The legend of incest marriage in ancient Iran (Part II)

The legend of incest marriage in ancient Iran(Dr. Alireza Shahpour Shahbazi)

Click the opposite link to see the first part of this article: The legend of incest marriage in ancient Iran (The first part)

Allegorical and legendary evidence
One group of our written evidences about Khuituk Des consists of the cases that were brought for marriages with incest among gods or mythical creatures and people, and the purpose of mentioning them was to prove the permissibility of such marriages among humans.. The number of these certificates is very small compared to the general evidence and what we have reached is as follows:
In a commentary of Yasna written during the period of Khosrow Anoushe Rawan, it is stated that Urmuzd was with his daughter Spandarmuz Khoyit Wadteh. (Pahlavi: Khoitok ten ) کرد. Guymerton ( Guimert ) From this marriage, he married Spandarmaz and was the first to die (Meshi Yeh, Mertiyeh, man ) And the first woman (Meshiyaneh, Mertianeh ) They were born from them and from the marriage of those two peoples emerged ( The same source, p. 391). In an Aramaic inscription from the Achaemenid period (( Mazdisni religion )) It is likened to a lady who is both sister and wife of Baal ( Equivalent to wages ) Is ( Boyce, History of Zoroastrian Religion, vol.2, p.275, with references), and in the story of the three Zoroastrian prophets, they have discovered the effect of such a marriage (The same source, vol. 1, p. 285). It has also been mentioned that Jamshid married his twin sister and Fereydoun married his daughter. And Manouchehr was born from the marriage of siblings ( This story of Jamshid is also mentioned in Vedas and therefore it is very old. In addition, all these contents are also mentioned in Islamic histories such as Tabari, Masoudi and Mogdisi). and Ardaviraz ( which in the tradition is one of the revivalists of the Mazdisani religion ) He had his seven sisters as wives, and in his ascension, in the second heaven of soul, he saw those who had given birth and found immortality.. Open at Yadgar Zariran ( which was in poetry and from the Parthian period) Come ( Gstasp says, Hotes, who is my sister and wife. Yadgar Zariran, compiled and translated by Bijan Ghaibi, Bielfeld, Germany, 1999, p. 22) that Gestasp married his sister Heotsa ( Khotos ) Was. It is mentioned in Shahnameh and other books that Bahman's daughter Homay became his wife and gave birth to Darab ( Bahman had a son named Sasan :
He had another daughter named Homay, an artist with knowledge and good opinion
All of them were happy to meet her
In accepting it, the father is of the goodness of the religion that you read, Hemi Pahlavi
The heart-warming Homay, the shining moon, was so bad that the king became pregnant…
Ardeshir died of Ander's disease(Avalanche) Hemi was unemployed, Taj and Serir
Homay came and put a crown on the head of one way and another religion…
The son was born secretly and did not tell anyone, he had that goodness hidden in him
( Shahnameh, vol. 6, pp. 351 to 355- Absolute Print, Vol. 5, pp. 483 to 488- ).
We have a place in Shahnameh ( Shahnameh, Vol. 6, p. 120, verses 794 and 795- Absolute edition, vol. 5, p. 150, verse 800 and 801- Gestasp after returning from Arjasp's battle to Firuzi:
Cho Shah Jahan was released and Farrokh Homai was replaced by Pour Mohin
(Ajam was like this!) He gave Sepe to Bastor Farkhunde
In the copy of the Shahnameh, the stanzas of the second verse have been moved back and forth. The present form is ours. The binding text confirms our correction: and the husband of his daughter Homay Man, the daughter of Esfandiar, Ali-ul-Molla Al-Fahlwiye, which shows that the issue of Homay and Esfandiar's marriage is that- Ajam custom- It was not giving the army to Bastor!) Homay was Esfandiar's sister and his wife ( It is certain that the main sources- Humay's marriage with his relative- and from one of them he found out the marriage of Homai with Gestasp, another with Esfandiar and the third with Bahman.. This is how a legend becomes the source of other legends).
The story of Weiss, who was the wife of his brother Viru but loved Ramin, is very famous ( The origin of this story goes back to the Parthians- papaya. Minorsky, Weiss, and Ramin: A Parthian story- For the text of the subject of Rec. Above, footnote). And the story of Sudabah, the wife of Kikaus, who fell in love with Siavash's daughter-in-law and offered her sisters to seduce him. ( Shahnameh, vol. 3, p. 14 and later. Absolute printing, vol. 2, p. 211 and later). It is common everywhere.
Since these are all legendary cases, none of them can be trusted, it can only be said that such marriages had a basis in people's thoughts and that analogy was based on real historical evidence..

3. Certain historical cases
I have searched the entire history of Iran many times and I have read about five thousand Greek, Roman, Syriac, Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Pahlavi, Avesta and ancient Persian documents point by point, and among them I have found only fifteen specific historical documents. that a person has decided to marry an incest. Eight of them belong to the Achaemenid period, three to the Parthian period and four to the Sasanian period.. Here I bring these things and then I will go to another topic, i.e. explaining the causes of such marriages and the results of some misinterpretations.. According to Herodotus, Cambogia made a marriage contract with his two sisters against the Persian laws ( One is Heotsa and the other is not named)( Ctesias, who mentioned this story, named her Roxana- Reokhashneh - or Roshank has brought: Shahbazi, Koresh Bozor, p. 325, note 19). And Darius the Great took his brother's daughter Artane as his wife ( Herodotus, History, vol.7, paragraph 224). According to Ctesias, Darius II married his sister Proshat ( Ctesias, Persica, excerpt 15- a thousand. Jacobi, p. 496). And according to Plutarch, Ardeshir II married his two daughters ( Life of Ardeshir, paragraph 27). It has also been said that Teri Takhmeh, one of the Persian generals, had a relationship with his sister ( lighter ) got married ( Ctesias, Persica, excerpt 55. Jacobi p. 471). And Ardeshir III with his sister Heotsa ( Plutarch, Life of Ardeshir, paragraph 26). And finally, Darius III ( You will find all references about him in the book Go, Berve, under number 721) His sister's wife Statira ( Some historians even consider Darius himself to be the child of a brother-sister marriage: Go, number 711) and one of his chiefs had his mother as a wife ( Cantus Curtius, History of Alexander, vol. 8, chapter 2, paragraph 19).
Certain cases have been found for the Parthian period as well. For example, Farhadak has claimed ( Farhad V ) Farhad IV's son and his Italian maid Moza ( Musa ) He married his mother ( Sources about Musa in the book of Karas- Clapperot, p. 15). In an astronomical report in Babylonian language and cuneiform dating to the year 236 of Seleucid history ( equal to 75 BC ) This is how it came ( Socks- Hunger, p. 507) : (( [ was written] In the year 172 of Parthian history [ which is equal to ] 236, in the era of Arshak Shah and Spabers ( Ispubarza ) The queen and her sister ))As you said, the Parthian king accepted his sister as his wife. Also, a Parthian scroll in Greek, found in Oraman, Kurdistan, begins with this sentence ( Mains, Parthian scroll from Oraman Kurdistan, pp. 28 and 31) : (( In the reign of the king of kings, Arshak, benefactor, judge, famous and Greek friend, and [ it ] Queen, Siaka ( Siace ), who is both his wife and his sister from the father's side, and Ariazate ( Aryazate )… The daughter of the great king of Tigran, who is also his wife, and Azate ( He is not ), Spouse [ شاه] and his sister from the father's side, in the year 225 in the month of Apleus ( Apellaeus )… This document was written in front of witnesses.)) Here it seems that the Parthian king had three wives, two of whom were his sisters ( This interpretation is common and has been accepted since the publication of Mainz's article).
We have few cases from the Sassanid period. In the three-language inscription of Shapur I on the wall of the Achaemenid building, Rostam is depicted ( which is wrongly known as Zoroastrian Kaaba ) It is said that Shapur asked for forgiveness for some people and gave charity to a group. Among them from (( Dinak, the queen of queens )) It is noted that (( Sister of King Ardeshir )) was, and from (( Our daughter, the queen of queens, Adore Anahid )) The word is gone. These definitions caused some people to consider Dink as the sister and wife of Ardeshir and Ader Anahid as the daughter and wife of Shapur. ( I include Marie-Louise Schuman in the article about several women mentioned in the trilingual inscription of Shapur I on Zoroaster's Kaaba, and Hintz, in the book Findings and Researches from Ancient Iran, pp. 124 and later). But as Mariq, Harmata and Gino have shown, these attributions belong to the category of fantasy ( papaya. Ader Anahid, written by Philip Gino in Daneshnameh Irani, Vol. 1, p. 472). It has also been said that Bahram Chubine married his sister Gardieh, but that may also be due to a misunderstanding ( Tabari, Tarikh, Vol. 1, p. 998: And Kant Labraham, the sister of Yaqal Laha, has done it, I am Atum-Nisa, Akmalhan, and Kan-Tozgha… This article is not found in other sources, and in our opinion, this marriage was found due to a misunderstanding of a narrator. One of the generals of Iran during the time of Hormuzd IV, Bahram son of Siavash [ Bahram Siavashan ] He went to war with Bahram Chobina [ The Turks ] [ Ignorance ] Sent [ Shahnameh, Moscow edition, 8th, p. 369 ] And wash with him [ Ibid., pp. 407 to 413 ] And after Bahram sat down, he went after Khosrow, but Bandoi was deceived by his mole, and Khosrow fled to Rome, and Bandoi himself was caught in his clothes.. Later, Bahram Siavshan got wind of the incident and told Bahram Chubineh about it, and he also killed Bahram Siavshan with a skillful plan. [ Ibid., IX, 63 to 65 ]. Now it should be known that the wife of Bahram Siavashan was the sister of Bahram Chobine [ Noldeke, Tabari's History, p. 282, note 1, quoting from Ibn Batliq's history]. Although the name of this sister has not been mentioned, it is clear from all indications that she was the famous Gardieh May, who was incompatible with Bahram Chubine because of her husband's death. [ He became estranged from his brother Chu: Shahnameh, VIII, page 417, verse 1676 ] And later she became Khosrow Parviz's wife. Maybe in the original narration, it was said that [ Gardieh was Bahram's wife ] And there, it was about Bahram Siavashan, not Bahram Chobine. Later, apparently, this narration has been changed and distorted).
But it has been clearly written that Mehran Gashnesp, one of the nobles of Khosroparviz's court, had a marriage relationship with his sister, who divorced her after accepting the Christian religion. ( Hofmann, p. 94). and have claimed that Yazdgerd II in the eighth year of his reign (( He killed his daughter whom he had married)) ( The same source, p. 50). and Quaz ( Qabad ) He married his daughter Sambike and from her was born Kaus ( Marquardt, Iranshahr, p. 130, note 6 . Also Kristen Sen, Iran during the Sassanids, pp. 377 and later; Measure with lower).

Three: Criticism of evidence
( Let's remember once again that [ Criticism of sources ] With [ Bulk reject resources ] it is different. There are many writers who use sentences like [ Foreigners who were unaware of Iranian customs ] or [ Enemies of Iran who wanted to humiliate us ] or [ Foreigners who have not understood the meanings of Avesta terms ] All sources as [ accusation resources ] And [ Violation ] have been rejected. But such denials have not brought us anything but mockery. This article is the first research effort to evaluate this issue and has no history of its kind ].
Anyone who understands these evidences of outsiders and insiders will understand that their content is not out of the three states.: They are a group completely devoid of truth, like those who (( Marriage with incest )) is considered a common custom. If it was so, the Iranian generation would have been destroyed at the very beginning, and social corruption from the Achaemenid period would have disrupted the continuation of family relationships.. This type of evidence is the result of accusations of hatred and enmity of one or two famous writers whose statements have been repeated by others in their credit or in competition with them.. For example, a writer who lived in Rome or Egypt and did not have the slightest knowledge of the morals and customs of his contemporary Iranians, considered the words of an earlier historian as proof, and because it was not customary to mention the names of his sources, he did so that his repeated statement Indeed, it is a fresh and new word, in other words, a double document.
The second category of evidence- both foreigners and Iranians- They are based on the interpretation of some Iranian terms that are not well known and we present examples of them below.
The third category of evidence is lying and we will bring examples of it. But a few groups are proof of marriages with mahrams that actually happened, and in those cases we will see that there is no special aspect of Iranianness in them, but it is official, very rare, and the state of heresy overshadows its officiality..

. Marriage with mahrams was not legal in ancient Iran
This is clear for three reasons:
First, the real history of Iran has considered such an official as unjust; Second, in several places where it has been explicitly recommended that it is permissible, it is clear that a fatwa has been issued against the will of the people, and thirdly, the legal and official term used for this purpose, i.e. Khwayt and Dathah. ( Khoitok ten ) (( Marital in itself soot )) Or (( Marriage between relatives )) It means, as it is customary and praised among many people.
There is no doubt that the first historical evidence of such a marriage is the Achaemenid Kamboja taking both of his right sisters as wives.. Anyone who reads the story of this marriage carefully will be sure that Cambodia itself was the initiator of this custom and Iranians were completely alien to it, and if anyone else did this, it was in imitation of Cambodia.. The story of Cambogia, according to the Greek Herodotus, who lived two generations after him, is as follows ( Herodotus, History, Book III, paragraph 31 and following. Its interpretation in Shahbazi, Koresh Bozor, pp. 412 to 414) :
After Cyrus the Great, his eldest son Kamboja became the king. He was a stubborn and vindictive and very hard-hearted man. The first thing he did was to kill his only brother ( Barzo ) He secretly killed him, who was a brave and praised youth, so that one day he would not attack him and take the kingdom from him, then he fell in love with his sister Heutsa and decided to take her as his wife.. (( Such a marriage had no history for Iranian freedmen )). (( Cambodia had to break the Persian law to get what it wanted)). ( Readers should pay attention to these two sentences). One of the duties of the king of Iran was to do important work with (( royal judges )) And (( Iranian races )) vote and ask them for guidance. (( royal judges )) There were seven freedmen who were chosen to advise the king and prevent him from doing harmful things, and as long as there was no sin committed by them, their dignity and honor remained.. Cambodia, who was ashamed of losing her sister to the Iranians (( royal judges )) said to look and see if there is a law that allows the marriage of a brother with his sister or not. The judges, who were pure and honorable men, but were aware of Cambodia's quick anger and quick temper, wanted to keep themselves away from Cambodia's anger without falsely tainting the Persian law..
So they told him so: (( We have considered Iranian laws as good, there is no law that allows the marriage of a brother with his sister, but there is a law that says that the Iranian king is free to do whatever he likes. )). Such was the answer of the wise men and royal judges. And Cambodia immediately took Heotsa as his wife, but soon after his second sister, who [ His name was Reohashneh, Roshank ] He also accepted a wife and thus opened the way for the future autocrats of history, and as soon as this ugly custom lost its place among people like him, it became unstoppable to repeat it, but they all forgot that (( No Iranian law )) which allowed such marriages, did not exist, and Cambodia, which adopted the Elamite culture, also followed the Elamite formality. (( heretic )) put the ( For the Cambodian imitation of the habits of the Elamites. Oppenheim's article, Oppenheim, pp. 557 and 558, which relies on a Babylonian document, according to which Kamboja appeared in the prophetic temple of Babylon, in Elamite clothes, and became a source of worry and excitement for the Babylonians.. We know from the history of Elam that one of the queens there married two of her brothers: Hintz, The Forgotten World of Elam, p.91).
Whoever reads the history of Iran carefully will come across other materials that confirm the above result. More than one hundred and twenty Greek, Roman, Syriac, Jewish, and Armenian writers were Achaemenians, Parthians, and Sasanians at the same time, and several of them knew and described Iranian customs and laws well.. These few people include Herodotus, Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Strabane, Ammianus Marcellinus, Procopius, Nitophylactus, and among the Jews, Esther and Nehemiah; But none of them said that marriage with incest was customary in Iran ( Herodotus only mentions the story of Cambodia and that too in the way we have seen ). If so official in Iran (( common )) It was impossible that these writers were not aware of it.
The situation of Zoroastrian texts is more decisive than these. In the original Gathas and Avesta, there is no mention of Khuity and Dastha at all. In the later Avesta and subsequent books and narrations until we reach the end of the Sassanid period, we do not see any news that khuyit wadteh means marrying a mahram.. Only at the end of the Sassanid period and the beginning of the Islamic period, we have undeniable evidence that some people praised such marriages and some people condemned them.. When we pay close attention to the narrations, we can clearly see that the group that (( Your personality )) to mean (( Marriage with incest )) There were a few clerics who were afraid that Zoroastrians would perish by marrying foreigners.. At the end of the Sassanid period, Christianity and Manifestism had become so common in parts of Iran that small Zoroastrian communities in remote places were at risk of collapse, and the risk of marrying a foreigner had scared the religious so much that in that period the meaning (( Marriage with incest )) They carved it for their own sake and they based it on the imaginary marriages of Ahurmozda with Spandarmaz and Mashiye with his sister and Jaz An.. When Islam arrived, the issue became more acute (( Keeping blood, sperm and race )) He prevailed over everything and Mobdani Chand despite the strong protest of the people (As we saw in the evidence above ) (( Marriage with incest )) considered a divine advice to prevent the destruction of small Zoroastrian groups here and there ( That is why the sentence: I swear by the religion of Mazda worship, which stops attacks, which keeps the weapon idle, which establishes the Khuyt and Dastha, in the oath of religious commitment [ collapse ] Zoroastrian [ For that rack. Boyce, History of Zoroastrian Religion, Vol. 1, pp. 253 and 254] In this way, it seems to be damaged and apparently the sentence [ which establishes the Khuity and the Deth ] It is redundant [ Compare with Boyce's judgment, same source, p. 254, note 24).
Everyone has gone through the objections contained in religion and hadiths (( recommendations )) pull out ( Which we did by showing them big ) It is well understood that the few theologians who intended to divine such marriages did not reach anywhere and faced the anger and hatred of Zoroastrians.. It is clear that if that custom was acceptable to the people, there would be no need to create all those religious books and handles and heavenly assumptions for it to become acceptable to the people.. The explanation itself shows the non-acceptance and prevalence of such marriages ( Such is the judgment of West, Pahlavi Texts, vol. 2, pp. 427-430 and Gerai, Essaye Zanashui, p. 459.).
Now, if we look at some cases of marriages with mahrams during the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sasanian eras, it becomes clear that they are rejected in the eyes of the people.. Earlier, we explained the Kamboja heresy. Now see that Plutarch ( Quoted by Ctesias ) He says that Ardeshir II's mother forced him to mate with her daughter Statira (( Do not pay attention to the laws and opinions of the Greeks))Greek law and opinions do not have any case here, that is, it was not necessary for Proshat to save his son (( Greek ideas and laws )) to ease. Neither Greece had any influence in Ardeshir's work, nor were the Greeks subordinate to Ardeshir to keep his mind (( Disgusting people's work )) Explain yourself to them. What was mentioned in Plutarch's source (( Ideas and rules )) It has been and that's enough. That is, Ardeshir's mother tells him: (( You are the king, do whatever you want. Take your daughter as a wife, and don't care about opinions and rules.)) this (( Ideas and rules )) There have been Iranian beliefs and laws that Proshat, like Cambodia, wants to ignore, and this is a big reason that Iranian beliefs and laws have been against such marriages.. In confirmation of this conclusion, we recall that Agathias also testifies of Ardeshir II's hatred of such a relationship. ( History, book II, paragraph 23).
Another reason that proves that such marriages are far from custom (( Rules )) It has been Iran. The explicit declaration of religion is the third one that confesses: (( The law has said about that custom later: Do not use it! )) If there was no such thing in the Iranian law, it would not be necessary for them to use all the reasons and arguments to apply the opposite practice. So we come to the conclusion that even at the height of the time when the issue of marriage with incest was prescribed by a few people, more people shouted that:
(( Zarathustra said this to Ahuramzda: In my opinion, this is a bad thing they are doing, and I have a lot of doubt that I have to quit, as you said, it is quite common among humans.)).
The contradiction of such a clear objection with the words of some Zoroastrian scholars in favor of marriage with mahrams leads to the idea that because such marriages had no history at all in Zoroastrian law and custom, a few Manichaeans and Mazdakis died who considered themselves among the Zoroastrian theologians. have brought ( As in the Islamic period, among the forgers of hadith and narrations, there were those who, in order to destroy people's faith as narrators and narrators, weaved legends that were not documented.. Note that your Mazdak [ Mobadan Mobadan ] and the reviver of Zoroastrian religion: Nizam al-Mulk, Sir al-Muluk, Taba e . Dark, Tehran, 1346, pp. 257 and 258)، ( We know that heretics have claimed that they want to return the Islamic religion to its original pure state! ) ( That is why Mani and Mazdakian [ Life ] that's mean [ An interpreter, a religious arbiter ] are reading) and corrupting laws in the form of religious interpretation ( hit ) They have given to the society of the late Sassanid period ( Let's emphasize once again that all clear Iranian evidences are from the last Sassanid period onwards ) Along with some others who were afraid of the destruction of remote and small Zoroastrian societies among Christians and then Muslims, they have given in to these beliefs and made from the words of Ahuramzda that: (( You should also have it [ Marriage with incest ] Do it! Because although people have turned away from such a ceremony, you should not turn away! )).
We mentioned earlier that out of the fifteen historical cases that have been found throughout Iran's history of marriage with incest, some are pure lies and there are only a few cases that can be accepted, but not as conventional examples, but as unconventional examples and unnatural, examples of which can be seen among all nations and we will mention them. Here we want to reveal two examples of these lies. A great example of this imagination of Bafis is found in a Christian narrative about Yazdgerd II, and it is said that he was in the eighth year of his reign. (( He killed his daughter whom he had married. )) ( Huffman, p. 504 ). New historians also accept this narrative as truth ( For example, Kristen Sen, Iran during the Sasanian era, p. 307). Now let's check it out:
Yazdgerd II was the son of Bahram V or Bahram Gor, and Bahram Gor was born at the beginning of the eighth year of his father's reign. ( Shahnameh, vol.7, p.266, verse 30 and later, mentions about Yazdgerd:
His birthday has passed, because seven years of suffering and plagues have plagued everyone
At the beginning of the eighth year of the month of Farudin, he will find in the Hordin world
One of the children came on Hormuzd Roz to Nik Akhtar and Fal Giti Frouz
Even then, the father named Bahram, and the child became happy )،
That is, in 407 AD, and when he ascended the throne in the spring of 421 AD, he was fourteen years old ( Noldeke- Tabari, p. 85, note 4), and at the time of his death in 439, that is, in the eighteenth year of his reign, he was thirty-two years old ( The same source, p. 423). So, the birth date of Yazdgerd II is earlier than his father's seventeen years, that is (۴۰۷+۱۷) 424m cannot be taken. So when Yazdgerd II came to the kingdom at most (۴۲۴- ۴۳۹ )He was fifteen years old, and in the eighth year of his reign he was at most twenty-three years old. So how could he have taken his daughter as his wife at that time and then he was beaten by her in such a way that he killed her? This is pure fantasy.
Another example of this type of lying is the story of Kovaz's marriage ( Qabad ) is with his daughter. Theophanes of Byzantium says that Kaus, the son of Kovaz and the elder brother of Anoushe Ravan, was born from the marriage of Kovaz and his daughter Sambike. ( According to Marquardt from him, Iranshahr, pp. 131 and 132, note 6). But Marquardt has proven that this is not correct in terms of historical timing. On the other hand, Tabari said that his sister escaped from prison ( Tabari, History, Vol. 1, p. 887)But Procopius of Byzantium says that this was done by Kuaz's wife ( History of the Iranian War, vol. 1, paragraph 6) And the new historian, putting these together, says that his sister, who was his wife, made Kuaz run away! ( Marquardt, ibid. Kristen Sen, p.378).

۲٫ (( Marriage with incest )) Rarely has it happened anywhere
It cannot be denied that Kambojie's marriage with his sisters took place, although it was against Iranian law. It cannot be denied that the later books of Zoroastrianism have approved such marriages, as if they had advised against the custom of the society.. in other words, (( Marriage with incest )) It has happened in a very limited way in the history of Iran, but the history of Iran has seen many other things that had nothing to do with Iranian laws and nothing to do with Zoroastrian custom.. As we will show, some of these marriages took place based on the misinterpretation of some basic legal terms, and in these cases, sometimes the rulers' selfishness and disregard for custom was also effective.. An example of these works is the marriage of Musa Rumi with his young son Farhadek, which was done when he was young, because Musa, a Roman maidservant, fell in love with the throne of Farhad IV and killed her husband, and under the pretext that the kingdom is her son's inheritance, the throne And he took her crown and made a marriage bond with her in order to keep her in his grip ( papaya. In the previous footnote, Josephus says that this angered the Parthian nobility). Did this political relationship have anything to do with Iranian laws? Shortly after this event, Roman Emperor Claudius I spent a night in his niece's bed and forced the Roman Senate to recognize their marriage the next day.! ( papaya. Wiednemann, p. 240) From this one example of whimsicality, it can be seen that the Roman Empire (( Marriage with incest )) could spread with a command.
In Greek history, we read that the god of gods Zeus married his sister Hera ( Homer's Iliad, the seventeenth hymn, line 128 and after), or that Elki nos with sister ( Homer's Odyssey, the seventh hymn, line 54) And to a story with a nephew ( The same book, the seventh hymn, line 60) He tied the knot and Diomedes married his aunt ( Shrader- Nehring, vol. 2, p. 599). In the first Sefar of the Torah, we come across many cases of marriage with mahrams, without the slightest hint that it is illegal.. For example, in the journey of creation, apart from the children of Adam and Eve who created the earth by mating, we read that Abraham married his half-sister Sarah. ( Surah 20, verse 12); Noah married his brother's daughter ( Surah 29, verse 19 and following) Imran married his aunt and found Musa and Harun ( Sefer Exodus, Surah 6, verse 20). It is only in later periods that marriage with incest was restricted (Leviticus, Surah 18) And this limitation is the same as the Christian limitation, and of course it is also quite clear in Islam ( papaya. Foley, matrimonial: In Christianity, Hastings Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, pp. 333-343). Marriage with incest is also found among other ancient nations. Among the royal families of Macedonia and Epirus ( Balkan ) Its sign has been found ( Shrader- Nehring, vol. 2, pp. 599 and 600). Among the ancient Egyptians, sibling marriage was popular and continued until the Christian era ( For the marriage of siblings and other infidels in ancient Egypt and Batalse. Diodorus, book 1, paragraph 27, paragraph 1; [Cerny Cerny and Middleton Middleton ] ). The Greek kings of Egypt especially considered such marriages sacred. Among the Elamites and Lycian nobles ( in the southwest of Asia Minor ) It was still a legal relationship ( For Elamian Rec. Above, footnote, for Lycian Rec. Boyce, History of Zoroastrianism, Rome, p. 76). In Mesopotamia, it was the same among the high families of Palmyra Arabs ( For example, on the Malikhos coins [ owner ] Second, the queen of Gomlit [ Jamila ] particle for direct object [ sister ] It is self-taught). And Greek inscriptions from the first century AD from the city of Dura-Europus in Syria prove that marriage between siblings was common there as well. ( Spooner, Iranian kinship and marriage, p. 54 with references). Among the ancient Britons, women were shared possessions among men ( Deshan Gaiman, p. 207). According to Strabane and Jeremiah, fornication with incest and with other people's wives was common among the Irish Celts ( According to Shrader- Nehring, p. 600). Even Lugaid, king of Ireland, took his own mother as a wife ( Launched Gaiman, pg. 207 and after). Among the ancient Irish, one of the kings of Leinster had two of his sisters to wife ( The same source, p. 208). Among the ancient Balts, marriage with incest was not a limit ( Shrader- Nehring, vol. 2, p. 600). And the ancient Lithuanians could also marry their stepmother ( same place).
So (( Marriage with incest )) It is not specific to a particular nation. There have been examples everywhere, but Herodotus' testimony shows that this custom was not common in ancient Iran, and Cambodia did it despite Iranian laws.. After him, some people tried it, but none of them were approved by the laws and it was autocratic and that's it. In order for no one to say that this theory is not possible, I will give a clear example from the history of Eastern Rome. In the 7th century AD, Khosrow Parviz defeated the Eastern Roman Empire so much that it almost fell to its knees. At that time, Khatir Hercules took power and with the help of the lord of the church declared jihad against the Iranians and defeated them after heavy battles.. This is Hercules (( the most holy )) And (( most respected )) He is considered as a Christian emperor and whenever he is mentioned, his religion and service to the Christian world is also mentioned.. But this emperor (( Savior of Christendom )) And (( Returning the life-giving Jesus to Jerusalem )) He got married which shocked the Christian world. According to Nika Foros ( Nikephoros ) The great emperor of Constantinople, who lived a hundred and twenty years after Hercules (( He did something illegal that in the Roman tradition ( Christian ) Ghadghan because he made a marriage contract with his niece Martina; And she was the daughter of his own sister, Maria Nam. Hercules had two sons from him named Flavius ​​and Theodosius)). Nika Foros says that everyone, even the fans of Hercules, criticized him harshly and he criticized him in a letter, but he did not pay attention. ( papaya. Nikephoros,Short History,tr.C.Mango,Washington,D.C., 1990, pp. 53-54 ). In this way, the autocrats of the times have violated the laws and customs, and considering their work as law and considering the laws governing the actions of the people of a country is not correct at all. (( extraordinary )) knew.

3. Misinterpretations that have become the source of writers' mistakes
Even though we have so many written evidences for marriage with mahrams in Iran, the actual examples are so limited that we have to find a reason for this imagination of the writers.. That is, we have to find out why the authors of this Sun have given such an abundance to Iranians, while the actual number of such connections was insignificant.. In our opinion, there were three reasons for such mistakes. One is the prevalence of such marriages among other nations, which has made it not seem extraordinary to attribute it to Iranians.. Second, the marriage of Kambojie with his sisters, which has given an example and role model to the writers, so that they can relate any historical event they want to such a thing, and it does not bring any surprise.. Third, the wrong interpretations that four legal and social terms have brought forward and these terms (( relative )) And (( Girl )) And (( Brother )) And (( sister )) We will describe them one by one.
To explain the third case, we must make an introduction in the transformation of some common words and expressions to clarify by comparison with the term "khuituk des" that it does not mean the appearance of trust.. In fact, one of the difficulties of ancient history is the reliance of researchers on the normal and literal interpretations of key words, because words, like people, are born and evolve, and a group of them also die.. If someone today, the main meaning (( farmer )) to know that one day is referred to God and the owner of ten or even an educated nobleman ( Minoy, Dehghanan, Simorgh Magazine, Year 1, 1352, pp. 8-13 ), will hesitate to apply it to the simple landless farmer or farm worker. Also, if in a text from a thousand years ago, an army (( armored )) read, its meaning is very different from today's armored army. That day they went to war with armor, helmets and shields, and today with tanks, cannons, rockets and gas masks. Another example of the word (( Yazdan )) is that we all have a thousand years that means (( God )) We use it, but if we put a drill on the poppy, we will see its main meaning (( gods )) It is, what a gathering God has been with Yazad May. Again we bring two examples: From the 11th century onwards, Europeans led by Frankish leaders and soldiers ( French ) They attacked the Orient and launched the Crusades, and this familiarity from that time made the Orientals to the Europeans. (( Frangi )) ( Franky, French ) to read and because Europe was in the west, little by little (( Frangi )) It came to mean Western, and today we even call Americans Farangi. Or because during the Achaemenid period, the kings of Iran from (( Pars )) Arise, their government (( Persian )) And all over their vast country - which included different peoples with different languages ​​and cultures- (( Fars )) And in Greek (( Persia )) They called it and the subsequent states were also known by the same name, and the country of Iran was called in the Semitic and Western languages, Pars, Fars, Persia, and the like, which, having states such as Khorasan, Baluchistan, Kandahar, Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Khuzestan, was never The meaning of the country of Iran was not consistent. So if someone now says that the Sassanid or Persian empire included those countries, the one who knows the borders of the later Fars imagines that those borders were much larger in ancient times, and for example, Samarkand, Ganja, and Tisophon are also included. (( Fars )) have been! Let's give some more examples and get to the point. Slavery has been prevalent among many nations. In ancient Iran, a person who obeyed another made a pact with him, and in making this pact, it was necessary for them to touch each other's waists and swear an oath, and sometimes a high-ranking person would give a belt to a subordinate.. In this way, the subordinate person (( closed waist )) or (( classification )) He has become a high-ranking person ( papaya. Wieden Gren's very famous book, Al-Tawafi Monarchy in Ancient Iran) And the Greeks and Romans who did not know the meaning of this covenant, the person under the hand (( servant )) They have called a noble person, and for the ancient Iranians, they have established a large slavery organization. But the truth is that (( servant )) Being someone means (( Obedience based on a covenant with someone )). When Darius in the Biston Gaobra inscription ( bull ) His wife's father (( my servant )) Reads ( Darius the Great, Biston inscription, ancient Persian text, fifth column, lines 5, 7, 9, its translation in Shahbazi, Jahandari Darius the Great, p. 54) He does not mean to be a bully (( a slave )) rather, he wants to specify the relationship between the covenant and the covenant of obedience. Likewise in our time when someone tells someone: (( I am your servant )) or (( I told you )) or (( You exempt this servant ))In no way does he want to say that he is the slave of the other. This problem has many examples in other languages, we mention two cases. Hassan Sabah, the founder of Ismailian Iran, by feeding hashish to his agents (( Paradise )) He visualized the promise in their eyes and forced them to do anything to achieve it, and some of them killed famous men of Iran. ( including Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk Tusi ) provoked such that these hashish agents and Alamut apparatus became known as hashishion and hashishion themselves (( killer )) A synonym came, and this word found its way into western languages, including English assassin ( assassin ) tour. But today, it means an assassin (( hashish )) And (( Bungie )) No, it means killer. Or (( Kush )) In Iranian languages, it means a fertile palace or a stable house with a garden and a garden, and it is considered the best example of a noble house, but the same word comes from the Turkish way. (( Kosk )) It has gone to Europe and the kiosk ( kiosk in English ) It has come to mean a newspaper stand or a small phone booth on the roads, etc. and it is interesting that we have begged this last meaning from the Europeans.!
We brought these examples to show that a word in a language may have a two-sided meaning and several aspects, and carelessness in this field will bring bad results, and for example, we may use our own words in our compliments. (( a slave )) Let's read another or some killer (( Hashishi )) know or the head of state in (( Kiosk )) Let's accommodate and master (( the farmer )) We sent our number or a soldier with the armor and helmet of the Mongol period to fight the Iraqis with cannons, tanks and missiles.! The conclusion we get from this discussion is this:
Avestai khuit and dastha and its Pahlavi derivatives have no meaning at all (( Marriage with relatives ))- To the same extent that it is common and praised in Islamic Iran- and no one dreams that this type of marriage between cousins ​​and cousins ​​among Muslims (( Marriage with incest )) to count. On the other hand, no one in the interpretation of his cousin, niece or cousin (( close relatives )) He has no shyness. So even interpretation (( Marriage with close relatives )) synonym (( Marriage with incest )) does not have. On the other hand, every Iranian knows that it is customary for people to call each other cousins, first cousins, and first cousins ​​without having any family relationship between them.. I myself knew when I was little that I didn't have more than two real cousins, but there were at least twenty people in our alley who called me (( amza )) ( Cousin ) They used to address me several times (( sister )) And (( Brother )) I know that our kinship relationship is to the extent that I have been fed from the breast of the mother of God, forgive them, who grew up in our house.. The children of these people call me uncle and aunt, and no one can deny this.
Now, with this introduction, I introduce the reader to four changed words. In ancient Iran, related families that formed a lineage, vith / Weiss said, and the best young and brave men of the dynasty (( The sons of the dynasty )) that's mean (( Weiss Pohr )) They called it Barbita in Arabic. After the dynasties of Iranians reached the kingdom, the title (( Weiss Pohr )) It became special for first class princes and (( Posy Wispoher )) that's mean (( prince son )) became the crown prince of the country ( Shahbazi, The Crown Prince in Iranian Encyclopaedia, Vol. 6, p. 430 with references). Now, if someone wants to mean all these steps in a dry term, (( Wispoher )) Instead of the historical period (( Prince )) ( For example, in the inscriptions of the early Sassanid era, Vispohran are always mentioned as members of the royal family who ruled a place.. ) have to (( son of the tribe )) make sense! On the other hand, whenever a foreigner was called among the royal family of Vispohri Ba (( Weiss Dekhti )) got married, that foreigner, unaware of the evolution of the word, could very easily imagine the marriage of a brother and sister and then report it and lead his reader astray..
Another nickname that is very important (( close relatives )) It is sometimes used by the Greeks for the kings of Iran, and it also means according to the status and position (( The original family )) can be taken, also means (( relatives )) And also means (( Ancestry )). For example, when Diodorus of Sicily ( Book 17, chapter 20, paragraph 2 ) writes that (( A group of close relatives of the Shah formed the Nizam's cavalry elite and [ in the battle of Arbla ] There were ten thousand of them))It is certain that the meaning (( Ancestry )) Is. When we read somewhere that the king sat at the table with his mother, wife and two brothers, ( Plutarch, Ardeshir, paragraph 5, paragraph 5 ) But in another place, we hear from another historian that the same Ardashir II, the Greek Antimus (( On the table of relatives )) sit down (Phineas, quoted by him in Athens, Book II, Chapter 48, Section D ) We cannot conclude that Antimos was among Ardeshir's close relatives, but we must keep in mind the limit of compliments. That is why we often read that (( King's parents )) They are called by the same term as (( close relatives )) And if we look carefully, we can see that when a historian wrote that a certain king married his daughter, the original of his report could well have been something like this. (( So-and-so king married so-and-so, who was a close relative of his and had grown up in his house)).
The third word that we want to define (( Girl )) is that its origin goes back to Dokhtshri, from which in ancient Persian, Dakhsi ( And in Elami Doksheish ) It has come and there is an inscription on the side, and on the side there is also an inscription. And in Armenian it is Dashkhoi and in Farsi it is Dakht / Girl, and meaning everywhere (( Princess )) had ( papaya. Benunist's detailed and scholarly explanation of special titles and titles in ancient Iran, pp. 43 to 50 ), and later it came in other meanings, including a female child (Measure with the maiden ) But its main meaning still remains in our language. For example, when (( Iran Dekht )) Or (( Azam Dekht )) or even (( Sadness )) We say, we mean (( The princess of Iran )) or (( big lady )) or (( the princess )) is not (( Iranian girl )) or (( big girl )) or (( Girl )). From the same meaning (( Lady )) ( Later in Turkish and Mongolian [ Bibi ] And [ Woman ] For example, it has been done in Bibi Shahrabano or Pol Khatun) And (( Princess )) which is the title of the god of chastity, pregnancy and waters in ancient Iran, which means Ardovisor Anahit (( Girl )) It has been in many old buildings ( Daughter's bridge, daughter's castle…) we find. Anyway (( Girl )) It was only one of the conventional meanings of that term, and therefore it is not possible to report such as (( Darius III married his daughter )) took it in its literal meaning, but it is very likely that its original meaning was like this: Darius III with (( So-and-so princess )) got married. The most interesting of all is the Greek word Adelphe, which was drawn during the period of Hellenism and the Seleucids and Parthians in their official writings. (( Spouse )) Compliment yourself (( wife and sister )) ( roll it ) are reading ( papaya. Mainz, p.39 ). In other words, in these periods, the title of the queen of the kingdoms of Adelfa was that (( wife and sister )) The king means, and this is very clear from the many examples we have. The most famous example is the writings of Antiochus III of Seleucia and his wife Laodice. Anyone who knows a few words of history knows that Laodicea, the wife of Antiochus III, was the daughter of the Persian king Pentus. (South of the Black Sea ) and his father Mehrdad ( One ) was named and had no close ties connecting him with Antiochus III, who was the son of Seleucus II ( Polybius, History, vol. 5, chapter 43, paragraphs 1 to 4, and Zebert, p. 60). However, Antiochus in his inscriptions this Laodicea (( sister and wife )) It is self-taught ( Shervin- White- Short, p ) And Laodicea in an inscription of Antiochus (( brother and wife )) self called ( The same source, p. 127). This interpretation is nothing more than a compliment and only has a ceremonial aspect, that is, in the Seleucid court, the queen enjoyed the privileges of the king's daughter and the privileges of the king's wife.. With these preliminaries, we now refer to one of the cases of brother and sister marriage, which is mentioned in Ayadgar Zariran. It has been known for a long time that the story of Gestasp in the Shahnameh is based on the Parthian Pahlavi epic ( papaya. Bijan Ghabi's introduction to the publication of that book. According to Ali Akbar Mazaheri [ Iranian family, p. 366] He was the first person who realized this and told it to Minorski) ( Its current narration is in Middle Persian). As we have seen above, in Iadgar Zariran, from Gstasp's wife as (( wife and sister )) He is mentioned ( Above, this matter is kept silent in the detailed Gestasp letter! ) This situation is very understandable due to the Parthian nature of the time when Zariran's Ayadgar was composed, because at that time Greek terms and language were common and the Greek term (( sister and wife )) To (( Queen )) It has been popular without the queen of a king being his sister. But after this term was forgotten, such an important interpretation of a religious book has become common among the claimants of literacy and the alleged supporters of religious traditions, but its meaning has changed and they have understood from it the same apparent interpretation of being a wife's sister.. This is because it is not mentioned in the Avesta that Gestasp and Heotsa are siblings, but this issue has arisen since the Parthian period. ( Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism, p. 206, noted that this relation did not appear in the Avesta, and Bartholomew's take on [ Being a sister and wife ] Heutsa Gstasp is not true).
In order to know how a term can be misinterpreted, we will give another example and conclude the topic.: Since the time of the Parthians, it has been customary among the teachers to use the title of audience in the speeches of the rulers (( Brother )) Let them leave, that is, the kingdom, another kingdom (( Brother )) Called ( And this compliment became official during the Sassanid period, and the Sassanid kings and Roman emperors used each other [ Brother] They addressed each other and even their wives [ sister] They read ) ( Shahbazi, Relations between Iran and Byzantium, in Iranian Encyclopedia, p. 4 ). or a younger king (( child )) They called or an older ruler (( Father )) They used to say. The most famous of all cases is Valreshk, the Persian king of Armenia [ It means Parthian Tirdad ] In a letter to his brother Blash I, the Parthian king (( brother and son )) He sings, and of course he was not his son ( Musa Khorni, History of Armenia, Book 1, Chapter 9 ). This is why Khosroparviz in a letter to Muriq (Mauritius) ( Maurice ) The Roman emperor wrote and asked him to help his army (( Obedient and son )) Muriq read ( Theophylact Simukta, history, chapter 4, paragraph 11, paragraph 11). and Justinian ( Justinian ) The Roman emperor in his letter to Khosrow Anushiravan him (( Father )) Count yourself ( Malala, quoted by him in Shahbazi, same article). Such compliments, if taken seriously, will have a very misleading meaning ( It is interesting that Khosrow Anushirvan himself in a letter to Emperor Justinian [ our brother ] read! papaya. Manander Jandhar, history, part 6, [ Translation, p. 63 ]. )But they are nothing but what a respectable elderly man says to a girl today: (( My Daughter )) or (( my sister )) Without there being a relationship between them. Now, if someone comes and interprets such an address seriously, he has done what historians have done with Zoroastrian Iranians, and not only the daughter of the adopted and adopted into the family, but anyone who somehow meets the definitions of father, daughter, and brother. And the sister and the other called have been accused of marrying incest. After this discussion, we conclude that we cannot accept the authenticity of marriage between mahrams in ancient Iran based on the interpretation of the term khuituk des in some later Zoroastrian books and on the evidences resulting from incorrect interpretations.. If there were a couple of cases, it was caused by arbitrariness and breaking Iranian laws, and that's it

sources and resources
Iran during the Sasanian period, Christian Sen - Iran during the Sasanian period, Dr. Toraj Mariya - History of Zoroastrianism, Mary Boyce – Defense of Ardeshir Azar Ghashb - and part of Tarngar debates