The King Whose Shoulders Ate People (Persian Mythology Explained)

Every empire has a villain. Rome had Caligula. Persia had a king whose shoulders were trying to eat you. This is Zahhak, the snake-shouldered tyrant of the Shahnameh, the Persian "Book of Kings" that the poet Ferdowsi spent some thirty years writing (finished around 1010 AD). A demon chef, a magic peacock-coloured cow, a thousand years of tyranny, a court that signs whatever it's told, and one blacksmith who says no. It's retold in our own words, with jokes, and with respect for one of the great epics of world literature. Next episode: Zal and the Simorgh. CHAPTERS 0:00 Every empire has a villain 1:00 Ferdowsi's Book of Kings, and the cast 2:04 The prince and the pit 3:26 The cook from hell 5:14 Iran picks a dragon 6:00 A thousand years, and two cooks 7:15 The nightmare and the cow 9:10 The document: one man says no 11:16 The banner, the permit, the steward 13:03 The fall: Damavand 14:11 The twist: the dragon is older than the book SOURCES Ferdowsi, Shahnameh: the Jamshid and Zahhak stories, Persian text (ganjoor.net, Moscow edition), and the Mohl edition for Kaveh's eighteen sons (fa.wikisource.org) Encyclopaedia Iranica: "Aždahā i. In Old and Middle Iranian", "Ferēdūn", "Armāʾīl" (iranicaonline.org) The Avesta: Yasna 9 and the Yashts on Aži Dahāka and Thraētaona (J. Darmesteter's translation, 1883, avesta.org) On the "Kurds" line in the Shahnameh: "Misunderstanding the meaning of 'Kurd' in Shahnameh", Yazd University journal Background: Wikipedia articles "Zahhak", "Kaveh the Blacksmith", "Derafsh Kaviani", "Mehregan", "Mount Damavand" Character lines are our own paraphrases of Ferdowsi or clearly invented jokes; the story's events follow the Shahnameh. Animation, script and music: KIAN Explained. Music is played on a synthesised santur and daf, with orchestral samples. #Shahnameh #PersianMythology #Zahhak #Ferdowsi #Iran #Mythology