Afrasiab

Afrasiab ("afrāsiyāb") ( _fa. افراسياب; Avestan: Fraŋrasyan; Pahlavi: Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk and Freangrāsyāk), is the name of the mythical King and hero of Turan and an archenemy of Iran. It is also the name of a city, referred to "Afrosiyob" in Uzbek, in old Samarkand, the second-largest city of modern Uzbekistan.

The Mythical King and Hero

According to "Shahnameh" ('Book of Kings') by the Persian epic-poet Ferdowsi, Afrasiab was the mythical King and hero of Turan and an archenemy of Iran. In Iranian mythology, Afrasiab is considered by far the most prominent of all mythical 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 the Iranian race.Yarshater, E., "Afrasiab", Encyclopedia Iranica - digital library; accessed January 18, 2007.]

According to Middle-Persian and 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 Īraj). In "Bundahishn" he is named as the seventh grandson of Tūr. In Avestan traditions, his common epithet "mairya-" (deceitful, villainous [Nyberg H. S., "Die Religionen des Alten Iran", Berlin (1938). p257] ) 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 Urmia Lake in Azarbaijan, or Lake Hamun in Sistan) 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 Azarbaijan; 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.

In Turkic literature

According to Mahmud al-Kashgari, a Turkic scholar of the 11th century Qarakhānid Kingdom of Kashgar, the Iranian "Afrāsīyāb" was identical to the legendary Turkic hero Alp Er Tunga [Mahmud Al Qashgari, Diwanu Lughat at-TurkPage number.] Page number

Archaeological site

Afrasiab ("Afrosiyob") is the oldest part and the ruined site of the ancient and medieval city of Samarkand in modern Uzbekistan. The term "Qal’a ye Afrasiab" (Castle of Afrasiab) appeared in written sources only by the end of the 17th century.

The name is popularly connected with the mythical King Afrasiab, but scholars consider it a distortion and a corrupted form of the Tajik word "Parsīāb" (from Sogdian "Paršvāb"), meaning "Beyond the black river", the river being "Sīāhāb" or "Sīāb", which bounds the site to the North.. It is interesting to point out that "Afrā" is the poetic form of the Persian word "Farā" (itself a poetic word), which means "Beyond", "Further", and that "Sīāh" means "Black" and "Āb", "Water", "River" or "Sea" (depending on the context).

The area of Afrasiab covers 219 (by some accounts 222) hectares, and the thickness of the archaeological strata reaches 8-12 metres. Archaeological excavations have been carried out in Afrasiab since the end of the 19th century, and very actively during the 1960-70s. The habitation of the territories of Afrasiab began in the 7th-6th century BCE, as the centre of the Sogdian culture. [Darmesteter J., "Hang-e Afrasiab", "Études Iraniennes", Paris (1883), pp225-27.]

References

External links

* Ehsan Yarshater, "Afrāsiāb", Encyclopaedia Iranica, [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v1f6/v1f6a008.html] .
* [http://www.theshahnameh.com Afrasiab featured in Rostam Comic Book]