Afridun the Martyr was the eighteenth

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

Shirvan Shirvan (from fa, شروان, translit=Shirvān; az, Şirvan; Tat: ''Şirvan''), also spelled as Sharvān, Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical Iranian region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both pre-Islam ...

. He was appointed governor of

Derbent Derbent (russian: Дербе́нт; lez, Кьвевар, Цал; az, Дәрбәнд, italic=no, Dərbənd; av, Дербенд; fa, دربند), formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It is ...

several times during his father's reign.

Name

"Afridun" is the

arabicized Arabization or Arabisation ( ar, تعريب, ') describes both the process of growing Arab influence on non-Arab populations, causing a language shift by the latter's gradual adoption of the Arabic language and incorporation of Arab culture, aft ...

form of the

New Persian New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thre ...

name

Fereydun Fereydun ( ae, 𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬀𐬊𐬥𐬀, Θraētaona, pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭩𐭲𐭥𐭭, ; New Persian: , ''Fereydūn/Farīdūn'') is an Iranian mythical king and hero from the Pishdadian dynasty. He is known as an emblem of victory, jus ...

, an Iranian mythical hero.

Early life

After having suffered from several raids from the

Shaddadid The Shaddadids were a Kurdish Sunni Muslim dynasty. who ruled in various parts of Armenia and Arran from 951 to 1199 AD. They were established in Dvin. Through their long tenure in Armenia, they often intermarried with the Bagratuni royal famil ...

ruler

Abu'l-Asvar Shavur I Abu'l-Aswar or Abu'l-Asvar Shavur ibn Fadl ibn Muhammad ibn Shaddad was a member of the Shaddadid dynasty. Between 1049 and 1067 he was the eighth Shaddadid ruler of Arran (today in western Azerbaijan) from Ganja. Prior to that, he ruled the city ...

, Afridun was sent by his father

Fariburz I Fariburz ibn Sallar ( fa, فریبرز بن سالار), better simply known as Fariburz I (), was the sixteenth Shah of Shirvan, ruling from 1063 to 1096. His reign saw many major political balance changes in Caucasus, including expansion by the S ...

to ask for help from the ruler of

Sarir Sarir or Serir was a medieval Christian state lasting from the 6th or 7th century to the 12th century in the mountainous regions of modern-day Dagestan. Its name is derived from the Arabic word for "throne" and refers to a golden throne that wa ...

, whom Afridun was related to through his mother. However, the ruler of Sarir declined his request, and after three months, Afridun returned to Shirvan. On 30 January 1066, Fariburz appointed Afridun as the governor of

, who was warmly received by its people. On July 1068, Afridun left Derbent and returned to Shirvan.

Reign

Afridun reigned during an unfortunate time in

Shirvanshah ''Shirvanshah'' ( fa, شروانشاه), also spelled as ''Shīrwān Shāh'' or ''Sharwān Shāh'', was the title of the rulers of Shirvan from the mid-9th century to the early 16th century. The title remained in a single family, the Yazidids, ...

history. It is said that he was killed in a battle against "infidels" near Derbent in 1120, possibly while attempting to prevent an invasion from Georgia, thus gaining the nickname "the Martyr". To this day, there is not a single coin that discovered bearing his name. He married his son Manuchehr to

David IV David IV, also known as David the Builder ( ka, დავით აღმაშენებელი, ') (1073–1125), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 5th king of United Georgia from 1089 until his death in 1125. Popularly considered to be ...

's daughter - Tamar.

Legacy

His name is inscribed on

Pir Huseyn Khanqah The Pir Huseyn Khanqah and Mausoleum lies along the left bank of Pirsaat River (Pirsaatçay), 126 kilometers to the southwest of Baku. The inscription plaque over the portal, read by V. Kratchkovskaya in 1952, announces that the khanqah (dervish m ...

located near river Pirsaat: "This building was ordered to be built by Abu'l Muzaffar Fariburz ibn Gershab, ibn Farrukhzad, ibn Manuchehr's ancestor Jam Afridun" He is remembered by

Khaqani Afzal al-Dīn Badīl ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿOthmān, commonly known as Khāqānī ( fa, خاقانی, , – 1199), was a major Persian poet and prose-writer. He was born in Transcaucasia in the historical region known as Shirvan, where he served a ...

in his ode to Ismataddin: "I saw jewels of

Dara Dara is a given name used for both males and females, with more than one origin. Dara is found in the Bible's Old Testament Books of Chronicles. Dara �רעwas a descendant of Judah (son of Jacob). (The Bible. 1 Chronicles 2:6). Dara (also know ...

in the mines of Afridun the Martyr".Hadi Hasan. Falaki Shirvani, p.33-35

References

Sources

* * * 1120 deaths 1046 births 12th-century Iranian people 11th-century Iranian people People from Derbent {{Iran-royal-stub