Afrasiyab Executes Nauzar Wellcome L0068903

Afrasiyab ( ''afrāsiyāb''; ;

Middle-Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg (Inscriptional Pahlavi, Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Iranian languages#Middle Iranian, Middle Iranian langu ...

: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of

Turan Turan (; ; , , ) is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of th ...

. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

'', written by

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

Name and origin

''Afrā'' is the poetic form of the Persian word ''Farā'' (itself a poetic word), which means "beyond, further", while Sīāb comes from ''sīāh'' meaning "black" and ''Āb'' meaning "water", "river", "sea" (depending on the context). Scholars see it as a distortion of the Tajik ''Parsīāb'' (from Sogdian ''Paršvāb''), meaning "above the black river" a reference to the Sīāhāb or Sīāb.According to the ''

'' (''Book of Kings''), by the Persian epic poet

, Afrasiab was the king and hero of Turan and an archenemy of Iran. In Iranian mythology, Afrasiab is considered by far the most prominent of all

Turanian Turanian is a term that has been used in reference to diverse groups of people. Many of the uses of the word are obsolete. It may refer to: *An Iranic ethnic group mentioned in the Avesta **See Turanian (Avesta) **See Turan *The Turanid race *Any ...

kings; he is a formidable warrior, a skilful general, and an agent of

Ahriman Angra Mainyu (; ) is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the Spenta Mainyu, the "holy/creative spirits/mentality", or directly of Ahura Mazda, th ...

, who is endowed with magical powers of deception to destroy Iranian civilization.Yarshater, E., "Afrasiab", ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English-language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

'' - digital library; accessed January 18, 2007. He is brother to

Garsivaz Garsivaz (also Garsiwaz, Gersiwaz or Karsivaz) ( ) is a mythical Turanian character, referred to in ''Shahnameh'' ('Book of Kings') by the Persian epic-poet Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Pe ...

, and the son of Pashang. He was an enemy of

Rostam use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a we ...

and

Kay Khosrow Kay Khosrow () is a legendary king of Iran of Kayanian dynasty and a character in the Persian epic book ''Shahnameh''. He was the son of the Iranian prince Siavash who married princess Farangis of Turan while in exile. Before Kay Khosrow wa ...

, and was defeated by them. According to Islamic sources, Afrasiab was a descendant of Tūr (Avestan: ''Tūriya-''), one of the three sons of the Iranian mythical King

Fereydun Fereydun (, ; New Persian: , ''Fereydūn/Farīdūn'') is an Iranian mythical king and hero from the Pishdadian dynasty. He is known as an emblem of victory, justice, and generosity in Persian literature. According to Abolala Soudavar, Fereydun ...

(the other two sons being Salm and

Iraj Iraj (; Pahlavi: ērič; from Avestan: , literally "Aryan") is the seventh Shah of the Pishdadian dynasty, depicted in the ''Shahnameh''. Based on Iranian mythology, he is the youngest son of Fereydun. He was killed by his brothers Salm and ...

). In ''

Bundahishn The ''Bundahishn'' (Middle Persian: , "Primal Creation") is an encyclopedic collection of beliefs about Zoroastrian cosmology written in the Book Pahlavi script. The original name of the work is not known. It is one of the most important extant ...

'', he is named as the seventh grandson of Tūr. In Avestan traditions, his common epithet ''mairya-'' (deceitful, villainous) can be interpreted as meaning 'an

evil Evil, as a concept, is usually defined as profoundly immoral behavior, and it is related to acts that cause unnecessary pain and suffering to others. Evil is commonly seen as the opposite, or sometimes absence, of good. It can be an extreme ...

man'. He lived in a subterranean fortress made of metal, called Hanakana. According to Avestan sources, Afrasiab was killed by

Haoma (; Avestan: ) is a divine plant in Zoroastrianism and in later Persian culture and Persian mythology, mythology. has its origins in Indo-Iranian religion and is the cognate of Vedas, Vedic . Etymology Both Avestan and Sanskrit derived from Pr ...

near the ''Čīčhast'' (possibly either referring to Lake Hamun in

Sistan Sistān (), also known as Sakastān (, , current name: Zabol) and Sijistan (), is a historical region in south-eastern Iran and extending across the borders of present-day south-western Afghanistan, and south-western Pakistan. Mostly correspond ...

or some unknown lake in today's Central Asia), and according to Shahnameh he met his death in a cave known as the Hang-e Afrasiab, or the dying place of Afrasiab, on a mountaintop in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. The fugitive Afrasiab, having been repeatedly defeated by the armies of his adversary, the mythical King of Iran

(who happened to be his own grandson, through his daughter

Farangis Farangis () or Frigis () is a female character in the Persian epic ''Shahnameh''. Fictional biography Family She is the eldest daughter of Afrasiab, king of Turan. She is also the second and favourite wife of Siyâvash, the saintlike prince ...

), wandered wretchedly and fearfully around, and eventually took refuge in this cave and died. After

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

replaced the

Sakas The Saka, old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin from the ...

in Central Asia and migrated to farther south, some groups such as the

Karluks The Karluks (also Qarluqs, Qarluks, Karluqs, , Qarluq, Para-Mongolic languages, Para-Mongol: Harluut, zh, s=葛逻禄, t=葛邏祿 ''Géluólù'' ; customary phonetic: ''Gelu, Khololo, Khorlo'', , ''Khallokh'', ''Qarluq'') were a prominent no ...

and

Oghuz Turks The Oghuz Turks ( Middle Turkic: , ) were a western Turkic people who spoke the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. In the 8th century, they formed a tribal confederation conventionally named the Oghuz Yabgu State in Central Asia ...

adopted Afrasiab as

Alp Er Tunga Alp Er Tunga or Alp Er Tonğa (Alp "brave, hero, conqueror, warrior", Er "man, male, soldier, Tom", Tonğa "Siberian tiger") is a mythical Turkic hero who was mentioned in Mahmud al-Kashgari's ''Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk'', Yusuf Balasaguni's Kuta ...

, a legendary king of

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

. He is mentioned in

Mahmud al-Kashgari Mahmud ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Kashgari; ; , Мәһмуд Қәшқири; , Махмуд Қашғарий was an 11th-century Kara-Khanid scholar and lexicographer of the Turkic languages from Kashgar. His father, Husayn, was the mayor of ...

's ''

Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk The ' (; translated to English as the ''Compendium of the languages of the Turks'') is the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages, compiled between 1072–74 by the Kara-Khanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari, who extensively documented t ...

'', Yusuf Balasaguni's ''

Kutadgu Bilig The ''Kutadgu Bilig'' or ''Qutadğu Bilig'' (; Khaqani Turkic: ) is an 11th-century work written by Yūsuf Balasaguni for the prince of Kashgar. The text reflects the author's and his society's beliefs, feelings and practices with regard to qu ...

'' and in the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

manuscript of Oghuznama by an unknown writer.

Hypotheses

Ernst Hertzfeld believed that the name

Parsondes Parsondes was the king of the Cadusii, who, according to Ctesias, was a Mede of Persian origin. Name The name Parsondes probably comes from the important city of Parsindu, which was located among the mountains of Namri, on the road to Ecbatana. ...

is etymologically identical to the name Afrasiab.

Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present-day ...

in his works mentions the derivative Afrasiab / Aspandiat under the name of the Hephtalite king Akhshunvar or Akhshunvaz.

References

External links

Ehsan Yarshater Ehsan Yarshater (; April 3, 1920 – September 1, 2018) was an Iranian historian and linguist who specialized in Iranology. He was the founder and director of the Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Stud ...

, , ''

''
Afrasiab featured in Rostam Comic Book

The battle of Rustam and Afrasiab
on Asian miniature {{Shahnameh Shahnameh characters

Name and origin

Hypotheses

See also

References

External links