Half-human and Monstrous Races in Zoroastrian Tradition

Legends and stories about fabulous races that dwelt in India or in Africa circulated in Iran probably since the Achaemenid times. Unfortunately, scholarship on this topic has neglected some late Iranian and, especially, Zoroastrian sources, such as Draxt i asurig (The Assyrian tree), the Bundahign (Primal Creation), the Ayadgar I Jamaspig (The memorial of Jamasp), and the New Persian epic gahname. This article examines the aforementioned sources and discusses their accounts of five fabulous races from an Iranian, and especially Zoroastrian, perspective and through a comparative approach to some similar neighboring traditions.