Káús makes a progress through his realm. He wars against the kings of Barbar, Misr, and Hámávarán; he marries Súdába, the daughter of the king of Hámávarán, and through treachery is taken captive by him. On this the Arabs and Afrásiyáb both invade Írán and fight for its possession. The Íránians in despair appeal to Rustam, who rescues Kai Káús, defeats Afrásiyáb, and reinstates the Sháh, who, warned by past experience, rules justly for a time, rises to the height of his power, and builds himself great palaces on Mount Alburz. Afterward he falls again into tempta­tion, tries to mount to heaven, is rescued again by Rustam, again repents, and again is restored to power. The Part concludes with an account of one of Rustam's raids into Túrán.

§§ 1-6. In the accounts of Kai Káús' two expeditions to Bar-baristán we have a duplication of tradition.

The late Professor Darmesteter has thrown considerable light on that obscure subject, Firdausí's geography in this part of the poem.*

There are several Barbars, and he points out that the one here intended is the Berbera nearly opposite Aden in the British Somali Coast Protectorate. It is the Pun-t of the Egyptian hiero-glyphs, and was then and is still a great trading station. When the south-west monsoon changes into the north-east wind thousands of traffickers begin to arrive, and the place is kept busy from October to April. Further, he points out with regard to Hámávarán that it is a form of the word Himyar, which is another name for Yaman. We may therefore conclude that Firdausí's notion was that Kai Káús marched from Nimrúz to the sea-coast of Makrán (Balúchistán), there built his fleet, sailed past the southern shores of Arabia, and reached some spot north of Berbera on the western shore of the Red Sea. He would then, as Firdausí says, have Misr (Egypt) on his left hand, Barbar on his right, and the sea between him and his objective Hámávarán (Yaman), which confronted him across it. The matter has become confused from the fact that Firdausí had just stated that the people of Misr and Shám (Syria) had rebelled against Kai Káús, and therefore Hámávarán has been assumed to mean Syria. We may add that the two historians Tabarí and Ma??'údí both mention Kaí Káús' expedition to Yaman, and so far, though their accounts differ considerably from Firdausí's, support Professor Darmesteter's elucidation of this episode.*

The matter has been further confused by Firdausi's use of the word “Zirih” in this part of his work. The word is usually employed in connexion with the lakes and swamps of Sístán, which formally were much more extensive.*

The word, however, is merely an older (Pahlaví) form of the modern Persian “daryá,” a sea, lake, or river. It has come, however, to be regarded as a proper name, and such an expression as “the sea of Zirih” is not only tautological but distinctly misleading. We translate “Zirih” sea. The expedition of Kai Káús looks like an attempt to capture an ancient trade-route.

The marriage of Kai Káús with the daughter of the king of Hámávarán is the cause of serious trouble later on, as will appear in Part IV.

The reference to Syria and a certain similarity of circumstance suggest that in the account of the treacherous capture of Kai Káús by the king of Hámávarán we have a distorted historical reminis­cence of the overthrow of Antiochus Sidetes in the early spring of B.C. 128 or 129. Mithridates I., in the course of a reign of thirty-eight years (B.C. 174-136), had extended the narrow bounds of the Parthian kingdom both eastward and westward, to the Hindu Kush and to the Euphrates respectively. Westward the increase had taken place at the expense of the Seleucid kingdom of Syria. The successor of Mithridates—Phraates II.—made no attempt to enlarge his empire, but the king of Syria—Antiochus Sidetes— took the first opportunity to attempt to recover the provinces of which he had been deprived by Mithridates. He led a large and splendidly equipped host into Babylonia and thrice defeated Phraates II., who, though worsted, was not conquered, and still maintained himself with an army in the country. The three great cities of Babylon, Seleucia, and ??esiphon, however, fell into the hands of the Syrians. Winter came on, and Antiochus Sidetes, resolved to maintain his advantage, distributed his forces throughout the cities and towns of Babylonia with the intention of renewing operations in the spring. The Syrian troops with their motley entourage of camp-followers, cooks, actors, etc., soon made them­selves intolerable to the natives among and upon whom they were quartered. An understanding was entered into with Phraates II., who promised to be at hand with his army, and at a given signal the Syrian invaders, who were thoroughly enjoying themselves after their campaign and had been kept wholly ignorant of the impending danger, were attacked throughout Babylonia, and either massacred or taken captive. Antiochus Sidetes himself perished, his son Seleucus was taken prisoner and his niece as well, whom Phraates II, married.*

§§ 4 and 7. In the account of the invasion of Írán by the Arabs during the captivity of Kai Káús in Hámávarán, and their defeat by Afrásiyáb, we seem to have a reference to the invasions and conflicts that were actually going on during the period when the Zandavasta was being compiled or reconstructed, i.e. during the third century after the Christian era.*

In the Zandavasta we read: “We sacrifice unto the awful kingly Glory, made by Mazda. … It was that Glory that Thraétaona bore with him when Azi Daháka was killed; that Glory that Frangrasyan, the Turanian, bore when the wicked Zainigau was killed.”*

In the greater Bundahish we read: “There was a fiend called Zinígáv who had poison in his eye: he had come from the country of the Arabs to reign on Iran-Shahr: any man he gazed at with his evil eye, he killed. The Iránians called Frásyáv into their country, he killed that Zinígáv.”*

In the Bundahish Záínígáv is said to have been the grandfather of Zahhák,*

the great protagonist of the Arab race in the Sháh??áma.*

The Íránians, when they had to choose between the Túránians and the Atabs, preferred the former. Even the arch-enemy Afrásiyáb is allowed to have pos­sessed for a while the divine Grace of kingship*

when he opposed the common foe, the Arabs.*

§§ 8-10. We are told in the Dínkard that Kai Káús built him­self seven dwellings on Mount Alburz, one of gold, two of silver, two of steel, and two of crystal, that he warred against the divs of Mázandarán and fell into a trap which they laid to destroy him. To this end one of them undertook to tempt him by making him discontented with his earthly sovereignty and inducing him to aspire to that of the sky of the archangels. He yielded to the tempter. Consequently the divine Glory left him, and he was only saved from destruction by the fravashi, or immortal principle, of the as yet unborn Kai Khusrau. Néryósang, the messenger of Urmuzd, was about to smite Káús when the fravashi cried out: “Thou shouldst not smite him, O Néryósang … for if thou shouldst smite this man … there will not be afterwards … a thorough destroyer of the high priest of Túrán; because owing to this man will be born him whose name is Síyávakhsh, and owing to Síyávakhsh I shall be born, who am the Khúsrói … so that I may accomplish the destruction of his champions and troops, when I would occasion a distant flight of the sovereign of Túrán.” Accordingly Káús was released and became discreet.*

Underground dwellings, such as Kai Káús is said to have exca­vated for stabling purposes in connexion with his buildings, are very numerous in northern Írán.*

The reader will note that in § 9 we have Iblís where we should expect Áhriman, showing that this story came to Firdausí through the Arabia.*

§§ 11-14. In the story of the Fight of the Seven Warriors with which this part concludes we have an account of a border-foray of the Chevy Chase order. More than seven Íránian warriors, how­ever, are mentioned.