Denag (sister of Ardashir I)

Denag (Middle Persian: Dēnag) was a 3rd-century Sasanian queen (banbishn), who was the sister of the Sasanian king (shah) Ardashir I (r. 224–242).^[1][2]

Investiture relief of Ardashir I at Naqsh-e Rajab, with Denag possibly representing the figure on the far right

Biography

She was one of the daughters of Pabag, a local ruler in Pars; her brothers were Shapur, Ardashir I, and Balash. She later became the wife of Ardashir I in accordance with the Zoroastrian law of consanguine marriage.^[3] She was thus given the title of bānbishnān bānbishn ("Queen of Queens") and is assumed to have been represented the figure on the far right of the investiture relief of Ardashir at Naqsh-e Rajab. She later lost her title of bānbishnān bānbishn after the death of her husband in 242.^[3]

References

1. American Journal of Numismatics. American Numismatic Society. 1989. ISBN 978-0-89722-233-4.
2. Rousseau, Vanessa; Northover, Peter (March 2015). "Style and Substance: A Bust of a Sasanian Royal Woman as a Symbol of Late Antique Legitimacy". Journal of Late Antiquity. 8 (1): 3–insert 20. doi:10.1353/jla.2015.0015. ISSN 1942-1273.
3. Gignoux 1994, p. 282.

Sources

• Gignoux, Philippe (1994). "Dēnag". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume VII/3: Dehqān I–Deylam, John of. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 282. ISBN 978-1-56859-021-9.