Turya (Avesta)
Turya or Turanian (Avestan 𐬙𐬏𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀, tūriia) is the ethnonym of a group mentioned in the Avesta, i.e., the collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism.
[3] Like the ethnonym Iranian, which is derived from Iran, the modern term Turanian is a back formation from the toponym Turan.
13.37-38, presents them as helping the Aryas in their fight against the Turyan Danus: yūžam taδā tarwayata wṛθram danunām tūranām yūžam taδā tarwayata δbaišāh dānunām tūranām yušmabyō parō karšnazō hu-wīrā bawan sawištā yai taxmā xštāwayō yai taxmā saušyantō yai taxmā wṛθrājanō xrūmāh asōbiš fra-zinta dānunām baiwar-patinām You then overcame the resistance of the Turian Danus.
[12] The identity of the Danus is unknown but they have been connected to the Iranian word for river as well as to mythical race of the Danava from the Vedas.
This conflict centers around the attempts of the Turian King Franrasyan to conquer Iran and stealing the royal glory of the Iranians.
The fighting between the two peoples stops temporarily when Erekhsha the Archer manages to shoot an arrow as far as the Oxus river, which from then on marks the border between Iran and Turan.
[21] It is assumed that during the Sassanian period, a coherent framework of Iranian history did exist and was presented in works like the Khwaday-Namag.
These Sassanian era works are now lost but they formed the basis of Arab histories, like the Nihayat al-arab, which were produced after the Muslim conquest of Iran as well as a number of Iranian historizing epics, like the Bahman-nameh, the Borzu Nama, the Darab-nama; all of which were produced during the Iranian renaissance in the 9th and 10th century.
Many of the characters and stories from the Kayanian epic cycle, as alluded to in the legendary Yashts, reappear and are treated as basically historical.
[23] These later works were created during the 9th and 10th century BC, when the region of Turan had become mostly settled by Turkic steppe nomads.
In addition, a number of Turanian personal names, like Frarasyan,[27] Agraeratha,[28] Biderafsh,[29] and Arjataspa,[30] appear in the Avesta.
[31] Furthermore, the story of the mythical king Thraetaona, who divided the world among his three sons Tur (Turya), Sarm (Sairima) and Iraj (Arya), is interpreted as a recognition of an ancient kinship between Turanians and Iranians.
