Dahhak

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

One branch of the narratives regarding the emergence of the Kurds is based on the period of the cruel mythological king Dahhak, whose affiliation Arabs and Acems 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 killed two men every day, feeding the brains of the killed men 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 for his meal; his vizier named Ermail would slaughter one of the two people and send the other alive to the Fars dağları (Cilt 2, s. 23).

This chain of narratives has an early transmission tradition in Islamic sources. İbn Kuteybe ed-Dineverî (d. 276/889) first included the story in his work el-Maarif; he reported that the Acems considered the Kurds “Biyorasef’in yemek artığı,” that he slaughtered two people every day and ate their flesh, and that his vizier named Erail slaughtered one and released the other, and these released individuals were the Kurds (Cilt 2, s. 51). According to Şeyh er-Rabve ed-Dımaşkî, the mountain where the event took place is Demavend Dağı in İran; later, when Feridun succeeded in eliminating Dahhak, that day became a general day of joy for those who had fled to the mountain, and thus those in the mountains descended to live a free life (Cilt 2, s. 51). Taberî also recorded the view that the Bedouins of the Persians were the Kurds, while describing the person who advised throwing İbrahim Peygamber into the fire as “Pers göçebelerinden bir adam” (Cilt 2, s. 52).

Firdevsî, in his work, recounts many king stories, including Dahhak, while covering Persian history from ancient times until the mid-seventh century AD when the Sâsânî state collapsed, and he identifies him as “Pers kralı Mirdas oğlu Biyorasb” (Cilt 2, s. 52). This literature is also related to the conflict between the Kurds and the Persians, which began in the Medler and Ahamenişler periods and extended into later eras; according to sources, the Kurds, whose independent existence was denied by both Arab and Acem 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).

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