Lohrasp: The King Before the Prophet
- Sherko Sabir
- 6 days ago
- 12 min read
Introduction
In the long succession of the kings of the Shahnameh, Lohrasp stands at a turning point of the great epic, the king who reigned between the golden age of Kay Khosrow and the coming of the prophet in the days of his son. Chosen, to the surprise and grief of the great heroes, as the heir of the ideal king, Lohrasp opened a new chapter in the story of Iran, the chapter that would see the rise of the faith of Zoroaster.
A devout and God-fearing king, builder of the sacred fire, father of the famous Goshtasp and grandfather of the hero Esfandiyar, Lohrasp is a figure of quieter renown than the great warrior-kings before him, yet one whose reign marks a profound transition in the epic. His life ended in a heroic and tragic death, the aged king cut down defending his city against the Turanian foe. He is, in a real sense, the king who stands on the threshold between the heroic age and the age of the prophet.
Belonging to the shared epic heritage of the Iranian peoples, a tradition the Kurds hold in common with the Persians and others of the Iranic world, Lohrasp is a king whose reign bridges two great ages of the Shahnameh. To know him is to understand the moment when the long cycle of the wars with Turan gave way to the coming of the new faith, and to meet a king remembered for his devotion, his building of the sacred fire, and his valiant death in old age. His tale is a hinge upon which the great epic turns.
Contents
Who Was Lohrasp?
Lohrasp, also called Kay Lohrasp, is a legendary king of Iran in the Shahnameh, who ruled after the ideal king Kay Khosrow and before his own son Goshtasp. Chosen as heir by Kay Khosrow in a decision that startled and grieved the great heroes, Lohrasp reigned as a devout and God-fearing king, built a great sacred fire, and fathered Goshtasp, under whom, in the tradition, the prophet Zoroaster arose. In his old age, after yielding the throne to his son and retiring to a life of worship, Lohrasp died a valiant and tragic death, cut down defending his city against a Turanian assault. He is the king whose reign bridges the heroic age and the age of the prophet.
The Unexpected Heir
The most remarkable circumstance of Lohrasp's accession was the manner of his choosing. When the ideal king Kay Khosrow, weary of the world at the height of his glory, resolved to abdicate and depart from the earth, he named Lohrasp as his heir, passing over the great warriors and princes of the realm. The choice astonished and grieved the heroes, who did not expect the crown to fall upon Lohrasp, a figure of less towering renown than the mighty champions of the age.
The aged Zal, the patriarch of the great heroic house and the wise elder of the realm, was foremost among those who objected to the choice, and in the tradition his objection carried a note of disdain for Lohrasp's standing. Yet Kay Khosrow held to his decision, and in the end an accord was reached and Lohrasp's kingship accepted, the great Zal himself, in a striking gesture of the tradition, humbling himself to cancel the offence of his objection. So Lohrasp came to the throne by the will of the departing ideal king, an unexpected heir whose accession opened a new and different age in the story of Iran, marking the passing of the old order of heroes and the beginning of what would become the age of the prophet.
Key Takeaways
Lohrasp was a legendary king of Iran in the Shahnameh.
He was chosen as heir by Kay Khosrow, to the surprise of the heroes.
He was a devout, God-fearing king and a builder of the sacred fire.
He was the father of Goshtasp and grandfather of Esfandiyar.
Under his son Goshtasp, the prophet Zoroaster arose in the tradition.
He died valiantly in old age defending his city against the Turanians.
Quick Facts
Name: Lohrasp (also Kay Lohrasp)
Source: The Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings
Reigned: After Kay Khosrow, before Goshtasp
Chosen by: Kay Khosrow, as his unexpected heir
Sons: Goshtasp (Vishtaspa) and the younger Zarir
Grandson: Esfandiyar, the great hero
Famous work: The building of a great sacred fire
Associated city: Balkh, a great centre of the realm
Significance: The reign before the coming of Zoroaster
Death: Slain defending Balkh against the Turanian Arjasp
A Devout King and the Sacred Fire
Lohrasp is remembered above all as a devout and God-fearing king, and it is with his reign and his line that the epic associates a deepening of religious devotion in Iran. Among his most notable works was the building of a great sacred fire, a fire temple that became a renowned centre of worship, and his dynasty is characterised in the tradition as God-worshipping, marked by a piety that set it apart. The image of the sacred fire, the holy flame at the heart of Iranian devotion, is closely bound to the memory of Lohrasp.
This devotion shaped the close of Lohrasp's own life. Having reigned and then yielded the throne to his son, the old king did not cling to power or pleasure but retired to a life of worship, spending his days in prayer at the sacred fire he had raised. In this turning from the throne to the temple, Lohrasp embodies a piety and a renunciation that look forward to the religious transformation soon to come in the days of his son, when the faith of Zoroaster and the worship of Ahura Mazda would be embraced. Lohrasp, the builder of the fire and the king who became a worshipper, stands as a fitting figure on the threshold of that new age of faith.
Father of Goshtasp
Lohrasp was the father of two sons, the elder Goshtasp, also called Vishtaspa, and the younger Zarir, and it is through his son Goshtasp that Lohrasp's line became one of the most famous of the whole epic. Goshtasp, ambitious and eager for the throne, pressed his father for the succession, and in the tradition there was friction between them over the matter, until at length Lohrasp yielded the kingship to his son and withdrew to his life of worship.
Through Goshtasp, Lohrasp was also the grandfather of the great hero Esfandiyar, the invulnerable champion whose tragic combat with Rostam is one of the most famous episodes of the epic. Thus the line of Lohrasp produced both the king under whom the new faith arose and one of the mightiest and most tragic of all the heroes. The reign of Lohrasp, quieter in itself than those of the great warrior-kings, opened the way for this famous and fateful generation, and his fatherhood of Goshtasp is among the chief reasons his name endures in the great chronicle of the kings.
The King Before the Prophet
The deepest significance of Lohrasp in the Shahnameh lies in his place on the threshold of a new age, for it was under his son Goshtasp that the tradition places the coming of the prophet Zoroaster and the adoption of the faith of Ahura Mazda in Iran. Lohrasp's reign and his devout, God-worshipping dynasty mark the transition from the old heroic age, dominated by the long wars with Turan, to the new age of the revealed faith.
In this, Lohrasp is a hinge upon which the great epic turns. Before him lies the world of the early kings and the supreme champions, the age of Kawa and Faridun, Rostam and Kay Khosrow; after him, in the days of his son, comes the prophet and the new religion, and with it a different kind of story, centred on faith and its defence. Lohrasp himself, the devout builder of the sacred fire who became a worshipper in his old age, fittingly embodies this turning, a king whose own piety prefigures the religious transformation that his reign and his line set in motion. He is, in the truest sense, the king before the prophet, standing at the meeting point of the two great ages of the Shahnameh.
The Valiant Death
The end of Lohrasp was both tragic and heroic, a fitting close to the life of the old devout king. After he had yielded the throne to Goshtasp and retired to his worship, a great calamity fell upon the realm: the Turanian king Arjasp, the enemy of the new faith, launched a sudden and overwhelming assault upon the city of Balkh while Goshtasp was away and the city was left without its army. The aged Lohrasp, drawn from his prayers by the peril of his people, took up arms once more.
Donning the royal Kayanid helmet, the old king rode out to defend the city, and though he was burdened by age and the heat of battle, he fought valiantly against the Turanian host. In the tradition, with no army to support him but the ordinary men of the city, he stood and fought until, overcome at last by his years, the heat, and his many wounds, he fell from his horse and was slain by the enemy. So died Lohrasp, the devout king who had become a worshipper, cut down sword in hand defending his people in his old age, a death of tragic valour. His killing was among the outrages that the new faith and the realm would in time avenge, and it stands as one of the sorrowful and heroic episodes of the epic, the fall of an old king who took up the sword one last time for his city and his people.
Symbolism and Meaning
Lohrasp embodies the theme of transition, the passing from one great age to another, which is among the deep structures of the Shahnameh. As the king who reigns between the heroic golden age of Kay Khosrow and the age of the prophet in the days of his son, Lohrasp stands at a hinge of the epic, his reign marking the turning from the old world of the wars with Turan to the new world of the revealed faith. In him the epic shows the movement of its great story from age to age, and the quieter kings who carry that movement forward between the towering figures.
He embodies, too, the ideal of devout kingship and pious renunciation. Lohrasp the builder of the sacred fire, the God-worshipping king who in his old age turned from the throne to a life of prayer, prefigures the religious transformation his reign set in motion, and his valiant death in defence of his city joins to this piety a note of heroic sacrifice. In the contrast between the quiet devotion of his life and the violent valour of his end, Lohrasp presents a figure of both faith and courage. To contemplate him is to contemplate the way the great epic turns from the age of heroes toward the age of faith, and to meet a king remembered for his piety, his sacred fire, and his brave death on the threshold of a new age.
Lohrasp and the Kurds
Lohrasp belongs to the shared epic heritage of the Iranian peoples, the tradition of the Shahnameh that the Kurds hold in common with the Persians and other Iranic peoples. As an Iranic people deeply rooted in this cultural world, the Kurds are heirs to its great line of kings, including Lohrasp and the dynasty under which, in the tradition, the faith of Zoroaster arose, a faith that is itself part of the ancient religious heritage of the Iranian world to which the Kurds belong.
It is honest to say that Lohrasp, like the other kings of the Shahnameh, is part of this wider Iranic tradition rather than a specifically Kurdish figure; he is a king of the shared legendary past of the Iranian peoples as a whole. Yet the themes embodied in his story, the transition between ages, the ideal of devout kingship, and the heroism of an old king's last stand, are universal, and they have resonated across the whole Iranian cultural world, including among the Kurds who have long treasured the great epic. In the figure of Lohrasp, the shared heritage offers a portrait of the king on the threshold of a new age, a portrait that belongs to all the peoples who have cherished the Book of Kings.
Debates and Misconceptions
Why was the choice of Lohrasp as heir so controversial? In the epic, the surprise and grief of the heroes at Kay Khosrow's choice reflect Lohrasp's lesser renown compared with the great champions and princes of the age, and the objection of the aged Zal in particular carried a note of disdain for his standing. The traditions about Lohrasp's origins are not entirely uniform, and some accounts treat him as a figure of more modest or distant standing than the central royal line. What the epic emphasises is that his accession came by the will of the departing ideal king, and that it opened a new and different age, however unexpected the choice seemed at the time.
Did Zoroaster appear during Lohrasp's own reign? In the tradition, the coming of the prophet Zoroaster and the adoption of the new faith are placed in the reign of Lohrasp's son Goshtasp, not in Lohrasp's own reign. Lohrasp is the king before the prophet: his devout, God-worshipping dynasty and his own piety prepare the way, but it is under his son that the religious transformation comes. The Shahnameh, it should be noted, passes over the figure of Zoroaster himself quite briefly, for all the importance of the faith that arose in this age.
Is the story of Lohrasp history? No; Lohrasp belongs to the legendary cycles of the Shahnameh, not to documented history, though his line is bound up with the tradition of the coming of Zoroaster and the rise of the ancient Iranian faith, which has deep historical roots. He is a figure of the epic's legendary sequence of kings, and his reign, for all its significance as a turning point in the story, belongs to the realm of legend rather than verified fact. His tale is to be appreciated as dynastic and religious legend, marking the great transition of the epic toward the age of faith.
Related Topics
Kay Khosrow: the ideal king who chose Lohrasp as his heir
Zal: the elder hero who objected to the choice of Lohrasp
Esfandiyar: the great hero, grandson of Lohrasp
Zoroaster: the prophet who arose under Lohrasp's son Goshtasp
The sacred fire: the holy flame that Lohrasp built and worshipped
Ahura Mazda: the supreme God of the faith embraced in this age
The Shahnameh: the epic Book of Kings in which Lohrasp appears
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Lohrasp in the Shahnameh?
Lohrasp, or Kay Lohrasp, was a legendary king of Iran in the Shahnameh who ruled after the ideal king Kay Khosrow and before his own son Goshtasp. Chosen as heir by Kay Khosrow in a decision that surprised the great heroes, he reigned as a devout king, built a great sacred fire, and fathered Goshtasp, under whom the prophet Zoroaster arose. In his old age he died valiantly defending his city against a Turanian assault. He is the king whose reign bridges the heroic age and the age of the prophet.
How did Lohrasp become king?
Lohrasp became king when the ideal king Kay Khosrow, resolving to abdicate and depart from the world, named him as his heir, passing over the great warriors and princes. The choice astonished and grieved the heroes, and the aged Zal in particular objected to it. But Kay Khosrow held to his decision, an accord was reached, and Lohrasp's kingship was accepted, opening a new age in the story of Iran.
Who were Lohrasp's children?
Lohrasp had two sons: the elder Goshtasp, also called Vishtaspa, who succeeded him as king, and the younger Zarir. Through Goshtasp he was also the grandfather of the great hero Esfandiyar, the invulnerable champion whose tragic combat with Rostam is one of the most famous episodes of the epic. The line of Lohrasp thus produced both the king under whom the new faith arose and one of the mightiest of the heroes.
Why is Lohrasp called the king before the prophet?
Lohrasp is called the king before the prophet because it was under his son and successor Goshtasp that the tradition places the coming of the prophet Zoroaster and the adoption of the faith of Ahura Mazda in Iran. Lohrasp's reign and his devout, God-worshipping dynasty mark the transition from the old heroic age of the wars with Turan to the new age of the revealed faith, and his own piety prefigures that transformation. He stands on the threshold of the age of the prophet.
How did Lohrasp die?
After yielding the throne to Goshtasp and retiring to a life of worship, Lohrasp met a valiant and tragic end. The Turanian king Arjasp launched a sudden assault on the city of Balkh while Goshtasp was away and the city lacked its army. The aged Lohrasp donned the royal helmet and rode out to defend his people, fighting bravely until, overcome by age, heat and his wounds, he fell and was slain. He died sword in hand defending his city in his old age.
Is Lohrasp a historical figure?
No; Lohrasp belongs to the legendary cycles of the Shahnameh, not to documented history, though his line is bound up with the tradition of the coming of Zoroaster and the rise of the ancient Iranian faith, which has deep historical roots. He is a figure of the epic's legendary sequence of kings, and his reign, significant as a turning point in the story, belongs to the realm of legend rather than verified fact. His tale is best appreciated as dynastic and religious legend.
References and Further Reading
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