Drakht-i Asurig

Draxt ī Āsūrīg(meaning "TheAssyrianTree"or"The Babylonian Tree") is aParthian-languagepoemconsisting of about 120 verses and written inBook Pahlaviscript. The language shows influences fromMiddle Persian.It is one of the oldest existing texts in the Parthian language.

The poem is framed as a dialogue between agoatand apalm tree.At the end, the goat is proclaimed to be victorious. The Iranians may have adopted this genre from the oral traditions ofancient Mesopotamia.

Some scholars consider the goat and the palm tree to be the symbols ofZoroastrianismand theBabylonian religion,or simply thepastorallife andagriculturallife, respectively.

The poem is also consideredwisdom literature.

A similar but less significant story, "The story of the vine and the ewe" (رز و میشraz o mīš), has been recorded inPersian literature.

See also

• Asurestan