king and hero of Turan in Persian mythology
Afrasiab
Afrasiab is the king and hero of Turan and the archenemy of Iran in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. He is the central figure among the Turanian kings of Persian legend and the chief foe of the Iranian hero Kay Khosrow.
The myth
In the Avestan tradition, Afrasiab is already a king of the Turanians and an enemy of the Iranians, called mairya-, meaning deceitful or villainous. He lived in a subterranean metal fortress named Hanakana. According to the Aban Yasht, he sacrificed to Anahita to gain the royal glory of the Kayanians, but the goddess granted Kay Khosrow his wish to slay him. With the help of Haoma, he was overcome and handed over to Khosrow, and he was killed near the Čīčhast, a site uncertainly identified with Lake Hamun or another lake in Central Asia.
Islamic sources make him a descendant of Tur, one of the three sons of Fereydun, and the Bundahishn names him the seventh grandson of Tur. In the Shahnameh he is the brother of Garsivaz and son of Pashang, and he fights Rostam and Kay Khosrow again and again. Kay Khosrow turns out to be his own grandson through his daughter Farangis. Repeatedly defeated, Afrasiab flees in misery and dies in a cave on a mountain in Azerbaijan, known as Hang-e Afrasiab.
Legacy
His name gave rise to the ancient site of Afrasiab near Samarkand, whose museum holds frescoes and archaeological finds. Some scholars suggest that the name Khwar-Ezem may derive from Afr-Adiab.
Ancient sources: The Avesta (in the Legendary Yashts), the Bundahishn and Ferdowsi's Shahnameh.
In art
Literature and theatre
- Shahnameh · Abu-Mansur Daqiqi, 1000
- Davazdah Rokh · Ferdowsi