land bestowed upon him. Soon, the impetuous and egotistical Turanian Emperor mobilises against Siavash, and defeats his small army. However, Siavash manages to help his wife, Ferigees to escape with Peeran, who ensures that Ferigees reaches Iran, where her son, Kay Khosrow will grow to become a wise Shah who eventually restores order. Siavash is dragged before Afrasiab, who orders his execution by beheading. Peeran implores the Emperor not to commit the horrendous mistake of killing the innocent: "Do not make thyself a flag upon this Earth." The hot-headed Afrasiab ignores the warning and the execution is carried out swiftly. As Siyâvash's blood reaches the ground, a plant grows upon the same spot and is later named "Khune Asyavushan," or the "blood of Siavash." This line in the epic ties the story to the early links between the name "Siavash," and his role as the spirit of vegetative growth. The news of his execution causes uproar in Iran, and, to this day, is still commemorated in Shiraz as the day of Savušun. His tragic death, as recounted in the Shahnameh has inspired hundreds of poems, essays, songs and stories in Iranian literature, among them Simin Dânešvar's groundbreaking novel Savušun, which has the distinction of being the first novel to be written in Persian by a female author. Siyâvaš in Central Asian Zoroastrianism Before the Islamization of Central Asia, the inhabitants of both Khwarazm and Sogdia performed sacrifices and other rituals dedicated to Siyâvaš. According to the historian Tolstov, "Siyavash was also venerated as the Central Asian god of dying and reviving vegetation." See also Siyavakhsh Siyavuş Pasha, the name and title of various Ottoman dignitaries Savaş, the turkized form of the name Siyâvaš Siyâvush Beg Gorji, famous Iranian illustrator of miniatures Joseph (Genesis) / Yusuf (Qur'an) virtuous hero slandered by temptress Potiphar's wife / Zuleikha: biblical and Qur'anic figure comparable to the temptress Sudabeh Hippolytus of Athens, king's son in Greek myth who rejects his stepmother's advances Björn (the father of Bödvar Bjarki), king's son in Norse myth who rejects his stepmother's advances Hyacinth (mythology), handsome Greek hero, from whose blood, as in the case of Siyavash, a plant grows Adonis, also a Greek hero transformed, at his death, into a plant Dumuzid, Sumerian deity associated with vegetation Notes Sources and references Abolqasem Ferdowsi, Dick Davis trans. (2006), Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings , modern English translation (abridged), current