Afrighids

Afrighid dynasty
Territory, Kingdom, Vassal Kingdom and Satrapy during the Sassanid empire
305–995 →
Map of the Afrighid dynasty (Green color)
Capital		Kat[1]
Languages		Khwarezmian language, Middle Persian
Religion		Zoroastrianism, later Islam in the 9th century.[2]
Political structure		Territory, Kingdom, Vassal Kingdom and Satrapy during the Sassanid empire
Historical era		Middle Ages
-	Established	305
-	Ma'munid conquest of Khwarmezian.	995

History of Greater Iran
Until the rise of modern nation-states
Pre-modern
Pre-Islamic  Prehistory Proto-Elamite civilization 3200–2800 BC Elamite dynasties 2800–550 BC Bactria-Margiana Complex 2200–1700 BC Kingdom of Mannai 10th–7th century BC Median Empire 728 –550 BC Scythian Kingdom 652–625 BC Achaemenid Empire 550–330 BC Seleucid Empire 330–150 BC Greco-Bactrian Kingdom 250-125 BC Parthian Empire 248–BC 224 CE Kushan Empire 30–275 Sassanid Empire 224–651 Afrighid dynasty 305–995 Hephthalite Empire 425–557 Kabul Shahi kingdom 565–879 Dabuyid dynasty 642–760 Kingdom of Alania 8th-9th century–1238/1239
Islamic  Patriarchal Caliphate 637–651 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258 Tahirid dynasty 821–873 Zaydis of Tabaristan 864–928 Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Samanid dynasty 819–999 Sajids 889/890–929 Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043 Buyid dynasty 934–1055 Sallarid dynasty 941–1062 Ghaznavid Empire 975–1187 Ghurid dynasty 1149–1212 Seljuq Empire 1037–1194 Khwarazmian dynasty 1077–1231 Ilkhanate 1256–353 Kartids dynasty 1231–389 Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393 Chupanid dynasty 1337–1357 Jalayerid dynasty 1339–1432 Timurid Empire 1370–1506 Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans 1407–1468 Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans 1378–1508 Safavid Empire 1501–1722 Mughal Empire 1526–1857 Hotaki dynasty 1722–1729 Afsharid dynasty 1736–1750 Zand Dynasty 1750–1794 Durrani Empire 1794–1826 Qajar Dynasty 1794–1925

The Afrighids (from 305 to 995 AD) (Persian: آفریغیان-آل آفریغ‎) were a native Chorasmian Iranian^[3][4][5] dynasty who ruled over the ancient kingdom of Chorasmia until 995 AD. Over time, they were under the suzerenaity of the Sassanid Empire, the Hephthalite Empire, the Göktürk Khaganate, the Umayyad Caliphate and the Samanid Dynasty.

Sources

Abu Rayhan Biruni, the native Chorasmian scholar, mentions twenty-two members of the Afrighid dynasty for a total span of 690 years with an average rule of 31 years for each ruler.^[6] According to him, the Afrighids ruled from 305 AD, through the Arab conquests under Qotayba b. Moslem in 93/712, and up to their overthrow in 385/995 by the rising rival family of Ma'munids. The main source on the Afrighids prior to Islam is also Abu Rayhan Biruni. Part of the reason for the gap in information about this dynasty is mentioned by Biruni.

Biruni states:

Etymology

It has been suggested that 'Afrigh' is the Arabicized of 'Abriz' in Persian (آبریز where water flows, a reference to the geography of Khwarazm and its abundant water). However, Dr. Parviz Azkai, in his annotations on Biruni's Chornology of Ancient Nations, explains that this is a popular etymology. Azkai explains that Afrigh was originally Ap-Air-ig meaning from the Aryan descent: ap or af is the same in 'afrashtan' (Persian: افراشتن) to raise; air is the root meaning Aryan as seen in Iraj, and Eran/Iran (land of Aryan); and -ig is the suffix of relation in Iranian languages and cognate to '-ic' in English or '-ique' in French.

Kingdom

The ancient Iranian kingdom of Khwarazm had been ruled until 995 by the old established line of Afrighids of Kath. Khwarazm, or the classical Chorasmia, was the well irrigated and rich agricultural region of lower Oxus. Surrounded by all sides by steppe land and desert, it was geographically isolated from other areas of civilization. This isolation allowed it to maintain a separate distinctive Iranian language and culture .^[5] Khwarazm was one of the early areas of Iranians civilization, and the local Chorasmian historian, Abu Rayhan Biruni traces civilization there beyond the first millennium BC.^[5] Before the 8th century, there had only been few ineffectual Arab raids on the fringes of Chorasmia from the directions of Khorasan and Transoxania. But in 712 AD, Qutayba ibn Muslim was able to intervene in a civil war between the Afrighid Shah and his brother Khorrazad. Two Arab invasions lead to much destruction as Biruni notes. Once the Arabs withdrew from their raid, the Shahs recovered power in Chorasmia and they continued to adhere to their ancestral faith, which according to Biruni was Zoroastrianism. The local shahs continued to ally with local Iranians princes, Soghdian merchances and even Turks and Chinese in order to resist the Arabs.^[4]

It thus came vaguely under Muslim suzerainty, but it was not until the end of the 8th century or the beginning of the 9th century that that an Afrighid was first converted to Islam appearing with the popular convert’s name of ‘Abdallah (slave of God). In the course of the 10th century, the local family of the Ma'munids who were based in Gurganj, on the left bank of the Oxus grew in economic and political importance due to trade caravans. In 995, they violently overthrew the Afrighids of Kath and themselves assumed the traditional title of the Khwarazm Shah. Briefly, the area was under Samanid suzerainty, before it passed to Mahmud of Ghazna. From then on, Turco-Mongolian invasions and long rule by Turco-Mongol dynasties supplanted the Iranian character of the region^[5] although the title of Khwarizm Shah was maintained well up to the 15th century.^[5]

Name of Rulers

Only consonants of the pre-Islamic names are known with long vowels, since in Arabic script, the short vowels are not written and diacritic signs are used to clarify when required. After the conversion of 'Abdallah, all the names expect possibly 'Eraq are Arabic and their pronunciation is known. Unfortunately, the manuscripts that have also come down have also suffered some corruption due to scribal errors,^[4] since the Chorasmian names were incomprehensible for most non-natives. Biruni himself utilizes the extra letters of Chorasmian which were not used in Arabic writings.

More is known about the dynasty in the Islamic era after the beginning of the 8th century and their conversion to Islam.

Name of the rulers given by the native Chorasmian speaker Biruni^[4][7]

1) ʾfrḡ, Āfrīḡ.

2) bḡrh（Bagra）

3) sḵḵsk（Sahhasak）

4)ʾskǰmwk（Askajamuk I)

5) ʾzkʾǰwʾr(Azkajwar I)

6) sḵr [I](Sahr I)

7) sʾwšš, Sāvoš (Syavash/Shaush)

8) ḵʾmkry/ḵʾnkry(Hamgari/Hangari)

9) bwzkʾr(Buzgar)

10) ʾrṯmwḵ, Arṯamūḵ (Arsamuh/mentioned also in coins)

11) sḵr(Sahr II)

12) sbry(Sabri)

13) ʾzkʾǰwʾr [II].

14) ʾskǰmwk [II].

15) šʾwšfr.

16) trksbʾṯh

17) ʿAbdallāh.

18) Manṣūr.

19) ʿErāq.

20) Moḥammad.

21) Aḥmad.

22) Abū ʿAbdallāh Moḥammad, killed in 385/995.

Notes

Further reading

• ĀL-E AFRĪḠ” IN Encyclopædia Iranica by C.E.Bosworth

• Chorasmia in Encyclopædia Iranica by Yuri Aleksandrovich Rapoport

• Albiruni. The Chronology Of Ancient Nations, trans.Edward Sachau. London: Elibron Classics, 2005.