The problem of Ibn Mogaffa in Siar-al-Muluk : Azorban or Ardavan?

دانش و خرد حماسی

Article 2, Volume 1, Issue 1, May 2024, Pages 7-22   

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/jmels.2023.44725

Author

Mersede Eslami Sabzevar

Phd student

Abstract

"Ardavan" consisting of two parts Arta+Pan in the meaning of guardian of order and truth, is the name of several Parthian kings. This name is recorded in the Greek sources, Middle Parthian Persian, Middle Sassanid Persian, and post-Islamic Iranian chronicles, as Artapan or Ardavan; However, there is evidence that in a number of historical sources of the Islamic period, this name was recorded as "Azorban", "Azoran" or "Adorban". In this article, we examined these evidences and found that the phonetic transformation of the name Ardavan into Azorban took place in the first two centuries after Islam and led to the transformation of the meaning and function of this name. These evidences are somehow related to Ibn Muqffa's Siyar-al-Muluk, and it can be said that the misreading of the name "Ardwan" as "Azerban", which is a word with a religious function, came from Ibn Muqfa's Siyar al-Muluk to other sources; However, this incorrect reading became obsolete in the first two centuries and was not used by historians in the sources after the third century.

Keywords

Ardavan; Ibn Mogaffa; Siyar Al-Muluk

References