's death before his son's triumph deepens the tragedy of his tale and the justice of the eventual vengeance, the father who gave his life and his line to a destiny he did not live to see fulfilled.
Is Abtin a specifically Kurdish figure? No; like all the figures of the Shahnameh, he belongs to the shared epic heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world, rather than a uniquely Kurdish figure. Yet the larger tale of Zahhak's overthrow, to which he belongs as the father of the deliverer, holds a special place in Kurdish tradition through its connection with Newroz. As an Iranian people, the Kurds share in this broad heritage, of which Abtin is a part, alongside their neighbours.
Related Topics
Faridun: the hero son of Abtin who overthrew Zahhak
Faranak: Abtin's wife, who saved their son
Zahhak: the tyrant whose agents slew Abtin
Jamshid: the ancient king of whose line Abtin was descended
Kawa the Blacksmith: who roused the people for Faridun against Zahhak
Hushang and Tahmuras: early kings of the golden age before Zahhak
Newroz: the festival linked to the overthrow of Zahhak
The Shahnameh: the Persian Book of Kings, the great epic of Iran
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Abtin in the Shahnameh?
Abtin, also spelled Abteen or Athwya in the older tradition, is a noble man of the early Shahnameh, the father of the great hero Faridun and the husband of Faranak. He was a descendant of the ancient royal line of Jamshid, living in the dark age of the tyrant Zahhak. When the tyrant sought to destroy those who might threaten his reign, his agents found and killed Abtin, though his son Faridun would later overthrow the tyrant and avenge him.
How did Abtin die?
Abtin was killed by the agents of the tyrant Zahhak. When the tyrant, warned by a dream that a child named Faridun would overthrow him, sent his agents to find and destroy those who might threaten his reign, they found and put Abtin to death. His death, recounted soberly in the tradition as one of the wrongs of the age of Zahhak, left his wife Faranak alone with their infant son in a time of deadly peril.
Was Abtin of royal descent?
Yes; in the tradition, Abtin is reckoned a descendant of the ancient royal line, of the house of Jamshid, the great king of the golden age, and thus of the legitimate line that had ruled before the usurpation of Zahhak. In the older Avestan tradition, the father of the hero corresponding to Faridun bears the name Athwya. This royal lineage is central to his significance, for through it his son Faridun would be the rightful heir and the destined overthrower of the tyrant.
Who avenged the death of Abtin?
The death of Abtin was avenged by his son Faridun. Saved and raised by his mother Faranak after his father's death, Faridun grew up, learned the truth of his lineage and his father's fate, and rose against the tyrant Zahhak. With the support of the people, roused by the blacksmith Kawa, he overthrew the tyrant and bound him beneath Mount Damavand, avenging his father and freeing the world from the long oppression.
What is the connection between Abtin and Faranak?
Abtin and Faranak were husband and wife, and together the parents of the hero Faridun. Abtin, the noble father of the ancient line, was slain by the tyrant Zahhak before he could see his son grow, while Faranak, the brave mother, survived to save and raise the child and set him on his path. Together they gave the world its deliverer, the one passing on the royal line, the other preserving the child through deadly peril.
Is Abtin a Kurdish figure?
Abtin belongs to the shared epic heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition the Kurds hold in common with the Persians, the Lurs, and others of the Iranic world, rather than a uniquely Kurdish figure. Yet the larger tale of Zahhak's overthrow, to which he belongs as the father of the deliverer, holds a special place in Kurdish tradition through its connection with Newroz. As an Iranian people, the Kurds share in this broad heritage, of which Abtin is a part, alongside their neighbours.
References and Further Reading
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