Fariburz loses the contest for Kay Kavus’s throne but remains active in Kay Khosrow’s armies. His failed commands, victory over Kalbad and final journey give a fuller picture than the label of unsuccessful claimant.

Shahnameh manuscript painting of a crowded battle with mounted archers, swordsmen, an elephant, red and green standards and Persian text beneath a gold-speckled border
“The Battle of Pashan Begins,” Shah Tahmasp’s Shahnameh, folio 243v, Tabriz, about 1530–1535, painting attributed to Abd al-Vahhab. Met, 1970.301.37, Gift of Arthur A. Houghton Jr., 1970. This illustrates an episode involving Fariburz’s command; it is not a record of a historical battle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art · 1970.301.37 · Public domain / CC0 Open Access.

A prince with more than one name

Fariburz, also written Fariborz, is Kay Kavus’s son and Kay Khosrow’s uncle in the Shahnameh. He belongs to the legendary Kayanian narrative, not a historically dated reign or a securely documented modern ethnic genealogy. Khaleghi-Motlagh compares name forms including Borzafarah and Borzafari in other sources and reports the explanation that Ferdowsi’s form fits the poem’s metre. The proposed connection with a Parthian general’s name is a comparison, not proof that the epic prince and that general were the same person. [1]

The test of Bahman fortress

The succession dispute sets a reigning king’s son against his grandson. Tus supports Fariburz, while Gudarz’s family supports Kay Khosrow. Kay Kavus makes the capture of Bahman fortress the deciding test. The Met’s catalogue of another illustrated Shahnameh page describes Tus and Fariburz being driven back by the heat, followed by Kay Khosrow sending a message in God’s name and the walls breaking apart. This is a supernatural solution within the epic. It dramatizes rightful kingship; it is not evidence that succession disputes in historical Iran were routinely settled by that procedure. [1] [2]

Command at Pashan and a reverse in battle

Fariburz’s later service is not an uninterrupted sequence of victories. The Met explains the episode shown in the illustration here: after Kay Khosrow’s letter recalls Tus and his group, Fariburz commands the Iranian army. Following a truce, battle resumes with Giv on the right and Fariburz in the centre. The Turanians break through the centre and force Fariburz to retreat, while Giv continues fighting. This account gives content to his military role without turning continued service into a claim of uniformly successful command. The depicted episode is part of the poem’s wars between Iran and Turan. [3]

The duel with Kalbad

Fariburz also wins an important single combat. Sheila Canby’s Aga Khan Museum catalogue discusses the episode in which the two armies choose champions to decide their stalemate through eleven jousts. Fariburz faces Kalbad, Piran’s brother, shoots arrows and then defeats him with a sword. The victory is one of a sequence of successful Iranian duels. Kalbad also appears as Golbad in scholarly transliteration; these forms should not become two invented opponents. The museum’s separate illustration is attributed to Shaykh Muhammad and dated about 1540, distinct from the Pashan folio reproduced here. [1] [4]

A disputed marriage episode and the final journey

Not every detail printed in a Shahnameh manuscript has the same textual status. Khaleghi-Motlagh calls the account of Fariburz marrying Farangis, Kay Khosrow’s mother, spurious. It should be identified as a transmitted addition rather than treated as an uncontested part of Ferdowsi’s original narrative. He also describes Fariburz accompanying Kay Khosrow to the spring before the king disappears, then dying with the remaining companions in a snowstorm. That ending gives the former rival a place among the king’s followers. Local identifications of the spring and mountain pass are traditions about the story, not independently established locations of the heroes’ deaths. [1]

The surviving painting and its date

The Pashan painting was made in Tabriz about 1530–1535 for Shah Tahmasp’s Shahnameh. The Met attributes it to Abd al-Vahhab and records opaque watercolour, ink, silver and gold on paper. The crowded composition includes mounted fighters, standards, an elephant and bands of calligraphy. Its object number, 1970.301.37, identifies the specific folio. These material facts document a Safavid interpretation of the epic centuries after Ferdowsi; the costumes should not be used to reconstruct the clothing of an independently dated Fariburz. [3] [5]

Sources and further reading

  1. Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh, “Farīborz,” Encyclopaedia Iranica (1999; updated 2013): name forms, relationship to Kay Kavus, succession, military episodes, spurious Farangis marriage passage and final journey.
  2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Kai Khusrau, Gudarz and Giv Capturing the Demon’s Fortress, Bahman (?)”, about 1430–1440, object 20.120.243; catalogue explanation of the succession test. The question mark in the catalogue title signals uncertainty in the scene’s identification.
  3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “The Battle of Pashan Begins,” Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh, folio 243v, about 1530–1535, attributed to Abd al-Vahhab, object 1970.301.37: narrative, medium and public-domain image.
  4. Sheila R. Canby, Aga Khan Museum, “The First Joust of the Rooks: Fariburz versus Kalbad,” AKM497, folio 341v, about 1540, attributed to Shaykh Muhammad: eleven jousts, combat and stylistic attribution. This is a separate work from the image reproduced here.
  5. Met Open Access image DP108590 via Wikimedia Commons, CC0. Original object: Met 1970.301.37, Gift of Arthur A. Houghton Jr., 1970.