تحلیل انتقال قدرت از کی‏کاوس به کی‏خسرو مصطفی سعادت دانشگاه شیراز saadat@shirazu.ac.ir Analysis of the transfer of power from Kay-Kāvus to Kay-Khosrow

Iranian society, throughout its historical course, has repeatedly witnessed the transfer of power from one king to another, accompanied by tensions both minor and major. The memory of these conflicts has left such a profound impact on the Iranian psyche that traces of such tensions and struggles can be observed in Iranian folktales. Despite this, the epic section of the Shahnameh does not explicitly address conflicts in the ascension of kings. The primary aim of this article is to demonstrate a case of non-peaceful power transfer following the news of Siavash's murder. Numerous evidence from authoritative texts, support the hypothesis of a non-peaceful transfer of power. Unprecedented actions, such as Rostam's blatant insult to the king and his killing of the king's wife, Sudabeh, without any reaction from Kay-Kavus, indicate the complete collapse of his authority. Furthermore, Rostam, not the king, issuing the order to attack Turan and sending the spoils of war to Zabulistan demonstrates that power had shifted away from the court. Additionally, the process of succession was entirely controlled by champions. This shows Kay-Kavus's role in determining his own successor was reduced to complete passivity. The ambiguity and contradiction in sources regarding Kay-Kavus's fate, ranging from voluntary abdication to deposition and imprisonment, attest to an unpleasant event. The older narrative of Al-Dinawari's, which explicitly states that Kay-Kavus was deposed and imprisoned until the end of his life, is likely closer to the truth. It appears that narrators, influenced by the Shu'ubiyya movement, which aimed to idealize Iran's past, preferred to report Kay-Khosrow's rise to power as peaceful. This was done to transform Kay-Khosrow into an ideal figure and present him as a powerful and successful Iranian ruler, thereby promoting a model of superior Iranian governance. Consequently, many aspects of this power transition were intentionally altered or deleted.