Person

Rostam

Also known as Rustam

Rostam is the greatest hero of Iranian epic, celebrated above all in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, completed around 1010. Lord of Zabulistan and Sistan and son of Zal, he rides the horse Rakhsh and defends the kings of Iran against their enemies through many generations, and his tragic killing of his son Sohrab is one of the poem's best-known episodes. Some scholars trace elements of his legend to Saka tradition.

Rostam
Image: Artists of the court of Bāysunghur in Herat. · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 7 profiles

Rashidun CaliphateMilitarySasanian EmpireFoundationSakaImpactKushan EmpireDeclineCaucasian AlbaniaGovernanceAq QoyunluDeclinePersianLiterature, Summary

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Principality of PanjikentNasrid Maliks of Sistan

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Rostam. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/rostam
MLA
“Rostam.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/rostam. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Rostam.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/rostam.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Rostam’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/rostam (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻