Siavash and the Myth of Eternal Return

The story of Siavash in Shāhnāmeh is an epic with dramatic and tragic elements.Having mythic roots enables us to analyze it by using new approaches. One of these new approaches is Mircea Eliade’s ‘eternal return’according to which gods have especial characters, their origin is uncertain, they are killed innocently in youth, their death is the beginning of changes and new developments, and after their death mysterious rites are formed concerning the death they had faced. With respect to features of Siavash and the rites held after his death, as mentioned in the epic, mythical and historical texts, it seems that he is one of these gods and a symbol of process of becoming. His soul is tired of passing time and wants to reborn by returning to eternal time; his believers reach to this ‘eternal return’ by attending in his mourning rituals through which each one become a Siavash.