Sohrab is Rostam’s son and the most tragic hero of Iranian literature. His father Rostam left without knowing he had impregnated the Turanian princess Tahmineh during their brief union. When Sohrab learns his father’s identity from his mother, he wages war against Iran to find him.
On the battlefield, father and son fought without recognizing each other. When Rostam struck down the young warrior and dealt the fatal blow, he saw the armband and realized the slain warrior was his own son. This scene, which has drawn the most tears in Iranian literature, is an immortal epic about the meaninglessness of war, the cruelty of fate, and the tragedy of love arriving too late.
