"Yadegar-i Zariran" an Epic Narrative of the Battle of Yazdgerd II (439-457 AD) with Xionites

Ayādgār ī Zarērān is one of the oldest epic texts left from the Sasanian era, which has an epic account of the Iranians' battle with the invading tribes in northeastern Iran. Although this book was written during the Sasanian period and in the Sasanian Pahlavi language, but some scholars believe that Ayādgār ī Zarērān belongs to the Parthian period and has been narrated by the Gosans. Although the proper names in this story belong to a very ancient period, but the names of positions and Xionites are clearly related to the Sasanian period. In the present article, the author tries to explain the time of writing or combining the subject of Ayādgār ī Zarērān with the event of the Sasanian period by comparatively examining the content of Ayādgār ī Zarērān with Al-Tanbīh wa l-ishrāf and the Chinese work Weishu. A comparative study of the information related to the political structure in Ayādgār ī Zarērān with the information in Al-Tanbīh and Weishu shows that the text of Ayādgār ī Zarērān contains details of the political structure of Yazdgerd ii’s court and was probably rewritten during the reign of this king. The presence of Yazdgerd II in the northeast of Iran and the special conditions of that region are probably the main motivation for the writing of Ayādgār ī Zarērān.