Introduction
Rudabeh is a princess of Kabul, daughter of Mehrab and Sindokht, whose love story with Zal, hero of the house of Sistan, is one of the most celebrated romantic episodes of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, and who, as the mother of Rostam, plays a crucial role in the birth of the epic's greatest hero.
Family
A celebrated courtship
Rudabeh and Zal fell in love after hearing of each other's beauty and renown, but their match faced opposition from both families: Zal's father Sam was uneasy at the alliance with Kabul's royal line, itself connected to the lineage of the defeated tyrant Zahhak, while Rudabeh's own father Mehrab feared the political consequences of the match. Through the couple's determination and the eventual, careful diplomacy of Rudabeh's mother Sindokht, the marriage was finally approved.
The birth of Rostam
Rudabeh's pregnancy with Rostam proved dangerously difficult; unable to deliver the unusually large child naturally, her life was in serious danger until Zal, using the feather given to him by the Simurgh, summoned the great bird's aid. The Simurgh guided a form of surgical delivery (an early literary description resembling a caesarean section), saving both mother and child, and Rostam was born.
Mother of the greatest hero
As Rostam's mother, Rudabeh holds an important, if narratively quieter, place in the Shahnameh's central heroic line, her own courage and endurance during his difficult birth setting the stage for the life of the epic's single greatest champion.