Fereydun (Middle Persian: 𐭯𐭫𐭩𐭲𐭥𐭭, romanized: Frēdōn; New Persian: فریدون, Fereydūn/Farīdūn), also known as Thraētaona (Avestan: 𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀𐬊𐬥𐬀), is an Iranian mythical king and hero from the Pishdadian dynasty. He is known as an emblem of victory, justice, and generosity in Persian literature.
According to Abolala Soudavar, Fereydun is partially a reflection of Cyrus the Great (r. 550 – 530 BC), the first Achaemenid King of Kings.
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Salm (Persian: سلم) or Sarm (Middle Persian) is a character in the Persian epic Shahnameh. He is the oldest son of legendary hero and king Fereydun. It is believed that his name was given to him by his father, after Salm chooses to seek safety and run instead of fighting the dragon that had attacked him and his brothers (the dragon was Fereydun himself who had disguised himself to test his sons).
When Fereydun decides to divide his kingdom among his sons, he gives Salm Anatolia and West. Salm and his brother Tur become jealous of their younger brother Iraj. They combine their forces against him and eventually murder the young prince. Years later Iraj’s grandson Manuchehr avenges his grandfather’s death by killing both Salm and Tur.
Iraj (Persian: ایرج, romanized: ʾīraj; Pahlavi: ērič; from Avestan: 𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 airiia, literally "Aryan") is the seventh Shah of the Pishdadian dynasty, depicted in the Shahnameh. Based on Iranian mythology, he is the youngest son of Fereydun. He was killed by his brothers Salm and Tour.
In the Avestan legends, Pahlavi literature, Sasanian-based Persian sources, some Persian sources, and particularly in Shahnameh, he is considered the name-giver of the Iranian nation, the ancestor of their royal houses, and a paragon of those slain in defense of just causes.
Tur (/ˈtʊər/; Persian: تور, pronounced [tʰuːɾ]) is a character in the Persian epic Shahnameh. He is the second son of the legendary Iranian king Fereydun and brother of both Salm and Iraj. His name, meaning "brave", was given to him by his father when the young prince bravely fights the dragon that had attacked him and his brothers. When Fereydun divides his empire among his sons, he gives Turkistan and China to his second son Tur. This is the beginning of the Turanians, the neighbor and rival of the Iranians. Some of the most important characters of Shahnameh, such as Afrasiab, are his descendants. He was killed by Manuchehr.
Manūchehr [mænuː'tʃer] (Persian: منوچهر, older Persian Manōčihr, Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬥𐬎𐬱𐬗𐬌𐬚𐬭𐬀 Manuščiθra), is the eighth Shah of the Pishdadian dynasty of Persia according to Shahnameh. He is the first of the legendary Iranian Shahs who ruled Iran after the breakup of the world empire of Manūchehr's great-grandfather, Fereydūn.
Manūchehr was the grandson of Iraj, who was the son of Fereydūn, and he avenged the death of Īrāj at the hands of Fereydūn's other two sons, Salm and Tur. From the death of Tūr in Manūchehr's war of vengeance sprang a war between the Iranians and Turanians that would last for centuries, until the reign of Kai Khosrow.
The Pishdadian dynasty (Persian: دودمان پیشدادیان, romanized: Dudmân-e Pishdâdiyân) 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.
According to the Shahnameh, the Pishdadians were the first Iranian dynasty, pre-dating the historical Achaemenids, and ruling for a period of over two thousand years. Their progenitor was Keyumars, the first human and the "Zoroastrian Adam". He was followed by his descendants who, as kings of the world, fought demons and improved the lives of humankind by introducing them to new knowledge and skills. His most renowned successor, Jamshid, established the main elements of civilization, but, as a result of his pride and hubris, was overthrown by the evil tyrant Zahhak. Following a popular insurrection against Zahhak, the throne was eventually restored to the Pishdadians. However, the next king, Fereydun, divided the world between his three sons with his youngest, Iraj, receiving Iran, the choicest portion, after whom it is named. Iraj and his successors aroused the envy of the other descendants of Fereydun, leading to a lengthy feud and series of wars which eventually caused the downfall of the dynasty. The Shahnameh tells how the Iranians, having no confidence in the last of the Pishdadians, replaced them with another mythical dynasty, the Kayanians.