Zahhak: The Serpent-Tyrant in Kurdish and Iranic Mythology
- Sherko Sabir
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Introduction
Zahhak (Kurdish: Zahhak or Dehak; Persian: Zahhak) is the great tyrant of Kurdish and Iranic mythology: a king with two black serpents growing from his shoulders that must be fed the brains of the young. His thousand-year reign of darkness is the evil that the blacksmith Kawa and the hero Fereydun finally bring to an end.
He is one of the oldest figures in the whole Iranic tradition, reaching back to a monstrous dragon in the sacred Avesta. But in Kurdish memory Zahhak is something more specific: the oppressor whose fall is celebrated every spring at Newroz, and the dark mirror against which Kurdish freedom is measured.
Contents
Who Is Zahhak?
Zahhak is the archetypal tyrant of Iranic myth: a usurper king corrupted by the evil spirit Ahriman, with serpents on his shoulders that devour human brains. In the Kurdish telling he is the king whose defeat gives rise to Newroz; in the wider tradition he descends from Azi Dahaka, a three-headed dragon of the ancient Avesta. He is not a historical person but a symbol of cruelty, corruption and oppression.
Key Takeaways
Zahhak is a tyrant-king with two serpents on his shoulders that must be fed human brains each day.
The serpents appear after the evil spirit Ahriman kisses his shoulders, having corrupted him into killing his own father for the throne.
His overthrow by Kawa the Blacksmith and the hero Fereydun is the event Kurds celebrate at Newroz.
He originates in the Avestan dragon Azi Dahaka, one of the oldest figures in Iranic mythology.
In the end-times he is said to break free and ravage the world before being slain by the hero Garshasp.
Quick Facts
Name: Zahhak (Zahhak, Zahak; Kurdish: Dehak)
Epithet: 'Snake-Shouldered' (Mardoush)
Older / other names: Azi Dahaka (Avestan dragon); Dahag or Bevar Asp ('he of ten thousand horses', Middle Persian)
Type: Serpent-tyrant; usurper king; demon-figure
Tradition: Kurdish Newroz legend; wider Iranic, Avestan and Shahnameh tradition
Role in the myth: The tyrant whose overthrow gives rise to Newroz
Origin in the Shahnameh: Son of King Merdas; corrupted by the evil spirit Ahriman
Defeated by: Kawa the Blacksmith and the hero Fereydun
Fate: Chained in a cave beneath Mount Damavand until the end of time
Attestation: Written (Avesta and Shahnameh) with strong oral and ritual afterlife (Oral to Written)
The Story: How Zahhak Became the Serpent-Tyrant
In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, Zahhak is the son of a good king named Merdas. He is handsome and able but weak-willed, which makes him the perfect tool for Ahriman, the spirit of evil. Disguised as a courtier, Ahriman persuades Zahhak to murder his own father and seize the throne.
Ahriman then appears as a cook and feeds the young king rich meat until, as his only reward, he asks to kiss Zahhak on the shoulders. Where his lips touch, two black serpents spring up. They cannot be removed: cut off a snake's head and another grows in its place.
Returning in the guise of a physician, Ahriman gives his cruel cure. The serpents can be calmed only by feeding them the brains of two young people every day. So begins the terror. Zahhak overthrows the golden-age king Jamshid and rules for a thousand years, and the world falls into darkness.
Two men forced to prepare the victims secretly save what lives they can, mixing one human brain with that of a sheep and sending the spared youths into the mountains. In Kurdish tradition, these mountain survivors become the ancestors of the Kurds.
The tyranny ends when Kawa the Blacksmith, who has lost his children to the serpents, raises his leather apron as a banner and leads a revolt, joined by the young hero Fereydun. Fereydun strikes Zahhak down with an ox-headed mace but, guided by a divine voice, does not kill him: instead he chains him in a cave beneath Mount Damavand. The night of that liberation is remembered as Newroz.
Origins and History
Azi Dahaka in the Avesta
Zahhak's oldest form is Azi Dahaka (Avestan: Azi Dahaka), a monstrous three-headed, six-eyed dragon in the Avesta, the sacred literature of Zoroastrianism. There he is a creature of Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), an embodiment of the lie and of chaos, defeated by the hero Thraetaona, the figure who later becomes Fereydun. This dragon-slaying is among the most ancient motifs in all Iranic myth.
Zahhak in the Shahnameh
By the time of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, around 1010 CE, the dragon has become a man. Zahhak is humanised into a tyrant-king, his monstrousness reduced to the two snakes on his shoulders. In Middle Persian he is also called Dahag or Bevar Asp, 'he of ten thousand horses'. The Shahnameh makes him the son of an Arab king, recasting the ancient cosmic struggle as a story of usurpation and just rebellion.
The Kurdish and Mesopotamian Reading
Kurdish tradition gives the story a local colour. Some retellings place Zahhak's kingdom in Mesopotamia and identify him with an Assyrian king oppressing the ancestors of the Kurds, so that the mountain refuge of the spared youths becomes a Kurdish origin story. This reading is symbolic rather than established history, but it shows how a shared Iranic myth was made to carry a specifically Kurdish meaning of resistance and survival.
Symbolism
Zahhak is the face of tyranny in Iranic myth. The serpents that feed on the brains of the young are a vivid image of how oppression devours a people's future, and because they regrow when cut, they suggest that cruelty sustained by fear cannot simply be hacked away.
His corruption begins within: a weak man turned to evil by flattery and ambition, killing his own father for power. For this reason Zahhak has been read for centuries as a warning about rulers, and invoked in poetry and politics whenever a people sees itself living under a tyrant.
Zahhak and Newroz
For Kurds, Zahhak is inseparable from Newroz. The festival's bonfires celebrate the night his reign of darkness ended and spring returned, and the story of his defeat by Kawa the Blacksmith is retold every year. Where Newroz is the dawn of freedom, Zahhak is the long winter that came before it.
The End of Time: Zahhak's Return
The story does not entirely end at Mount Damavand. In Zoroastrian tradition Zahhak does not die but remains chained beneath the mountain until the end of the world. At that final time he breaks loose and ravages creation, destroying a third of all living things, until he is killed once and for all by the resurrected hero Garshasp (Keresaspa). Even imprisoned, the tyrant remains a danger, a reminder that evil is contained rather than destroyed.
Debates and Misconceptions
Was Zahhak Arab, Assyrian or Persian? The answer depends on the version. The Avesta knows him as a dragon, the Shahnameh makes him the son of an Arab king, and some Kurdish retellings cast him as an Assyrian oppressor. These are layers of interpretation laid over a mythic figure, not competing historical facts; Zahhak is legendary, and no real king lies behind him.
Is Zahhak the same as Azi Dahaka? Essentially yes. Zahhak is the later, humanised form of the Avestan dragon Azi Dahaka, and the two names mark different stages of the same long tradition rather than two separate beings.
Related Myths and Topics
Kawa the Blacksmith: the blacksmith who leads the revolt against Zahhak
Newroz: the festival that celebrates Zahhak's fall
Azi Dahaka: the ancient Avestan dragon behind Zahhak
Fereydun: the hero who chains Zahhak beneath Mount Damavand
Ahriman: the spirit of evil who corrupts Zahhak
Dragons and serpents in Kurdish-Iranic mythology
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Zahhak?
Zahhak is the great tyrant of Kurdish and Iranic mythology, a usurper king with two serpents on his shoulders that feed on human brains. He is a mythological figure, not a historical person.
Why does Zahhak have snakes on his shoulders?
In the Shahnameh the evil spirit Ahriman kisses Zahhak's shoulders, and two black serpents grow there. They cannot be removed, and they must be fed the brains of two young people each day.
How was Zahhak defeated?
The blacksmith Kawa led a revolt and the hero Fereydun struck Zahhak down with an ox-headed mace. Rather than killing him, Fereydun chained him in a cave beneath Mount Damavand.
What is the connection between Zahhak and Newroz?
Zahhak's defeat is the event Kurdish Newroz celebrates. The festival's fires mark the end of his reign of darkness and the return of spring and freedom.
Is Zahhak the same as Azi Dahaka?
Yes. Zahhak is the later, human form of Azi Dahaka, a three-headed dragon in the ancient Avesta. The story moved from a dragon-slaying myth to the tale of a tyrant-king over many centuries.
References and Further Reading
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