Keyumars or Kiomars was the name of the first king (shah) of the Pishdadian dynasty of Iran according to the Shahnameh.
Manuscript of the Shahnameh depicting Keyumars as he instructs his officers to combat Ahriman. c. 1655 CE
The Pishdadian dynasty is a mythical line of primordial kings featured in Zoroastrian belief and Persian mythology. They are presented in legend as originally rulers of the world but whose realm was eventually limited to Ērānshahr or Greater Iran. Although there are scattered references to them in the Zoroastrian scriptures—the Avesta—and later Pahlavi literature, it is through the 11th-century Iranian national epic, the Shahnameh, that the canonical form of their legends is known. From the 9th century, Muslim writers, notably Tabari, re-told many of the Pishdadian legends in prose histories and other works. The Pishdadian kings and the stories relating to them have no basis in historical fact, however.
Image: Mir Musavvir 002 (Zahhak)
Image: Farîdûn, seated on his throne, surrounded by five courtiers
Image: Detail of Enthronement of Shah Zav Shahnama Iran Tabriz Ilkhanid period ca
Image: Garshâsp son of Zav on his throne (Shahnmaeh)