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Afrasiab

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Scene from the Shahnameh. Afrasiyab (standing figure) executes Nauzar (lying down). Wellcome Library.
This article is about an Iranian mythical hero. For the village in Iran, see Afrasiab, Iran. For the ancient site of northern Samarkand, see Afrasiyab (Samarkand). For other uses, see Afrasiyab.

Afrasiyab (Persian: افراسياب afrāsiyāb; Avestan: Fraŋrasyan; Middle-Persian: Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk) is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi.

Name and origin

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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.[1]

Painting of Afrasiab in the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp

According to the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), by the Persian epic poet Ferdowsi, 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 kings; he is a formidable warrior, a skilful general, and an agent of Ahriman, who is endowed with magical powers of deception to destroy Iranian civilization.[2] He is brother to Garsivaz, and the son of Pashang. He was an enemy of Rostam and Kay Khosrow, 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 (the other two sons being Salm and Iraj). In Bundahishn, he is named as the seventh grandson of Tūr. In Avestan traditions, his common epithet mairya- (deceitful, villainous[3]) can be interpreted as meaning 'an evil man'. He lived in a subterranean fortress made of metal, called Hanakana.

According to Avestan sources, Afrasiab was killed by Haoma near the Čīčhast (possibly either referring to Lake Hamun in Sistan 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. The fugitive Afrasiab, having been repeatedly defeated by the armies of his adversary, the mythical King of Iran Kay Khosrow (who happened to be his own grandson, through his daughter Farangis), wandered wretchedly and fearfully around, and eventually took refuge in this cave and died.

After Turks replaced the Sakas in Central Asia and migrated to farther south, some groups such as the Karluks and Oghuz Turks adopted Afrasiab as Alp Er Tunga, a legendary king of Scythia.[4][5] He is mentioned in Mahmud al-Kashgari's Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, Yusuf Balasaguni's Kutadgu Bilig and in the Vatican manuscript of Oghuznama by an unknown writer.[6]

Hypotheses

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Ernst Hertzfeld believed that the name Parsondes is etymologically identical to the name Afrasiab.[7][8][9][10] Tabari in his works mentions the derivative Afrasiab / Aspandiat under the name of the Hephtalite king Akhshunvar or Akhshunvaz.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "AFRĀSĪĀB i. The Archeological Site". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2025-05-01.
  2. ^ Yarshater, E., "Afrasiab", Encyclopædia Iranica - digital library; accessed January 18, 2007.
  3. ^ Nyberg H. S., Die Religionen des Alten Iran, Berlin (1938), p. 257
  4. ^ Emel Esin, Antecedents and Development of Buddhist and Manichean Turkish Art in Eastern Turkestan and Kansu, The Handbook of Turkish Culture, supplement to volume II, section of the history of art, Milli Eğitim Basimevi, 1967, p. 11.
  5. ^ M. Öcal Oğuz, Turkey's Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey Publications, 2008, ISBN 975-17-3369-3, p. 23.
  6. ^ Osman Aziz Basan (2010). The Great Seljuqs: A History. p. 177.
  7. ^ Kramers, Johannes Hendrik (1954). Analecta Orientalia: Posthumous Writings and Selected Minor Works. E.J. Brill. p. 247.
  8. ^ Herzfeld, Ernst (1947). Zoroaster and His World by Ernst Herzfeld. Princeton University Press. pp. 707–708.
  9. ^ Dulęba, Władysław (1995). The Cyrus Legend in the Šāhnāme. Enigma Press. pp. 63, 80. ISBN 978-83-86110-19-3.
  10. ^ Herzfeld, Ernst (1982). Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran (in German). Dietrich Reimer. p. 179.
  11. ^ Tabakov, Dimitŭr (1999). The horizon of knowledge: Bulgarians through the centuries (in Bulgarian). Propeller 92. p. 165. ISBN 978-954-9669-39-8.
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