Arjāsp ( fa, اَرجاسْپ) is a

Turanian {{Short description, List of groups of people Turanian is a term that has been used in reference to diverse groups of people. It has had currency in Turanism, Pan-Turkism, and historic Turkish nationalism. Many of the uses of the word are obsolete. ...

king in

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...

, the national epic of Greater Iran. Iranica mentions him as a chief of an ancient Iranian tribe named Xyōns. He is son of Shavāsp, the brother of

Afrasiab Afrasiab ( fa, ''afrāsiyāb''; ae, 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. The mythical king ...

. However, the unknown author of Moǰmal al-tavārikh mentions him as a grandson of Afrasiab, and Bal'ami mentions him as Afrasiab's brother. In Shahnameh, after

Zoroaster Zoroaster,; fa, زرتشت, Zartosht, label= Modern Persian; ku, زەردەشت, Zerdeşt also known as Zarathustra,, . Also known as Zarathushtra Spitama, or Ashu Zarathushtra is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastrianism. He is ...

presents his new religion to Kay Goshtasp, the latter accepts the religion as the official religion of Iran, but Arjāsp, the king of Turan, does not accept it and retain his ancient religion and then invade Iran. Goshtasp is unable to repel his attacks, but Goshtasp's son, Esfandiar, defeats him. Beside Shahnameh, Arjāsp is mentioned in other sources. In the

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle ...

text Yadegar-e Zariran, Arjāsp is captured, mutilated, and then released. In

Bundahishn ''Bundahishn'' (Avestan: , "Primal Creation") is the name traditionally given to an encyclopedic collection of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology written in Book Pahlavi. The original name of the work is not known. Although the ''Bundahishn'' ...

, it is said that Arjāsp was defeated in the mountain Mad-Frayād between Padešxwārgar and Kumish. Several years later, Goshtasp imprisoned Esfandiar, accusing him to rebel and usurp the throne. He then left Balkh for

Sistan Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan ( ...

. When Arjāsp learns about Goshtasp's absence and Esfandiar's imprisonment, he invades Iran. Arjāsp kills Lohrasp, Goshtasp's father, and takes his two daughters as captive and imprisons them in Dez-e Rooyin. Unable to defeat Arjāsp, Jamasp, Goshtasp's vizier, releases Esfandiar and the latter repels Arjāsp army from Iran, kills him and releases his sisters,

Homai Homai is a suburb of Auckland in New Zealand surrounded by Manukau Central, Wiri, Hillpark, Clendon Park and Manurewa. It was formerly under the local governance of the Manukau City Council. It has since been integrated with the rest of Auckla ...

and Beh-Afarid.

Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...

Bal'ami Abu Ali Muhammad Bal'ami ( fa, ابو علی محمد, d. 992-997 CE), also called Amirak Bal'ami () and Bal'ami-i Kuchak (, "Bal'ami the Younger"), was a 10th-century Persian historian, writer, and vizier to the Samanids. He was from the influ ...

, and Ebn al-Balkhi mention his name as Kharzāsp, and Ebn Khordādbeh refers to him as Hazārasf. According to Iranica, the two latter forms are misreadings of the Pahlavi word.

References

{{Shahnameh Shahnameh characters