Twice Told

Documents

Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden, aus der arabischen Chronik des Tabari (Leiden, 1879): Ardashir's coast king and the queen of Alar, pp. 10 to 11 and 19

Language
German
Read from
Einleitung, first page (archive.org leaf n18); pp. 10 and 11 (leaves n43 and n44); p. 19 (leaf n52). The book prints no page number on the Einleitung opener
Reading
transcribed from the page image
Translation
ours
Retrieved
6 October 2026

Nöldeke’s German translation of the Sasanian section of Tabari’s chronicle, with notes. The two passages below are Tabari’s only echoes of the worm story; they are in the sections on Ardashir’s conquests and at the end of his reign.

[Einleitung, first page] Abû Ga’far Muḥammed b. Ğarîr, geboren im Herbst 839 zu Âmul unweit des kaspischen Meers in der persischen Provinz Tabaristân, daher Ṭabarî genannt, gestorben zu Baghdâd am 17. Februar 923, schrieb viele, zum Theil sehr grosse, Werke in arabischer Sprache, darunter auch eine äusserst umfangreiche Chronik

[p. 10, to p. 11] Es war aber an der Küste des persischen Meeres ein König Namens Astawadh (?), dem man göttliche Ehre erwies; gegen den zog Ardaśîr, tödtete ihn, hieb ihn mit seinem Schwert in zwei Theile, tödtete auch seine Umgebung und holte aus ihren Schatzkammern viele dort aufgehäufte Schätze hervor.

[p. 11, note 1] Dies ist die erste, rationalistisch zurecht gemachte Gestalt des Kampfes mit dem als Gott verehrten Drachen, welchen das Kârnâmak und (danach) Fird. ausführlich erzählen. „Astawadh” oder, wie man aussprechen will, beruht auf falscher Lesung und weiterer Entstellung des Pehlewî-Namens Haftânbôcht (bei Fird. Haftwâdh).

[p. 19] Wie man erzählt, war in Alâr, einem Dorfe in dem zum Küstenlande von Ardaśîr-Churra gehörigen Gau Kućârân eine Königinn, welche göttliche Verehrung genoss und viel Reichthum und Soldaten besass; da bekriegte Ardaśîr ihre Priester, tödtete die Königinn und erbeutete viel Geld und Schätze, die sie hatte.

[p. 19, note 2] Die zweite Abschwächung des Kampfes mit dem Drachen, der hier zu einer Königinn gemacht ist; s. Kârnâmak 37. Für Alâr hat der Pehlewî-Text Gulâr.

Translation

[Einleitung] Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Jarir, born in the autumn of 839 at Amul, not far from the Caspian Sea in the Persian province of Tabaristan, and so called Tabari, died at Baghdad on 17 February 923. He wrote many works in Arabic, some of them very large, among them an extremely extensive chronicle.

[p. 10 to 11] On the coast of the Persian sea there was a king named Astawadh (?), who was given divine honour. Ardashir marched against him, killed him, cut him in two with his sword, killed his entourage as well, and took many treasures stored up there out of their treasuries.

[p. 11, note 1] This is the first, rationalised shape of the fight with the dragon revered as a god, which the Kārnāmag and, after it, Ferdowsi tell at length. “Astawadh”, or however one chooses to pronounce it, rests on a false reading and further corruption of the Pahlavi name Haftanbocht (Haftwadh in Ferdowsi).

[p. 19] As it is told, in Alar, a village in the district of Kucaran belonging to the coast country of Ardashir-Churra, there was a queen who enjoyed divine worship and had much wealth and soldiers; Ardashir made war on her priests, killed the queen and took much money and treasure that she had.

[p. 19, note 2] The second weakening of the fight with the dragon, which has been turned here into a queen; see Kārnāmag 37. For Alar the Pahlavi text has Gular.

Notes

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