Metamorphosis of the Magic Girl into the Dragon in Eskandar-Nāmeh

Metamorphosis is transformation of a fictional or real being into another being by using supernatural powers. One of the unique examples of metamorphosis is the transformation of a magic woman in Nizami Ganjavi's Eskandar-Nāmeh. In this mysterious story, the features of three genres, i.e. folk, fairy story as well as mythical could be seen. The purpose of the present article is to examine this transformation from a mythological, fictional and historical perspective. The research is based on descriptive-analytical method. After examining the examples of the metamorphosis of magic women in ancient tales and explaining the story of the transformation of Azar Homayoun into a dragon in Eskandar-Nāmeh, we study the possible reasons for the metamorphosis. The results show that Azar Homayoun is probably a fairy and her connection to water, fire and bodily desires support such a hypothesis. Another finding of the paper is that perhaps the legend of Azar Homayoun and Belinās (Apollonius of Tyana) refers to an anti-occupation movement led by a braveheart woman in a fire temple as commad center.