Music & vocals by Farya Faraji. Please note that this isn't reconstructed music from the period, only modern Iranian music with an ancient theme.
The text sung here is a period one, inscribed on the so called Kaba of Zoroaster during the reign of Shāpur the First, second ruler of the Sasanian Empire. Though Shāpur himself was ethnically a Persian like the rest of the Sasanian dynasty, he was ruling at a time when the Arsacids, ethnically Parthian, had just ruled over Iran for over 400 years. Due to the still lingering prestige of the Parthian language as well as the political standing of the Parthian noble houses in the Empire, inscriptions were often written in both Persian and Parthian, and this is the case with this inscription.
Whilst the Persian version of the inscription is now damaged and illegible, the Parthian one is intact, and therefore the sung lyrics here are in the Parthian language; an interesting example of the multi-ethnic and multicultural reality of Ancient Iran. Keep in mind that there are virtually no guides on Parthian pronunciation available anywhere, so I simply projected modern phonetics unto the text; the same way Shakespeare is often read in a Modern English accent and not the period one Shakespeare himself would have used.
The music is written mostly in the style of modern orchestral and symphonic Iranian music of the 20th century. A santour as well as a historical war horn are also featured, as well as daf drums.
Lyrics in Parthian:
Ud kaδ naxwišt pad šahr awištād ahēm,
Gōrdanyos Kēsar až hamag Frōm,
Gōt ud Garmāniyā šahr zāwar hangāwišn kerd;
Ud ō Asūrestān abar Ērānšahr ud amā āγad,
Ud pad Asūrestān marz,
Pad Mišīk paddēmān wuzurg zambag būd.
Gōrdanyos Kēsar ōžad,
Frōmāyīn zāwar wānād, ud Frōmāyīn Filipos kēsar kerd.
Ud Filipos Kēsar amā ō nemastīg āγad,
Ud gyān goxn dēnār 500 hazār ō amā dād,
Pad bāž awestād, ud amā Mišik až ēd kerd
Pērōz-Šābuhr nām awestād,
Pērōz-Šābuhr,
Pērōz-Šābuhr!
Ud Kēsar bid druxt ō Armin winās kerd,
Ud amā abar Frōmāyīn šahr wihišt ahēm,
Ud Frōmāyīn zāwar 60,000 pad Bēbāliš ōžad.
Ud Asūriyā šahr, ud čē abar Asūriyā šahr parβēr būd, hamag ādurwaxt,
Awērān ud wardyāz kerd ud grift pad hōēw yāwar až,
Frōmāyīn šahr diz ud šahrestān.
English translation:
And when I first became established in the land, Gordian Caesar drew together an army from all the land of Rome, Gothia, and Germany; and to Asurestan he came against Iran and against me, and at the boundary of Asurestan at Mishik there was a great face-to-face battle.
Gordian Caesar was killed, and the army of the Romans was destroyed, and the Romans made Philip Caesar.
And Philip Caesar came to me for supplication, and for their souls gave 500,000 dinars in blood money to me, and he was established as a tributary. And because of this I gave Mishik the name Victorious is Shapur.
And Caesar lied again, [and] did harm to Armenia. And I moved against the land of the Romans, and an army of Romans 60,000 strong was killed at Bebalis.
And the land of Assyria, and the land which is around Assyria, was all burned, laid waste, and plundered; and there were taken on this one occasion from the land of the Romans these fortresses and cities.
5 сен 2024
