Bēstūn; Yesterday & Today

“Bēstūn” other than a place name is the name of a noble lady mentioned in the Pahlavi book of Ayādgār ī Zarērān. This article presents the author’s revised method of reading the Middle Persian version of the ancient *baga-stāna- in the Sassanian Book Pahlavi sources and tries to give a clear view on the signification and cultural background of this name as well as tracing it down to the culture of the present day Iran. Though it has not yet been determined to which God *baga-stāna- had been devoted, based on the Avestan and Middle Iranian words derived from the root bag-, one may suggest that “Bēstūn” continued to be used as a proper name meaning “possessing wealth and power”. A practical approach to the recognition of survivals of this name in the indigenous sub-cultures of Iran is to pay proper attention to the multiple manifestations of material and non-material cultural relics as well as dialectal variants capable of unveiling the ancient lexicon from under the dust of time.