Who is Zahhak? Guide to the Serpent-King of Persian Myth
Zahhak is the great villain of Persian mythology. He was once a prince who was tempted by the devil Ahriman into killing his father. The devil then kissed his shoulders, and where the kisses fell, two enormous black serpents sprouted. The serpents could not be removed. They had to be fed each day on the brains of two young men, whom Zahhak’s officers seized from among his subjects. Zahhak ruled Iran for a thousand years in this way. He was finally defeated by the young hero Fereydun, aided by the blacksmith Kaveh, who raised the leather apron of his forge as a rebel banner. Zahhak was chained under Mount Damavand, where he remains, and the Persian tradition preserves the story as the founding narrative of Iranian resistance to tyranny.
Key Takeaways
- Zahhak (also Azhi Dahaka in older Iranian tradition, Zohak in some Western sources) is the tyrant of Persian mythology and one of the tradition’s great villains.
- He was originally a foreign prince (variously placed in Arabia or elsewhere) tempted by the devil Ahriman into killing his father.
- Ahriman then kissed his shoulders, from which grew two enormous black serpents that could not be removed and demanded human sustenance.
- The serpents were fed on the brains of two young men each day, seized from Iranian villages by Zahhak’s officers.
- Zahhak overthrew the good king Jamshid and ruled Iran as tyrant for a thousand years.
- He was defeated by the young hero Fereydun, aided by the blacksmith Kaveh, whose leather apron became the rebel banner (the Derafsh-e Kaviani).
- Zahhak was chained under Mount Damavand, in the Alborz range of northern Iran, where he is said to remain until the end of the world.
Who is Zahhak?
Zahhak is the tyrant-king of Persian mythology, one of the tradition’s most memorable villains, and the figure against whom the Iranian founding story of rebellion is told. He appears in the Shahnameh’s early mythical section, before the age of the great heroes like Rostam.
Definition - Zahhak
The tyrant-king of Persian mythology. Zahhak was tempted by the devil Ahriman into killing his father; then Ahriman kissed his shoulders, and two enormous serpents grew from them, requiring the brains of young men for food. Zahhak ruled Iran as tyrant for a thousand years before being defeated by Fereydun. His older Iranian name is Azhi Dahaka, “the ten-mouthed dragon.”
His older Iranian name, preserved in the Avesta, is Azhi Dahaka, “the ten-mouthed dragon” or “the serpent Dahaka.” In the earliest Zoroastrian tradition he is a primordial three-headed dragon, not a human king with serpents on his shoulders. Over centuries of retelling, the figure was humanised: the three-headed dragon became a man with dragons for shoulders. The tradition preserves both readings; the Shahnameh’s version is the humanised one.
The tempting of Zahhak
The Shahnameh’s account of Zahhak begins in his youth. He was a prince, son of the good king Mardas. His father was a righteous ruler.
The devil Ahriman (called Iblis in some Islamic-era retellings) approached Zahhak in the form of a smooth-talking counsellor. He convinced Zahhak that his father was standing in the way of his greatness. Ahriman arranged an accident: a deep pit dug in the path his father took each night. The king fell in and died. Zahhak took the throne.
Ahriman returned in a different form - a young cook - and won a place in the palace. He served Zahhak elaborate meals, gradually introducing him to meat (his father’s court had been vegetarian in the tradition’s account). Zahhak was delighted with the meals. Ahriman asked no wage except one favour: to kiss the king’s shoulders.
Zahhak granted the wish. Ahriman kissed each of Zahhak’s shoulders and vanished. Where the kisses had fallen, two enormous black serpents sprouted. Physicians tried to remove them; they grew back immediately. The serpents caused Zahhak constant pain. He would have destroyed them if he could.
Ahriman returned once more, this time as a doctor. He told Zahhak the only way to keep the serpents quiet: they must be fed each day on the brains of two young men. If they were not fed, they would attack Zahhak himself. This was Ahriman’s real design. Zahhak, trapped, agreed. From that day, his officers seized two young men from among his subjects each day, killed them, and fed their brains to the serpents. Read Zahhak and the serpents.
Zahhak’s tyranny
Zahhak invaded Iran and overthrew the good king Jamshid, who had ruled during the golden age. Zahhak killed Jamshid by sawing him in half. He took the Iranian throne and ruled for one thousand years.
Under Zahhak’s rule, Iran suffered. The daily sacrifice of two young men decimated the male population. The tradition preserves this as a period of grinding oppression - dark, long, and hopeless.
Two Iranian palace cooks, however, quietly resisted. Each day when the two victims were brought to be killed for the serpents’ food, the cooks would substitute the brains of a sheep for one of the victims and secretly release the young man into the mountains. Over the centuries, a hidden population of these saved men grew in the mountainous regions of Iran. They are the ancestors, in the tradition, of the Kurdish people. Read Kaveh the blacksmith.
Zahhak, meanwhile, was tormented by a recurring dream: three warriors coming to overthrow him, led by a young man who would defeat him with a specific ox-headed mace. His diviners could not deny the prophecy. He set his officers to find and kill any child who might grow into this warrior.
Fereydun and Kaveh
The prophesied warrior was Fereydun, descended from the ancient royal line. His father was murdered by Zahhak’s officers. His mother hid him with a mystical cow named Barmayeh, whose milk sustained him in the forest. When his existence was discovered, his mother hid him with a mountain hermit, who raised him.
At the same time, in the city of Isfahan, the blacksmith Kaveh was suffering. Zahhak’s officers had taken seventeen of his sons for the serpents’ feed. The eighteenth was being taken as Kaveh watched. Kaveh, breaking, marched into Zahhak’s court and threw his leather blacksmith’s apron on his spear as a banner. He called the people to revolt. They came. The banner - the Derafsh-e Kaviani, “Kaveh’s Banner” - became the founding symbol of Iranian sovereignty and continued to be the standard of the pre-Islamic Iranian empires.
Kaveh led the growing rebellion to find Fereydun. They joined forces. Fereydun, now a young man, wielded the ox-headed mace and marched on Zahhak’s capital.
The final battle was brief. Fereydun defeated Zahhak in single combat. He would have killed him, but an angel (or divine voice) told him not to: killing Zahhak would release worse forces. Instead, Fereydun bound Zahhak in chains and carried him to Mount Damavand, the tallest peak of the Alborz range. There he chained Zahhak to the wall of a great cavern under the mountain, where the tyrant hangs still, in torment from his own serpents, waiting for the end of the world. Read Fereydun defeating Zahhak.
Zahhak compared to other tyrant-villains
Zahhak belongs to a family of great mythological tyrants.
| Tradition | Tyrant | Nature | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Persian | Zahhak | Human with serpents on shoulders | Chained under Damavand |
| Vedic Hindu | Vritra | Serpent of drought | Killed by Indra |
| Norse | Fenrir | Wolf-son of Loki | Bound; escapes at Ragnarok |
| Greek | Cronus | Devouring father-titan | Deposed by Zeus |
| Egyptian | Set | God of chaos and desert | Continues; not fully deposed |
| Sumerian | Anzu | Storm-bird who steals divine power | Killed by Ninurta |
The pattern of a great enemy who is bound rather than killed - and who waits, chained, for the end of the world - is one Zahhak shares with the Norse Fenrir. In both traditions the enemy is too dangerous to kill entirely and too dangerous to release, and so the world hangs suspended around his continued binding.
Read the stories
Zahhak appears in the early mythical section of the Shahnameh. Some entry points:
- Zahhak and the Serpents
- Kaveh the Blacksmith
- Fereydun Defeating Zahhak
- Jamshid’s Golden Age (Zahhak’s predecessor)
- Gayomard, the First Man
- Kaveh the Blacksmith
- Peri and Div Stories
Zahhak is what the Persian tradition kept as its darkest figure - the king made monstrous by evil counsel, whose body cannot be freed from what evil planted in it, and whose thousand-year tyranny was ended not by a hero alone but by a blacksmith with an apron. The Iranian tradition preserves in his story a specific idea about tyranny: that it is defeated by ordinary courage, that even the son of a smith can raise a banner, and that even chained under a mountain, evil is not annihilated. It waits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Zahhak?
Zahhak is the tyrant-king of Persian mythology, one of the great villains of the Shahnameh. He was tempted by the devil Ahriman into killing his father, and then had two enormous serpents grow from his shoulders after Ahriman kissed them. The serpents required the brains of two young men each day for food. Zahhak overthrew the good king Jamshid and ruled Iran as tyrant for a thousand years.
What is his older Iranian name?
Azhi Dahaka, “the ten-mouthed dragon” or “the serpent Dahaka,” preserved in the Avesta and other early Zoroastrian texts. In the earliest tradition he is a primordial three-headed dragon rather than a human king with dragons for shoulders. The humanised version of the figure emerged over centuries of retelling and is the version preserved in the Shahnameh.
Why did the serpents grow from Zahhak’s shoulders?
Ahriman, the Zoroastrian devil, kissed each of Zahhak’s shoulders as payment for a favour Zahhak had granted him. Where each kiss fell, an enormous black serpent grew. The serpents could not be removed. Physicians tried and failed. They caused Zahhak constant pain. Ahriman returned in disguise and told Zahhak the only way to keep the serpents quiet: to feed them each day on the brains of two young men.
How did Zahhak fall?
He was defeated by the young hero Fereydun, aided by the blacksmith Kaveh. Kaveh had lost seventeen of his sons to the serpents and raised his leather blacksmith’s apron as a rebel banner (the Derafsh-e Kaviani, which became the Iranian imperial standard). The rebellion found Fereydun, the prophesied warrior descended from the old royal line, and Fereydun defeated Zahhak in single combat. He did not kill Zahhak but chained him under Mount Damavand.
Where is Zahhak now?
According to Persian tradition, chained in a cavern under Mount Damavand, the tallest peak of the Alborz range in northern Iran. He hangs there, tormented by his own serpents, waiting for the end of the world. In some versions of the tradition he will break free at the end of time and cause a final destructive rampage before being killed by the resurrected hero Garshasp.
What is the Derafsh-e Kaviani?
The Derafsh-e Kaviani, “Kaveh’s Banner,” is the mythical origin of the Iranian imperial standard. In the Shahnameh, the blacksmith Kaveh raised his leather blacksmith’s apron on a spear as a banner of rebellion against Zahhak. After Fereydun’s victory, the apron was decorated with jewels and became the standard of the Iranian empire. It was carried by Iranian kings through the Sasanian period (until the seventh century CE) and remained one of the most sacred symbols of pre-Islamic Iranian sovereignty.