Kurdish mythology (Kurdish:ئەفسانەی کوردی / Efsaneya Kurdî) is the collective term for the beliefs and practices of the culturally, ethnically or linguistically related group of ancient peoples who inhabited theKurdistan mountains of northwesternZagros, northernMesopotamia and southeasternAnatolia. This includes theirIndo-European pagan religion prior to them converting toIslam, as well the local myths, legends andfolklore that they produced after becomingMuslims.
| Part ofa series on |
| Indo-European topics |
|---|
 |
Extant Extinct Reconstructed Hypothetical
Grammar Other |
Archaeology Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Bronze Age Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe
South Asia Iron Age Europe Caucasus Central Asia India |
Peoples and societies Bronze Age Iron AgeIndo-Aryans Iranians Nuristanis East Asia Europe Middle Ages Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian |
Religion and mythology |
 Category |
A legend recorded byJudaic scholars claimed that the people ofCorduene had supernatural origins, whenKing Solomon arranged the marriage of 500 women tojinns.[1][2][3][4][5] The same legend was also used by early Islamic authorities, in explaining the origins of theKurds.[6][7][8]
In the writings of the 10th-century Arab historianal-Masudi, the Kurds are described as the offspring of King Solomon’s concubines engendered by the demonJasad.[6] On learning who they were, Solomon shall have exclaimed "Drive them (ukrudūhunna) in the mountains and valleys" which then suggests a negative connotation such as the "thrown away".[6] Another version says that they are the descendants of King Solomon's concubines and his angelical servants. These were sent to Europe to bring him "five hundredbeautiful maidens" for the king's harem. However, when these had done so and returned to Israel the king had already died. As such, the jinn settled in the mountains, married the women themselves, and their offspring came to be known as the Kurds.[7][8]
Many Kurdish tribes trace their origins to theMilan andZilan tribes. According toMark Sykes, Ibrahim Pasha, then chief of the Milli tribe, gave the following explanation: "Years and years ago the Kurds were divided into two branches, the Milan and Zilan; there were 1,200 tribes of the Milan, but God was displeased with them and they were scattered in all directions, some vanished, others remained; such as remained respect me as the head of the Milan."[9]
One variation adds a third branch, the Baba Kurdi. According to one version of the legend, the Milan settled inDersim, butSultan Selim ordered some to sedentarize and build houses, and others to nomadize southward.[10][page needed]
A famous semi-historicalYezidi figure of Kurdish folklore, Derwêşê Evdî, was of the Şerqi tribe of the Milan.[11]
Zahhak, who is named Zuhak by the Kurds,[12][13] was an evil Assyrian king who conquered Iran and had serpents growing from his shoulders.[14] Zahhak's rule lasted for one thousand years; his evil reign caused spring to no longer come to Kurdistan.[12] During this time, two young men were sacrificed daily and their brains were offered to Zahhak's serpents in order to alleviate his pain.[14] However, the man who was in charge of sacrificing the two young men every day would instead kill only one man a day and mix his brains with those of a sheep in order to save the other man. As discontent grew against Zahhak's rule, the noblemanFereydun planned a revolt.[15] According to the legend, the young men who had been saved from the fate of being sacrificed were according to the legend were the ancestors of the Kurds.[16][17][18] They were trained byKaveh into an army that marched to Zahhak's castle, where Kaveh killed the king with a hammer. Kaveh is said to have then set fire to the hillsides to celebrate the victory and summon his supporters; spring returned toKurdistan the next day.[19][20][21]
The Sasanian kingKhosro II Parvez is highly esteemed in the Kurdish oral tradition, literature and mythology.[22]
CalledKawe-y asinger in Kurdish, some Kurds believe that the ancestors of the Kurds fled to the mountains to escape the oppression of an Assyrian king named Zahhak, who is later killed and overthrown at the hands of Kawe. It is also believed that these people, like Kawe the Blacksmith who took refuge in the mountains over the course of history, later they were called by the profession of their ancestor and created a Kurdish ethnicity. Kaveh is a geographical and symbolic figure in Kurdish nationalism. In common with other mythologies, Kurdish mythology sometimes is also used for political aims.[19][21][20][clarification needed]
Shahmaran (orŞahmaran) is a mythical creature in Kurdish Folklore, she's believed to be a human-snake hybrid that lived in a cave, and she was considered the wisdom goddess to protect secrets. It's also believed that when shahmaran dies her spirit passes to her daughter.[23][24]
The legendary bird of Iranian tradition, thesimurgh, is calledsīmir in Kurdish. The scholar Kamilla Trever quotes two Kurdish folktales about the bird. These versions go back to the common stock of Iraniansimurgh stories.[25]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)