Dahhak

Dahhak (Dahhak-ı Mârî; in some sources Biyurasif, Biyorasef or Biyorasb) is a mythological Iranian/Persian ruler mentioned with narratives regarding the origin of the Kurds in Islamic-era geography, history, and travel sources. As one of the Ajam rulers mentioned in ancient and Islamic-era sources, this Iranian king named Dahhak is the primary focus of Kurdish origin narratives (Cilt 1, s. 89).

Legend and Kurdish Origin

One branch of the narratives concerning the emergence of the Kurds is attributed to the period of the cruel mythological king Dahhak, whose affiliation Arabs and Ajams could not agree upon. According to this legend, two snakes (boils) emerged on Dahhak's shoulders, and these snakes needed to be fed for the ruler to survive (Cilt 1, s. 96). According to other sources, Dahhak would kill two men every day, feeding the brains of the men he killed to the two snakes on his shoulders. His vizier, however, would slaughter one man and one ram every day, mix their brains, and release the other man without killing him; these individuals who escaped Dahhak would flee to the mountains, and those who reproduced there would become the Kurds (Cilt 2, s. 23). In another form of the same narrative, Dahhak (Biyurasif) would slaughter two men every day and have their flesh prepared as food for himself; his vizier named Ermail would slaughter one of the two people and send the other, left alive, to the Fars mountains (Cilt 2, s. 23).

Transmission in Islamic Sources

This chain of narratives has an early tradition of transmission in Islamic sources. Ibn Kutayba al-Dinawari (d. 276/889) first included the story in his work el-Maarif; he reported that the Ajams considered the Kurds to be “Biyorasef’s food remnants,” that he would slaughter two people every day and eat their flesh, that his vizier named Erail would slaughter one and release the other, and that these released individuals were the Kurds (Cilt 2, s. 51). According to Shaykh al-Rabwa al-Dimashqi, the mountain where the event took place is Demavend Dağı in Iran; later, when Feridun succeeded in eliminating Dahhak, that day became a general day of joy for those who had fled to the mountains, and thus those in the mountains descended to live a free life (Cilt 2, s. 51). Tabari also recorded the view that the Bedouins of the Persians were the Kurds, while describing the person who advised throwing Prophet Ibrahim into the fire as “a man from the Persian nomads” (Cilt 2, s. 52).

Ferdowsi and the Persian-Kurdish Conflict

Ferdowsi, in his work, recounts many king stories, including Dahhak, while covering Persian history from ancient times until the mid-seventh century AD when the Sasanian state collapsed, and describes him as “Biyorasb, son of Mirdas, the Persian king” (Cilt 2, s. 52). This literature is also related to the conflict between the Kurds and the Persians, extending from the Median and Achaemenid periods to later eras; according to sources, the Kurds, whose independent existence was denied by both Arab and Ajam circles, suffered greatly from these identity debates and historical constructions (Cilt 2, s. 52). Consequently, sources record that the narratives regarding the origin of the Kurds originated from the Dahhak story (Cilt 2, s. 51, 52).

Place Name and Another Dahhak

The name Dahhak also appears in place name etymology in the corpus: geographers report that the city of Şehrezor was founded by Zor, son of Dahhak, and therefore it was called Şehrezor, meaning “Zor’s city” (Cilt 2, s. 91). As a separate historical figure not to be confused with this mythological Dahhak, a Kurdish leader named “Ibn Dahhak,” who formed an alliance with the Byzantine Greeks in the Antakya region, is also mentioned in Ibn Athir’s narrative (Cilt 2, s. 72).