The Persians Who Ruled in Babylon after Manushihr

An account of the Persians who ruled in Babylon after Maniishihr, since the chronology of
history can be accurately determined only by the sequence of the length of lives of their kings.

When Manushihr the king, b. Manshakhunar b. Manshakhwirnagh died, Frasiyab b. Fashanj b .

Rustam b. Turk conquered Khunyarith and the kingdom of the Persians and betook himself,
according to what is said, to Babylon . His stays in Babylon and in Mihrijan Qudhag became
frequent, and he worked much corruption in the kingdom of the Persians. It is said that when
he conquered their kingdom he said, "We are hurrying to destroy mankind; and that his
oppression and tyranny were great, destroying whatever was built in the land of Khunirath . He
stopped up the streams and water conduits, so that the people were afflicted by drought in the
fifth year of his reign until he left Persia and was driven back to the land of the Turks.
Meanwhile, the waters sank into the earth, the fruit-bearing trees were barren, and the people
remained in the greatest affliction because of his tyranny, until Zaw b. Tahmasb appeared. The
name Zaw(w) can also be pronounced other ways: some saying Zab b. Tahmasfan, one saying
Zagh, and another saying Rasab b. Tahmasb (Tahmasp ) b. Kanju b. Zab b. Arfas b. Harasf b.
Widanj b. Aranj b. Budhajawasb (Nawadjawsh) b. Maysu b. Nawdhar (Nodar) b. Manushihr.
Zaw's mother was Madul bt. Waman b. Wadharja b. Qawad (Kawadj b. Salm b. Afridhun.

It is said that during his reign, Manushihr became angry at Tahmasb, because of a crime he had
committed while stationed on the Turks' borders to fight against Frasiyab. Manushihr wanted
to kill him, but the mighty men of his kingdom spoke to him about forgiving Tahmasb.
Manushihr's justice, according to what has been mentioned, consisted of treating equally the
noble and the humble, the near and the distant, in punishment when one of his subjects
merited that for a crime he committed. But he refused to grant them what they requested and
said to them, "This is, in religion, a weakness. [But since] you refuse to do what I want (i.e.,
execute him), [Tahmasb] will never inhabit or stay in any part of my domain." So he banished
him from his kingdom, and Tahmasb went to the land of the Turks, arriving at the region
belonging to Waman. He beguiled Waman's daughter, who was imprisoned in a castle because
the astrologers had mentioned to Waman, her father, that she would bear a son who would kill
him. He brought her out of the castle in which she was inprisoned, after she had become
pregnant with Zaw by him. Then Manushihr permitted Tahmasb's return to Khunarath, the
Persian kingdom, after he had completed the term of his punishment. He brought along Madul,
the daughter of Waman, the two of them having used deception to effect her escape from the
castle, traveling from the land of the Turks to the Persian kingdom. She bore him Zaw after he
returned to the land of Irankard.

Then, according to what has been mentioned, Zaw killed his grandfather Waman in one of his
raids against the Turks. He also expelled Frasiyab from the Persian kingdom until he drove him
back to the Turks after wars and battles between them. The conquest of the Persians by
Frasiyab in Babylon lasted twelve years, from the time Manushihr died, until Zaw b. Tahmasb
drove him out and expelled him to Turkistan. It has been said that Zaw's expulsion of Frasiyab
from what he controlled of the Persian kingdom took place on the day of Aban in the month of
Abanmah. The Persians adopted this day as a holiday because Frasiyab's evil and oppression
were removed from them. They made it the third of their holidays, after Nawruz and al-Mihrjan.
Zaw was praised for his rule and behaved well toward his subjects. He commanded the
restoration of what Frasiyab had spoiled in Khunarath and Babylon and the rebuilding of the
fortresses of that land that had been destroyed. He also cieaned out the streams and conduits
that had been filled with earth and whose water had been made to disappear, and he dug out
the water-courses that had been stopped up, so that he restored all, according to what has
been mentioned, to the best possible condition. He remitted the land tax from the people for
seven years, dispensing with it. During his reign, Persia prospered, the waters increased, and
the people's livelihoods were abundant. He dug out a canal in al-Sawadb" and named it al-Zab,
and gave orders to have a city built on its shores; this is the place [now] called "al-Madina al-
Atiqa."

He surrounded it with a province called "al-Zawabi; which he divided into three districts: one of
them, the district of the Upper Zab; one, the district of the Middle Zab; and the third, the
district of the Lower Zab. He ordered the seeds of mountain aromatic plants as well as tree
roots to be carried there and had sown and planted respectively those that are sown and those
that are planted.

He was the first for whom were invented all kinds of cooked food, and who gave orders about
them, and all varieties of edibles. He gave his troops horses and riding animals that had been
plundered and chased to him from the Turks and others. On the day he became king and the
crown was placed on his head, he said: "We are progressing in restoring what the deluder
Frasiyab had destroyed.,,

He had [acting] as his vizier over the kingdom Karshasb b. Athrat (Thrit) b. Sahm (Sam) b.
Nariman b. Turak b. Shayrasb b. Arwashasb (Aurusaspa) b. Tuj b. Afridhun the king, but one of
the Persian genealogists gave him a different genealogy, saying that he was Karshasb b. Asas b.
Tahmus b. Ashak b. Nars b. Rahar b. Dursaru b. Manushihr the king. Some say that Zaw and
Karshasb were partners in rule; but what is generally recognized about the two of them is that
kingship belonged to Zaw b. Tahmasb, and Karshasb was his vizier and aide. Karshasb held a
powerful position among the Persians except that he did not rule. According to what has been
said, all of Zaw's reign until he died lasted three years.

Then after Zaw, Kayqubadh (Kay Kawad) ruled. He was Kayqubadh b. Zagh b. Nuhiyah b. Maysu
b. Nawdhar b. Manushihr." He was married to Qartak bt. Tadarsiya the Turk. Tadarsiya was one
of the Mukish chiefs and of their powerful men. [Qartak) bore him Kay Afinah (Afibah), Kay Kaus
(Ka(w)us), Kay Arsh, Kaybah Arsh (KayBiyars), Kayfashin (Kay Pisina, Pisin), and Kaybayh. These
were the most powerful kings and the fathers of the most powerful kings.

It is said that Kayqubadh, on the day he became king and the crown was placed on his head,
said, "We are subduing the Turkish lands and exerting ourselves in improving and taking care of
our land," and that he assigned the river and spring waters for irrigating the lands. He gave
names to the lands, determined their boundaries, set up provinces, and clarified the divisions of
each province and its territory. He commanded the people to take the land, and collected a
tithe from its produce to provision the army. According to what has been mentioned,
Kayqubadh was compared to Pharaoh in his promotion of prosperity, his defense of the land
from enemies, and his self-aggrandizement.

It is said that the Kayanid kings and their sons were of his stock, and many wars took place
between him and the Turks and others. He resided at the border between the Persian kingdom
and the Turks, near the river of Balkh, to prevent the Turks from making any incursions to the
Persian border. His rule lasted one hundred years, but God knows best.