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 the Avestan age.
Afrasiyab is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi.
Pashang is the name of two separate characters in Persian Mythology. According to Ferdowsi's epic the Shahnameh, he is of the race of Tur the son of Fereydun and the father of Afrasiab. He was an early king of Turan. In Bal'ami's Tarikhnama he is the son of Gayumars, the first king in the world, and is murdered by demons. In some manuscripts the name is written Hushang.
Zahhāk or Zahāk, also known as Zahhak the Snake Shoulder, is an evil figure in Persian mythology, evident in ancient Persian folklore as Azhi Dahāka, the name by which he also appears in the texts of the Avesta. In Middle Persian he is called Dahāg or Bēvar Asp the latter meaning "he who has 10,000 horses". In Zoroastrianism, Zahhak is considered the son of Ahriman, the foe of Ahura Mazda. In the Shāhnāmeh of Ferdowsi, Zahhāk is the son of a ruler named Merdās.
Anērān or Anīrân is an ethno-linguistic term that signifies "non-Iranian" or "non-Iran" (non-Aryan). Thus, in a general sense, 'Aniran' signifies lands where Iranian languages are not spoken. In a pejorative sense, it denotes "a political and religious enemy of Iran and Zoroastrianism."
Fereydun 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.
Garshāsp was, in Persian mythology, the last Shah of the Pishdadian dynasty of Persia according to Shahnameh. He was a descendant of Zaav, ruling over the Persian Empire for about nine years. His name is shared with a monster-slaying hero in Iranian mythology. The Avestan form of his name is Kərəsāspa and in Middle Persian his name is Kirsāsp.
Manūchehr [mænuː'tʃer], is the eighth Shah of the Pishdadian dynasty of Persia according to Shahnameh. He is the first of the legendary Iranian Shahs who ruled Iran after the breakup of the world empire of Manūchehr's great-grandfather, Fereydūn.
Sām, also (Sam) transliterated Saam, is a mythical hero of ancient Persia, and an important character in the Shahnameh epic. He was the son of Nariman, grandson of Garshasp and father to Zāl. Disheartened by his son Zāl being born with white hair, he ordered that Zāl be left at the Alborz mountains which were home to the Simurgh. The Simurgh cared for the young Zāl until Sām was influenced by a dream to reunite with his son. Sām was Iran's champion during the rule of Fereydun, Manuchehr and Nowzar. He was appointed by Manuchehr to rule Zabulistan (Sistan), and then Mazandaran. After Manuchehr, because of Nowzar's corrupted and failed rulership, Iranian champions asked Sām to rule Iran. Sām didn't accept, he supported Nowzar and advised him to follow Fereydun and Manuchehr. Sām returned to Mazandaran, and died soon after that. Afrasiab then attacked Zabulistan.
Salm or Sarm is a character in the Persian epic Shahnameh. He is the oldest son of legendary hero and king Fereydun. It is believed that his name was given to him by his father, after Salm chooses to seek safety and run instead of fighting the dragon that had attacked him and his brothers.
Farangis or Frigis is a female character in the Persian epic Shahnameh. She is the eldest daughter of Afrasiab, king of Turan. She is also the second and favourite wife of Siyâvash, the saintlike prince of Iran and mother of a legendary hero and later Shah of Iran, Kai Khosrow. Although a Turanian by birth, Farangis shows loyalty to her husband's kingdom and dynasty. She accompanies her son when he leaves Turan in the hopes of gathering an Iranian army to avenge Siyâvash.
Özsoy is an opera composed by Ahmet Adnan Saygun from a libretto by Münir Hayri Egeli. It was the first Turkish opera composed during the country's Republican period under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and it was given its premiere performance in the Halk Evi Theatre in Ankara on 19 June 1934.
The Pishdadian dynasty is a mythical line of primordial kings featured in Zoroastrian belief and Persian mythology. They are presented in legend as originally rulers of the world but whose realm was eventually limited to Ērānshahr or Greater Iran. Although there are scattered references to them in the Zoroastrian scriptures—the Avesta—and later Pahlavi literature, it is through the 11th-century Iranian national epic, the Shahnameh, that the canonical form of their legends is known. From the 9th century, Muslim writers, notably Tabari, re-told many of the Pishdadian legends in prose histories and other works. The Pishdadian kings and the stories relating to them have no basis in historical fact, however.
Kush-Nama, is a Persian epic poem and part of a mythical history of Iran written by Ḥakim Iranshān ibn Abu l-Khayr between the years 501-04/1108-11.
Kaveh the Blacksmith is a figure in Iranian mythology who leads an uprising against a ruthless foreign ruler, Zahāk. His story is narrated in the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran (Persia), by the 10th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi.
Iraj is the seventh Shah of the Pishdadian dynasty, depicted in the Shahnameh. Based on Iranian mythology, he is the youngest son of Fereydun. In the Avestan legends, Pahlavi literature, Sasanian-based Persian sources, some Persian sources, and particularly in Shahnameh, he is considered the name-giver of the Iranian nation, the ancestor of their royal houses, and a paragon of those slain in defense of just causes.
Arnavāz is one of the two daughters of Jamshid, the mythological king of Parsia. Arnavāz and her sister, Shahrnāz first married Zahhāk, but later married Fereydun, after he had defeated Zahhāk and imprisoned him in mount Damāvand. In some versions of Shahname, including the Moscow version and that of Ṯaʿālebī, Arnavaz and Shahrnāz are the daughters of Jamshid, but in others, they are his sisters.
Mâzandarân, is an important place known as Devil's Land whose name is mentioned 63 times in the Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran. There are references to the Mazandaran of legend not only in the Shahnameh, but also in the much older Avesta.
Shahrnāz is one of the two daughters of Jamshid, the mythological king of Iran. In some versions of Shahnameh, including the Moscow version and that of Ṯaʿālebī, Shahrnāz and her sister, Arnavāz are the daughters of Jamshid, but in others, they are his sisters.
Kiyanush is the name of one of the mythological characters of Iran in Ferdowsi Shahnameh. He was the son of Abtin and Faranak, and one of the two brothers of Fereidun who helped him win Zahhak.
