‘Forgotten Queen’. Was the Jewish women Šīšīnduxt the mother of the Iranian šāhānšāh Wahrām V Gōr

Abstract

The origin of the mother of the Iranian šāhānšāh Wahrām V (420-438), son and successor of Yazdgird I (399-420), is, in scholar literature, treated marginally. The literary source which mentions Wahrām’s Jewish maternal background is the Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr (‘The Provincial Capitals of Ērānšahr’). These considerations are an attempt to ‘recover the memory' of Šīšīnduxt, the Jewish women at the Iranian court, by methodical re-analyzing of the historical texts.