Nowzar, also written Nauzar or Naudar, is the son and successor of Manuchehr in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. His story moves from unjust government and reconciliation to captivity and execution by Afrasiyab.

Shahnameh painting with Afrasiyab standing over the reclining Nauzar above two groups of onlookers, some carrying weapons
Afrasiyab Executes Nauzar, a Shahnameh illustration in Wellcome Collection, image L0068903. This is a later painted interpretation of the epic episode. Wellcome Collection · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons.

Sam restores the king’s relationship with his subjects

The opening of Nowzar’s reign describes his departure from Manuchehr’s practices, attachment to treasure and conflict with the great men of the realm. They propose that Sam take the throne. Sam refuses and urges renewed allegiance to the royal line. Crucially, the passage then says his advice turns Nowzar back toward justice and softens the nobles’ attitude. [1] The story includes a recovery through counsel, rather than an uninterrupted portrayal of a king refusing correction.

Execution and a plea for the other prisoners

In the later execution episode, Afrasiyab orders the captive Nowzar brought before him, invokes an ancestral feud and kills him. The narrator follows with a reflection on the transience of royal power. Aghrirath then pleads for the remaining captives: killing unarmed prisoners would be dishonourable. Afrasiyab spares them and orders their removal to Sari. [2] The contrast between revenge and intervention for prisoners is part of the episode itself. These events belong to the epic’s legendary narrative.

Looking at the illustration

Wellcome Collection identifies the image above as Afrasiyab, standing, executing Nauzar, lying down, while two groups watch; some figures carry arms and two appear in armour. Its catalogue does not supply a production date or named painter. [3] The arrangement places the killing above the spectators, surrounded by ornamental architecture and floral decoration. It is an artistic presentation of the story. The image should therefore be read as evidence of illustration and reception, alongside the poem’s account of a bound captive brought out from a tent. [2]

The episode in other manuscripts

The John Rylands Library’s Persian MS 910 also illustrates Afrasiyab executing Nauzar, on folio 64a. Its catalogue attributes that painting to “Painter A,” an attribution label used within the manuscript’s artistic classification. Jake Benson’s description explains that the volume contains one hundred illustrations by earlier sixteenth-century and later early seventeenth-century groups, with subsequent repairs and overpainting in India. [4] A separate leaf in Princeton, object y1971-29, is catalogued as an Isfahan work of about 1610–1620. [5] These records locate individual versions of the scene in the history of manuscript painting; their dates describe the artworks.

Sources and further reading

  1. Ferdowsi, Shahnameh, reign of Nowzar, section 1: Persian verse on accession, injustice and Sam’s mediation; original poem on Ganjoor, excluding automated summaries and paraphrases.
  2. Ferdowsi, Shahnameh, reign of Nowzar, section 11: Persian verse on Nowzar’s execution, Aghrirath’s intervention and the other captives; original poem on Ganjoor.
  3. Wellcome Collection, “Afrasiyab Executes Nauzar,” image L0068903: institutional description, identification of figures and CC BY 4.0 image licence.
  4. John Rylands Library, Persian MS 910, Shāhnāmah: Jake Benson’s 2022 manuscript description; illustration list, folio 64a, with reference to B. W. Robinson’s descriptive catalogue.
  5. Princeton University Art Museum, “Page from Shah Nameh: Killing of Shah Nawdar by Afrasiyab,” y1971-29: Isfahan, ca. 1610–1620, ink, gold and colours on paper.