Salm (Shahnameh)

Salm (Persian: سلم) or Sarm^[1] (Middle Persian) is a character in the Persian epic Shahnameh. He is the oldest son of legendary hero and king Fereydun. It is believed that his name was given to him by his father, after Salm chooses to seek safety and run instead of fighting the dragon that had attacked him and his brothers (the dragon was Fereydun himself who had disguised himself to test his sons).

When Fereydun decides to divide his kingdom among his sons, he gives Salm Anatolia and West. Salm and his brother Tur become jealous of their younger brother Iraj. They combine their forces against him and eventually murder the young prince. Years later Iraj’s grandson Manuchehr avenges his grandfather’s death by killing both Salm and Tur.

Name[edit]

English scholar Harold Walter Bailey (1899–1996) derived the base word from Avestan sar- (to move suddenly) from tsar- in Old Iranian (tsarati, tsaru-, hunter), which also gave its name to the western Avestan region of Sairima (*salm, – *Saⁱrmi), and also connected it to the 10–11th century AD Persian epic Shahnameh's character "Salm".^[2]

Family Tree[edit]

Fereydun's Brother

Salm

Pashang

Iraj's daughter

Manuchehr

References[edit]

^ Shahbazi, A. Shapur. "IRAJ - Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
^ Bailey, Harold Walter (1985). Khotanese Text. Cambridge University Press. p. 65. ISBN 9780521257794.

External links[edit]

A king's book of kings: the Shah-nameh of Shah Tahmasp, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Salm