I is for Iranian Turquoise (Gemstone Folklore)

Welcome to the 2022 A to Z Blogging Challenge! My theme this year is Gemstone Folklore. Because I love stories about shiny things. Read the introduction to the project here.

TURQUOISE

Turquoise is the national stone of Iran, and has played an important role in Persian culture for centuries. The turquoise mines in Nishapur have been mined for almost two thousand years.

The Cup of Jamshid

Iran

There is a magic cup that keeps appearing in Iranian legends over and over again, and is either carved of turquoise, or is studded with turquoise. It is generally known as the Cup of Jamshid, but the story is a bit more complex than that. It also doesn't help that the cup, which was used for scrying, is often translated to English as a "crystal ball." The following legends are mostly sourced from the Persian Book of Kings, written by Ferdowsi in the 10th century.

Jamshid was a legendary Persian king of the Pishdadian dynasty. Under his seven hundred year long (!) rule the realm thrived. He is credited with a whole lot of cultural inventions (such as blacksmithing, weaving and sewing, medicine, navigation, etc.), and a long period of peace. Incidentally, he is also credited with inventing the mining of precious stones:

He searched among the rocks for stones whose lustre
Attracted him and came on many a jewel,
As rubies, amber, silver, gold. Jamshid
Unlocked their doors and brought them forth by spells.

Legend claims the seven-ringed scrying cup first belonged to him. Sadly, Jamshid grew too vain and proud, and declared that he alone was responsible for the prosperity of the people, denying God. He lost his royal grace, and was eventually overthrown and killed by Zahhak, a famous villain of the Book of Kings.

Time passes, a new dynasty rises, and with it, a new king: Kay Khosrow, of the Kayanian dynasty. He is also a wise and peaceful ruler. He uses the scrying cup in the story of Bijan and Manjeh. Bijan, an Iranian hero from Kay Khosrow's court, goes to Turan to fight some wild boards, but falls in love with the Turanian king's daughter, who smuggles him into the harem. When he is found, the king chains him in a cave, and blocks the entrance with a rock. Kay Khosrow, searching for his lost hero, uses the cup (through which he can "behold the world, and see the secrets of destiny") to see all seven realms of the world, eventually finds him in the hidden cave, and sends the legendary hero Rostam to the rescue.

The cup's story continues in the age of Alexander the Great, whose adventures are recounted by another Persian poet, Nizami, in his epic the Sikandar nama. In the 17th chapter of the epic, Alexander (Sikandar) journeys to the fortress and tomb of Kay Khosrow. He sits on the great king's throne and drinks wine from his turquoise cup. He asks his advisor, the wise Balinas, to help him figure out how the cup can be used for seeing the world. There are seven lines of inscription on the inside of the cup (hence, it is often referred to as "seven ringed"). It is alleged that they referred to what effect the wine would have if the cup was filled to that line. Balinas uses the signs on the cup to devise an astrolabe, a navigation device. Which is a neat explanation for what "seeing the whole world" could really mean.

The story is still not over. According to 13th century geographer Zakariya Al-Qazwini, the 11th century sultan Alp-Arslan found among the ruins of Persepolis (Jamshid's legendary city) a turquoise cup inscribed with Jamshid's name. It had to have been a large cup, because it allegedly held two mans, which can be anywhere between 2 and 4 kg of stuff (as far as I can tell). 14th century poet Hafiz also made references to the cup and its powers of divination.

Sources: 

See the sources linked in the text. The cup has its own Wikipedia page here. There is also a great essay on the turquoise cup in this book. You can read more of the symbolism of the Cup of Jamshid here.

Other stories:

Turquoise plays an important role in many other cultures as well. There is a Tibetan folktale about an old man who uses a piece of turquoise to trick his greedy daughters-in-law. Another Tibetan folktale features a lost turquoise. Turquoise also appears in many American Indigenous (Navajo, Jicarilla Apache, Zuni) myths and legends; you can read some of them here, here, here, here, here, and here. Even an ancient Egyptian story features a lost turquoise coronet.

If you could see anything in the world through the cup, what would you want to see?