Introduction
Hushang is the grandson of Keyumars, son of the slain Siyamak, and the second king of the Pishdadian dynasty in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, credited with several foundational cultural achievements, most famously the discovery of fire.
Family
Avenging his father
Hushang avenged his father Siyamak's death at the hands of Angra Mainyu's demonic forces, leading an army of various creatures (in Ferdowsi's telling, even angels and beasts obey him) against the divs before assuming the throne.
The discovery of fire
In one of the Shahnameh's most celebrated episodes, Hushang, while out hunting, threw a stone at what he took to be a serpent; the stone missed the snake but struck another rock, producing a spark that set dry grass alight, revealing fire for the first time. Recognising this as a divine gift, Hushang established a fire in a great fire temple and instituted a celebration in fire's honour, traditionally identified with the festival of Sadeh, still marked in Zoroastrian and Iranian culture.
Cultural founder
Beyond fire, Hushang is also credited in the Shahnameh with teaching humanity smelting, ironworking, irrigation and other foundational technologies, establishing him as a great civilising king in the epic's legendary history.