Thugs, Thieves, Tricksters or Popular Heroes? A Comparative Look at the Phenomenon of "Ayyari"
This project examines the phenomenon of 'ayyari in various primary and secondary sources. During the medieval period, 'ayyar brotherhoods flourished in many of Iran's urban centers. Although they have attracted the attention of a wide spectrum of modern scholars, basic questions regarding their origins, organizational structure and social function remain unanswered. However, the depiction of 'ayyari is widespread in various genres of medieval literature. While most of the "official" historiographicalsources at our disposal offer meager information replete with negative value judgments regarding 'ayyari, we are not totally at a loss when attempting to discuss various aspects of this very significant social institution, for there is abundant, detailed, and colorful descriptions of 'ayyari in the popular medieval literature of Iran. The aim of this study is to offer a description of 'ayyari as it appears in the popular romances, underlining the similarities between that depiction with found in the other medieval genres of literature. In other words, the factual information offered by all other genres are compared to the depiction offered by popular romances. Comparing this description with the fragmentary information discussed in different genres of medieval literature, we find that the details offered by the latter are indeed consistent with the description of the popular romances. Therefore, the depiction of 'ayyari as offered by the popular romances could not be regarded as either an imaginary product, nor as a literary topos. The parallels established between the depiction of "historical" genres and that offered by the popular romances raises the question regarding the nature of popular romances as texts containing significant information pertinent to various aspects of medieval social history.
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