Siamak: The First Death in the World
- Sherko Sabir
- Jun 3
- 13 min read
Introduction
Siamak is a figure of the very dawn of the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings: the beloved son of the first king Kayumars, a prince of beauty and virtue whose death at the hands of the Black Div is the first death in the world, the first grief, and the spark of the first war and the first vengeance.
In the golden dawn of the world, when Kayumars reigned as the first king and man and beast lived in harmony, his beloved son Siamak was the joy of his heart. But the envy of Ahriman, the spirit of evil, fell upon the prince, and Siamak was slain by the Black Div, the demon son of Ahriman. His death broke the peace of the golden age and brought the first sorrow into the world, a sorrow avenged by his son Hushang.
Like all the figures of the Book of Kings, Siamak 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 Siamak is to encounter the first death of the epic, the beloved prince whose killing marks the entry of evil and mortality into the golden dawn of the world, and the first grief and vengeance of the great tradition.
Contents
Who Is Siamak?
Siamak, sometimes spelled Siyamak, is a prince of the very beginning of the Shahnameh, the beloved and only son of the first king Kayumars. He is described as a handsome and wise young man, eager for fame and beloved by all, the joy of his father's heart in the golden dawn of the world. But the prince drew the envy of Ahriman, the spirit of evil, whose own demon son, the Black Div, gathered an army and made war upon the realm. In single combat, Siamak was slain by the Black Div, and his death is the first death in the world, the first grief to enter the golden age. The killing of Siamak is avenged by his son Hushang, who leads an army against the demons and overthrows the Black Div, becoming in time the successor of Kayumars. Siamak is remembered as the first to die, the beloved prince whose death marks the entry of mortality and evil into the world.
Son of the First King
Siamak was the son of Kayumars, the first king of the world and, in the tradition, the first man, the mountain sovereign under whom civilization began in the golden dawn of the age. As the only and beloved son of this first king, Siamak held a place of special tenderness and significance at the very beginning of the epic.
In the tradition, Kayumars loved his son Siamak with all his heart, and the sight of the young prince was the one thing that gave the first king his greatest joy. Siamak grew into a fine young man, wise and eager for fame like his father, beloved by all the world, with no enemy save the spirit of evil. As the son of the first king, Siamak was the hope and the heir of the golden dawn, the prince through whom the line of kingship would have continued in peace had not evil intervened. His place as the cherished son of Kayumars is central to the pathos of his story, for it is the beloved heir, the joy of the first king's heart, who becomes the first to die. The bond between the first king and his only son, and the depth of Kayumars's love for Siamak, set the stage for the grief that follows, the sorrow of the first father to lose a child. As the son of the first king, Siamak stands at the very beginning of the human story of the epic, the beloved prince of the golden dawn whose fate would bring the first sorrow into the world. His role as the cherished son and heir of Kayumars is the foundation of his significance and of the grief his death would bring.
Key Takeaways
Siamak is the beloved son of the first king Kayumars.
He was a prince of beauty and virtue, the joy of his father's heart.
He drew the envy of Ahriman, the spirit of evil.
He was slain by the Black Div, the demon son of Ahriman.
His death is the first death and the first grief in the world.
He was avenged by his son Hushang, who overthrew the Black Div.
Quick Facts
Name: Siamak (also Siyamak)
Role: Son of the first king; the first to die
Father: Kayumars, the first king and man
Son: Hushang, who avenged him
Slain by: The Black Div, demon son of Ahriman
Manner: Killed in single combat in the first war
Significance: The first death and first grief in the world
Warned by: Sorush, the divine messenger
Setting: The golden dawn of the reign of Kayumars
Heritage: Shared Iranic epic tradition
The Envy of Ahriman
The doom of Siamak was set in motion by the envy of Ahriman, the spirit of evil, who could not bear the splendour and happiness of the prince and the golden peace of the reign of Kayumars. Where there was harmony and joy, the evil spirit sought to bring discord and death.
In the tradition, Siamak was beloved by all the world and had no enemy, save only Ahriman, the destructive spirit, who was secretly jealous of the prince's splendour and sought ways to humble and destroy him. The envy of Ahriman is the root of the tragedy, the malice of the evil spirit turned against the innocent and beautiful prince of the golden dawn. To accomplish his design, Ahriman had a son, a fierce and demonic being like a savage wolf, who gathered an army together, spread sedition through the world, and prepared to make war upon the realm of Kayumars. Thus the envy of the evil spirit, working through his demon son, brought the threat of war and death into the peaceful world for the first time. The envy of Ahriman represents the entry of malice and evil intent into the golden age, the spirit of destruction turning against the harmony and joy of the first king's reign. It is this envy, this malice of the evil spirit against the splendour of the innocent prince, that sets in motion the events leading to the first death. The envy of Ahriman is thus the dark origin of Siamak's doom, the malice of evil against the good that would break the peace of the golden dawn and bring the first sorrow into the world.
The Warning of Sorush
Before the disaster, the prince Siamak received a warning from Sorush, the divine messenger of the tradition, who came to him to reveal the plots being prepared against his father Kayumars and the realm. This divine warning is part of the unfolding of the tale.
In the tradition, Kayumars was at first unaware of the machinations of Ahriman and his demon son. But the angel Sorush, the divine messenger, appeared before Siamak, in the guise of a being clad in a leopard skin, and told the prince of the plots being laid against his father and the realm. On hearing of the threat, the heart of the young prince seethed with fury, and Siamak gathered an army of his own to meet the coming danger and defend his father's realm. The warning of Sorush thus moved the prince to action, rousing him to take up arms against the demonic threat. This divine warning is a significant element of the tale, for it shows the prince acting not in ignorance but in brave response to a known danger, taking up the defence of the realm against the forces of evil. The warning of Sorush, and Siamak's brave response to it, establish the prince as a courageous defender, roused by the divine messenger to face the demonic threat. It is in answer to this warning, gathering his army to meet the demon son of Ahriman, that Siamak goes forth to the conflict in which he would become the first to die. The warning of Sorush is thus the prelude to the fateful combat, the divine revelation that moved the brave prince to take up the defence of the golden realm against the forces of evil.
The First Death in the World
The central and defining event of Siamak's story is his death at the hands of the Black Div, the demon son of Ahriman — the first death in the world, the first time that the peace of the golden dawn was broken by the loss of a life.
In the tradition, when the army of the demon son advanced, the prince Siamak went forth to meet the threat, and in the conflict he accepted a challenge to single combat against the Black Div. In that combat, the brave young prince was overcome and slain by the demon, and so Siamak became the first to die. His death is recounted in the tradition with sorrow and at a remove, as the grievous loss of the beloved and innocent prince, the breaking of the golden peace by the malice of evil. The significance of this death lies above all in its being the first, for with the killing of Siamak, death and grief enter the world for the first time, the harmony of the golden dawn shattered by the loss of a life. The first death is the loss of the best and most beloved, the beautiful prince cut down by the demon, a loss that brings the first sorrow into the world. It is a death that the whole world mourns, in the tradition, humans and beasts and birds alike grieving the fallen prince. The first death in the world is thus the heart of Siamak's significance and the great turning point of the dawn of the epic, the moment when mortality and grief entered the golden age, and the innocent prince became the first to be lost. It is a death that calls for vengeance, and that vengeance would come through Siamak's son.
The First Grief and the First Vengeance
The death of Siamak brought the first grief into the world, the deep mourning of his father Kayumars, and called forth the first vengeance, carried out by Siamak's son Hushang against the demon who had slain him.
In the tradition, Kayumars and all the world mourned the fallen prince deeply, the first king grieving his beloved son for a long time in the first sorrow of the world. After the time of mourning, the divine messenger Sorush came again, counselling that the death be avenged and the evil demon fought. And so Siamak's son Hushang, the grandson of Kayumars, whom the first king had raised with love as a reminder of his lost son, led an army against the forces of the Black Div. Gathering the creatures of the world to his cause, Hushang met the demon son of Ahriman in battle, overcame him, and so avenged the death of his father Siamak. With his son avenged, the first king Kayumars could at last find peace, and in time the throne passed to Hushang, who succeeded his grandfather as king. The first grief and the first vengeance are thus the aftermath of Siamak's death, the sorrow of the first loss and the answering of that loss through the deed of the son. Though Siamak himself did not live to reign, his line continued through Hushang, and his death, the first in the world, was avenged. The first grief and the first vengeance complete the story of Siamak, the beloved prince whose loss brought sorrow into the world and whose death was answered by the valour of his son.
Symbolism and Meaning
Siamak embodies, above all, the first death, the entry of mortality and grief into the golden dawn of the world. As the first to die, slain by the malice of Ahriman through his demon son, he represents the breaking of the primordial harmony, the moment when death and sorrow first came into the world of the living.
Siamak embodies, too, the theme of innocence destroyed by envy and evil, the beautiful and beloved prince cut down by the malice of the evil spirit, who could not bear his splendour. In this, he represents the vulnerability of the good and the innocent to the assaults of evil, the loss of the best to the worst. And as the father of Hushang, whose vengeance answers his death, Siamak stands at the head of the line of human kingship, the prince whose loss is redeemed through his son and through whom the royal line continues. In all this, Siamak is a figure of deep significance at the very dawn of the epic, embodying the first death, the destruction of innocence by evil, and the origin of the cycle of loss and vengeance that runs through the tradition. He is the beloved prince of the golden dawn, the first to die, whose killing marks the entry of mortality and grief into the world and whose memory endures as the first great sorrow of the great tradition.
Siamak and the Kurds
Siamak, 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 tale of the first king Kayumars and his son Siamak, at the dawn of the world, is part of the common inheritance of these peoples.
For the Kurds, as an Iranian people, the figures and tales of the Shahnameh are part of the wider cultural and mythological world to which they belong, and the story of the dawn of the world, of the first king and the first death, holds a place in the broad Iranic heritage that the Kurds share. The cosmic struggle between good and the evil of Ahriman, of which Siamak's death is an early episode, is a deep theme of the Iranian tradition common to all its peoples, including the Kurds. It is honest and accurate to understand Siamak as part of this shared Iranic heritage, rather than as a uniquely Kurdish figure. As an Iranian people, the Kurds share in the broad heritage of the epic, of which the first king and his son are a part, belonging to the common store of Iranian mythological tradition that the Kurds value alongside the other heirs of the tradition. In presenting Siamak, then, we present a figure of the shared Iranian heritage to which the Kurds, as an Iranic people, are heirs alongside their neighbours, the beloved prince of the golden dawn and the first death of the great tradition.
Debates and Misconceptions
Was Siamak ever a king? No; Siamak died before he could succeed his father Kayumars to the throne. He was the beloved son and heir of the first king, but he was slain by the Black Div in the lifetime of his father, and so never reigned. The throne passed instead, after the death of Kayumars, to Siamak's son Hushang, the grandson of the first king. Siamak's significance lies not in any reign of his own but in his being the first to die and the father of the line that continued through Hushang.
Who killed Siamak, and is it the same as the demon slain by Kayumars? Siamak was killed by the Black Div, the demon son of Ahriman. In the tradition, it is this same Black Div, or the demon son of Ahriman, who is afterward overcome by Siamak's son Hushang in the first vengeance. Some accounts speak of the demon adversary in slightly different terms, but the essential tradition is consistent: the beloved prince was slain by the demonic offspring of the evil spirit, and that demon was in turn overthrown by Hushang. The killing of Siamak by the Black Div and the demon's defeat by Hushang are the two linked halves of the tale.
Is Siamak 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. As an Iranian people, the Kurds share in the broad heritage of the epic, of which the dawn of the world and the first death are a part, alongside their neighbours.
Related Topics
Kayumars: the first king, father of Siamak
Hushang: the son of Siamak, who avenged him and became king
Ahriman: the spirit of evil whose demon son slew Siamak
Jamshid: the great king of the golden age of the early line
Zahhak: the tyrant of the later dark age of the early epic
The Farr: the royal glory of the kings of the early line
Newroz: the festival of the early Iranian tradition
The Shahnameh: the Persian Book of Kings, the great epic of Iran
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Siamak in the Shahnameh?
Siamak is a prince of the very beginning of the Shahnameh, the beloved and only son of the first king Kayumars. He was a handsome and virtuous young man, the joy of his father's heart in the golden dawn of the world, but he drew the envy of Ahriman, the spirit of evil. He was slain in single combat by the Black Div, the demon son of Ahriman, and his death is the first death in the world, avenged by his son Hushang.
How did Siamak die?
Siamak was slain by the Black Div, the demon son of Ahriman, in single combat. Warned by the divine messenger Sorush of the plots against his father's realm, the prince gathered an army and went forth to meet the demonic threat, but in the conflict he was overcome and killed by the demon. His death, recounted soberly in the tradition, is the first death in the world, the breaking of the golden peace by the malice of evil, mourned by all the world.
Why is Siamak's death important?
Siamak's death is important because it is the first death in the world, the first time the peace of the golden dawn was broken by the loss of a life. With his killing, death and grief enter the world for the first time, and the harmony of the golden age is shattered. His death brings the first grief, the deep mourning of his father Kayumars, and calls forth the first vengeance, carried out by his son Hushang, beginning the cycle of loss and vengeance that runs through the epic.
Who avenged Siamak?
Siamak was avenged by his son Hushang, the grandson of the first king Kayumars. After the time of mourning, counselled by the divine messenger Sorush, Hushang gathered an army, including the creatures of the world, and led it against the forces of the Black Div, the demon son of Ahriman. He overcame the demon and so avenged the death of his father Siamak, after which, in time, he succeeded his grandfather Kayumars as king.
Did Siamak ever become king?
No; Siamak died before he could succeed his father Kayumars to the throne. He was the beloved son and heir of the first king, but he was slain by the Black Div in his father's lifetime and so never reigned. The throne passed instead, after the death of Kayumars, to Siamak's son Hushang. Siamak's significance lies in his being the first to die and the father of the line that continued through Hushang.
Is Siamak a Kurdish figure?
Siamak 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. As an Iranian people, the Kurds share in the broad heritage of the epic, of which the dawn of the world and the first death are a part, alongside their neighbours. The cosmic struggle of good against evil that his death reflects is a deep theme common to all the Iranic peoples.
References and Further Reading
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