Surena
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Surena (84 - 52 BCE) is the most used name for Iran Spahbod Rustaham Suren-Pahlav, son of Arakhsh (Arash, pers.) and Massis.
Surena was born into the Suren-Pahlav Clan. The name under which he appears in the western classical sources was apparently no more than his hereditary title, that of Suren, which appears in Sassanid period.
Surena name is preserved amongst the thrones of epic heroes whose deeds are recalled in the Kayanian section of the Shahnameh. In the Iranian national epic, the record of the Arsacids was suppressed at its true chronological point; the instance of Gotarz (Goodarz) has shown that at least some of its spectacular episodes were transferred to the legendary period of Key-Kavous, and incorporated there. The feat of arms performed by Suren was certainly the most celebrated of the whole Ashkanian (Parthian) era, and did not vanish entirely. Thus, in some ways, the position of great Suren in the historical tradition is curiously parallel to that of Rustam, the hero of the Shahnameh. His figure was endowed with many features of the historical personality of Rustam. The latter was always represented as the mightiest of Iranian paladins, and the atmosphere of the episodes in which he features is strongly reminiscent of the Ashkanian period.
Plutarch describes Surena:
- ... For Suren was no ordinary person; but in fortune, family and honour the first after the king; and in point of courage and capacity, as well as size and beauty, superior to the Parthians of his time. If he went only on an excursion into the country, he had a thousand camels to carry his baggage and two hundred carriages for his concubines. He was attended by a thousand heavy-armed horse, and many more of the light-armed rode before him. Indeed his vassals and slaves made up a body of cavalry little less than ten thousand. He had the hereditary privilege in his family of putting the diadem upon the king's head, when he was crowned. When Orodes was driven from throne, he restored him; and it was he who conquered for him the great city of Selucia, being the first to scale the walls, and beating off the enemy with his own hand. Though he was not then thirty years old, his discernment was strong, and his counsel esteemed the best.
See also
References
- [General Surena Suren-Pahlav, S., General Surena, The Hero of Charhae]
- A. D. H. Bivar, "The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids" in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.) Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. III, Part I. CUP, 1983.
- P. S. R. Payne, The Splendor of Persia 1957.
- N. C. Debevoise, A Political History of Parthia 1938, repr. 1970.
- R. Girshman et al., Persia, the Immortal Kingdom 1971.
- 'A. Reza`i, Tarikh-e Dah-Hezar Saleh Iran, Vol. 1. SH/1376.
- G. J. P. MacEwan, “A Parthian campaign against Elymais in 77 BC.” Iran 24, 1986.
- Fred B. Shore, Parthian Coins and History: Ten Dragons Against Rome, Quarryville, PA: CNG, 1993.
- P. B. Lozinski, The Original Homeland of the Parthians 1959.
- G. M. Cohen, The Seleucid Colonies (Historia Einzelschriften 30). Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1978.
- J. Wolski, L’Empire des Arsacides, Peeters, Gent, 1993.
- M. A. R. Colledge, The Parthians (1967).
- M. J. Mashkur and M. Rajab-Nia, Tarikh-e Siyasi va 'Ejtema'i Ashkanian, SH/1374.
- E. Herzfeld, Archaeological History of Persia 1935.
- A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire 2d ed. 1969.
- G. G. Cameron, History of Early Iran 1936, repr. 1969
- V. S. Curtis, "Parthian culture and costume", in J. Curtis (ed.), Mesopotamia and Iran in the Parthian and Sasanian periods, London, 2000
External links
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