Kayanian dynasty

The Kianian, also Kias or Kianids or Kaianids, are a dynasty of Iranian tradition and folklore. Considered collectively, the Kianian kings are the heroes of the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, and of the Shahnameh, Iran's national epic.

As an epithet of kings and the reason the dynasty is so called, Middle- and New Persian "Kia(an)" is a continuation of Avestan kavi (or kauui) "king" and also "poet-sacrificer" or "poet-priest." The word is also etymologically related to the Avestan notion of kavaēm kharēno, the "divine royal glory" that the Kianian kings were said to hold. The Kiani Crown is a physical manifestation of that belief.

In scripture

The earliest known foreshadowing of the major legends of the Kayanian kings appears in the Yashts of the Avesta, where the dynasts offer sacrifices to the gods in order to earn their support and to gain strength in the perpetual struggle against their enemies, the Anaryas (not Aryans, sometimes identified as the Turanians).