The Archetype of Hero in Hamzanama: A Phenomenological Approach

Myth is a means to express the feelings and general demands of every nation whose members follow common patterns. Hamzanama is the story of one of the Iranian-Islamic myths presented in the form of a literary text; it expresses the inner demands of the Islamic society by using Iranian culture with a symbolic language. In this literary text, the archetype of the hero has been manifested in the form of the historical figure of Ḥamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib (the uncle of the Prophet of Islam) to reveal the hidden truths of the psyche of the society. Using the foundations of psychology and sociology and regarding the views of mythologists such as Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell, and with a historical-comparative approach, the current research tries to reread and analyze Hamzanama in order to gain an understanding of the Islamic society in the 8th century AH. The results of the research show that due to the cultural and climatic diversity of the Islamic society of that period, the internal cohesion of the society is greatly threatened. In order to solve the problem, the unconscious of the Islamic-Iranian society wears the luxurious clothes of Iranian culture on a Semitic hero with an Islamic character to ensure its survival.