Research in Kianian Mythological and Historical Foundations

In the present age, which is the era of the rule of history and historicism, the question of identifying the mythical time and historical foundations is a concern for research.Particularly, in Iranian studies,  pinpointing the border between myth and history of the national epic is arduous.For the first time, Bertles  stated about the three distinct parts of  Shahnameh with mythical , historical and athletic titles. According to this view,the age of Pishdadian era is mythical, but scholars disagree on the era of Kianyan. The existence of mythical elements in the stories of Kianyan dynasty raises the question of whether the Kianyan kings have historical characters or belong to legends and myths. In response to this question, scholars such as Windschmall and Spiegel and Darmstadt and Lommel and wikander and Dozmil have a mythical view that  Kianyan or some of the kings of this dynasty are mythical.The existence of marvelous elements in the story of Kikavus and Kikhosro is the basis of this thinking. Another group of historians  such as Henning and Mary Boevis and Chrirstensen, consider Kianyan  kings the kings of East Iran to have ruled in the historical period before Achaemenids appierance and attendance Zoroaster in the kingdom goshtasp is the basis of this thinking In the present research, the views, arguments and evidence of these two groups of researchers have been criticized.The results of this study show that historians' theory is more reliable and closer to reality.