Keyumars

Keyumars or Kiomars (Persian: کیومرث) was the name of the first king (shah) of the Pishdadian dynasty of Iran according to the Shahnameh.

The name appears in Avestan in the form of 𐬔𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬊 𐬨𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬙𐬀𐬥 Gaiio Mərətan, or in medieval Zoroastrian texts as Gayōmard or Gayōmart.

According to the Zoroastrian creation myth, Gayōmart, who was neither male nor female, was the first human, or, according to the Avesta, he was the first person to worship Ahura Mazda.

The Avestan forms Mashya and Mashyana appear as the male and female first humans; their names are versions of the word marətan 'mortal'.

He started to create death, illness, lust, thirst, hunger among all living things and disseminated throughout the world the Kyrm (the class of evil creeping things which includes reptiles, insects and rodents) [...] In the catastrophe Gavevagdāt died (this being also the symbol of the old year giving way to the new, as depicted in Persepolis reliefs); and Ahriman left "Astovidat" (a Dīv) to guard Gayōmart, but could not kill him because his time had not yet come [...] he lived for 30 years afterwards and, when, finally, he died, fell upon his left side and shed his semen upon the ground, which was then fertilized by the sun [...] and after 40 years there grew Mashya and Mashyana as two rhubarb plants ..."[1][page needed]Ferdowsi's 11th-century epic poem, the Shahnameh, begins with the story of Keyumars.

God (Ahura Mazda) granted Keyumars the supernatural radiance called the farr (Avestan xvarənah), reserved for kings.

Manuscript of the Shahnameh depicting Keyumars as he instructs his officers to combat Ahriman . c. 1655 CE