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Sacrifice is a religious custom spreading among different folks and nations with various purposes. Many religious traditions recommend killing an animal in order to stay away from disaster or to avert it. Some scholars take into account that the killing a camel ordered by Esfandiyār in the story of Rostam and Esfandiyār, and also the killing of Siavash by Afrasiyab and Sorkheh due to command of Rostam are amongst the types of sacrifice. The present research which has been conducted in a fundamental way, based on library studies and descriptive-analytic method has tried to show that there is no ritual sacrifice in the story of Rostam and Esfandiyār (killing a camel by the order of Esfandiyār) and the story of Siavash (how to kill Siavash and Sorkhe). To clarify this issue, the story of Rostam and Esfandiyār and Siavash in Shahnameh has been analyzed after analyzing and defining the sacrifice custom. Finally, there is no sign of sacrifice in these two stories, and killing a camel in the story of Rostam and Esfandiyār is a kind of apotropaic magic.

Keywords: Shahnameh, The story of Rostam and Esfandiyār, The story of Siavash, Apotropaic magic, Sacrifice custom

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