Introduction
Jamshid is the golden king of Iranic mythology: the fourth and greatest ruler of the ancient Pishdadian line, in whose long reign humankind first learned the arts of civilization. His was a golden age of peace and plenty, and in the Shahnameh it is Jamshid who founds the festival of Newroz.
Yet Jamshid's story is also a warning. Swollen with pride at his own achievements, the great king claimed for himself a glory that was not his to claim, and so lost the farr, the divine grace of kingship. His fall opened the way for the serpent-tyrant Zahhak, and plunged the world into a long age of darkness.
Contents
The Fourth King of the Pishdadian Line
The Golden Age and the First Newroz
The Fall: Pride and the Loss of Farr
The Cycle of Decline and Restoration
References and Further Reading
Who Is Jamshid?
Jamshid (Kurdish Cemsid; known in the Avesta as Yima) is a legendary king of Iranic mythology, the fourth ruler of the Pishdadian dynasty in the Shahnameh and the greatest of that ancient line. He presided over a golden age in which the crafts of civilization were given to humankind, and is said to have founded Newroz. But his pride cost him the divine glory of kingship, and he was overthrown and killed by the tyrant Zahhak, ending the first age of the world.
Key Takeaways
Jamshid is the golden king of the Pishdadian age, known in the Avesta as Yima.
His reign was a golden age in which humankind learned the arts of civilization.
The Shahnameh credits Jamshid with founding the festival of Newroz.
His pride cost him the farr, the divine glory of kingship.
His fall let the serpent-tyrant Zahhak seize the world.
Quick Facts
Name: Jamshid (Kurdish Cemsid; Avestan Yima; Middle and New Persian Jam, Jamshed)
Tradition: Iranic mythology; the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi; the Avesta
Role: The fourth and greatest king of the Pishdadian dynasty
Reign: A golden age, said to last some three hundred years and more
Gift: The farr, the divine glory of kingship, granted by Ahura Mazda
Achievements: Credited with the arts of civilization, from metalwork to medicine
Festival: Said in the Shahnameh to have founded Newroz at his enthronement
Famous emblem: The Cup of Jam, said to reveal the whole world
Downfall: Lost the farr through pride and was overthrown and killed by Zahhak
Attestation: One of the oldest figures of Iranic myth, the king before the fall
The Fourth King of the Pishdadian Line
Jamshid belongs to the Pishdadian dynasty, the first line of kings in Iranic legend, who are remembered as the founders of human civilization. Before him reigned Keyumars, the first king; Hushang, who discovered fire; and Tahmuras, who subdued the demons. Jamshid, the fourth, was the greatest of them all, a ruler blessed by Ahura Mazda with the farr, the divine glory that marks the rightful sovereign.
Under Jamshid the world was at peace and the kingship reached its height. He is said to have reigned for an age beyond mortal measure, three hundred years and more in some tellings, a span so long and so prosperous that it became the very image of a golden age in the memory of the Iranian peoples.
The Golden Age and the First Newroz
To Jamshid the tradition credits the gifts of civilization itself. He taught his people to forge metal into weapons and tools, to weave cloth and dress in fine garments, to build with brick and stone, to mine for jewels and prepare perfumes, and he brought the healing arts of medicine. He ordered society into its callings and commanded even the demons to labor in his service. To this golden king is also attributed the legendary Cup of Jam, in which the whole world could be seen.
When his great works were done, Jamshid set up a jewelled throne upon which, the story tells, he was borne aloft into the sky, shining like the sun, while all the creatures of the world gathered to do him homage. That day, the first of spring, he proclaimed a festival of the new day, and so, in the telling of the Shahnameh, was Newroz first founded, the spring new year that the peoples of the Iranic world still keep.
The Fall: Pride and the Loss of Farr
But the very greatness of Jamshid became his undoing. Grown arrogant in his long success, he came to believe himself the author of all his gifts, and at last proclaimed himself divine, demanding the worship owed to God alone. With that act of pride the farr, the divine glory, departed from him, and could never be won back. The light of his kingship failed, and his people fell into dissension and revolt.
Into that broken world rose Zahhak, the snake-shouldered tyrant, whom Jamshid's own discontented subjects welcomed as their king. Jamshid fled and hid for a hundred years, but in the end he was hunted down and cruelly killed. So the golden king met a wretched end, and the world passed from his age of light into a thousand years of darkness under the serpent-tyrant.
The Cycle of Decline and Restoration
Jamshid's fall is the beginning of the great cycle at the heart of Iranic and Kurdish myth. The darkness he lets in is the tyranny of Zahhak; the light is restored only when Kawa the Blacksmith raises his revolt and Faridun, the rightful heir, overthrows the tyrant and chains him beneath Mount Damavand. The golden age lost through Jamshid's pride is, in the end, regained.
In this way Jamshid stands at the head of the whole story. His golden reign sets the height from which the world falls, and his fault, the pride that forfeits divine favor, sets in motion the long struggle of tyranny and liberation that the Kurds remember above all at Newroz. He is the first king, and the first to fall.
Symbolism
Jamshid embodies two great ideas at once: the glory of civilization and the danger of pride. As the king who gives humankind its arts, he is a culture-hero, a bringer of light. As the king who falls through arrogance, he is the eternal warning that even the greatest may be ruined by hubris, and that the divine favor on which kingship rests can be lost.
His loss of the farr makes Jamshid the classic example of a profound Iranic idea: that legitimate rule is a sacred trust, granted by heaven and withdrawn when a ruler betrays it. The golden cup that showed him the whole world, and the throne that bore him to the heavens, are remembered alongside his terrible fall, beauty and warning held together in a single story.
Debates and Misconceptions
Who founded Newroz, Jamshid or Kawa? Both, in different strands of the tradition. The Shahnameh credits the festival's founding to Jamshid at his glorious enthronement, while Kurdish tradition centers Newroz on the later liberation, when Kawa's revolt and the fall of Zahhak are celebrated. These are two layers of a very old festival rather than rival facts, and Newroz gathers up both the first king's golden day and the blacksmith's day of freedom.
Is Jamshid Kurdish or Persian? Like the other figures of the Shahnameh, he belongs to the shared heritage of the Iranic peoples, and reaches back to the Avestan king Yima, a figure of the golden age in the oldest Zoroastrian tradition. He is claimed across the Iranian world, the Kurds among them, as part of a common mythic inheritance rather than the property of any one nation.
Related Topics
Zahhak: the serpent-tyrant who supplanted and killed Jamshid
Newroz: the spring festival Jamshid is said to have founded
Kawa the Blacksmith: whose revolt ended the tyranny that followed Jamshid
Faridun: the hero-king who restored the line Jamshid had lost
The Pishdadians: the first dynasty of Iranic legend, of which Jamshid was the greatest
The Cup of Jam: Jamshid's legendary world-revealing cup
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Jamshid?
Jamshid (Avestan Yima) is a legendary king of Iranic mythology, the fourth and greatest ruler of the Pishdadian dynasty in the Shahnameh. He presided over a golden age and is said to have founded Newroz, but lost his throne to the tyrant Zahhak.
What is Jamshid famous for?
For ushering in a golden age and giving humankind the arts of civilization, from metalwork and weaving to medicine, and for founding the festival of Newroz, as well as for his tragic fall through pride.
How did Jamshid lose his kingdom?
Grown arrogant, he proclaimed himself divine and so lost the farr, the divine glory of kingship. His people rebelled, the tyrant Zahhak rose in his place, and Jamshid was eventually hunted down and killed.
Did Jamshid found Newroz?
In the Shahnameh, yes: Newroz is said to have begun at Jamshid's glorious enthronement on the first day of spring. In Kurdish tradition the festival is more closely tied to the later liberation from Zahhak.
Is Jamshid the same as Yima?
Yes. Jamshid is the later Persian form of the Avestan king Yima, the ruler of the golden age in the oldest Zoroastrian tradition. The two names mark different stages of the same ancient figure.
References and Further Reading
Jamshid - Encyclopaedia Iranica
The Court of Jamshid - Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art
Iranian National History: the Pishdadian Dynasty - The Persians
The Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings - National Museum of Asian Art