Azhdaha, Azhdahak, Ezhdeha ( fa, اژدها) or Azhdar (اژدر) is a mythical creature in

Iranian mythology Iranian mythology or Iranic mythology may refer to any of the following mythologies of various Iranian peoples: * Persian mythology * Kurdish mythology * Scythian mythology ** Ossetian mythology * Azerbaijani mythology See also * Iranian religio ...

, roughly equivalent to the

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

. They are gigantic snake-like creatures living in the air, in the sea, or on the earth. ''Sad dar-e nathr'' and ''sad dar-e Bondahesh'', ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,00 ...

'' and ''

Garshaspnameh The ''Garshasp-nama'' ( fa, گرشاسپ‌نامه) is an epic poem by Asadi Tusi (died 1072/73). It has been described as one of the best epic poems in Persian literature, comparable to ''Shahnameh'', by Ferdowsi, and the most important work of ...

'' are among the principal texts that contain information about the creature. In

Persian literature Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...

, Azhdahas are depicted as a giant snake or lizard with wings. According to tradition, they have a huge body, a fierce face, their mouths are wide with many teeth, and their eyes are bright. Azhdahās are actually normal snakes, according to ''Ajāyeb ul-Makhlooghāt'', a book by Mohammad b. Mahmoud b. Ahmad-e Tusi (wrote in 1160 AD), "when a snake lives 100 years and its length becomes 30 Gazes (a traditional measurement unit approximate to a meter), it is called an azhdahā". He also wrote that "because of their harassment to other creatures, God eventually will throw them into the sea and in there, their body will continue to grow, such that their length becomes more than 10,000 Gazes. Then in the sea, they evolve to have two wings, like a fish, and the waves of the sea are because of their movements. Eating the heart of an Azhdahā brings courage and bravery. Their skins are suitable to healing the wound of love, and if someone buries an azhdahā's head in soil, the conditions of that soil will become good." Another work which was considerably influenced by the ''Ajayeb ul-Makhlooghaat'', is the ''Nuzhat al-Quloob''. Completed in 1339–1340, the author and historian, Hamd Allah Mustaufi Qazvini, describes the azhada as being terrible in appearance, with flaming eyes, a wide mouth, and a body of enormous length. Like Ahmad- e-Tusi, he, too, maintains that the dragon was at first a serpent, and it was only after he became more than thirty yards long that it came to be called an azhada. He says that after the azhada was cast into the sea by God, for terrorizing the people on land, it developed fins and continued to grow in the sea. Eventually it grew so much that it caused damage in the sea, and after it was killed, its body was cast up on the shore to provide food for the inhabitants of the Land of Gog and Magog. In

, the

national epic A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation—not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with as ...

Greater Iran Greater Iran ( fa, ایران بزرگ, translit=Irān-e Bozorg) refers to a region covering parts of Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Xinjiang, and the Caucasus, where both Culture of Iran, Iranian culture and Iranian langua ...

, azhdahās appear in a number of stories.

Sām Sām ( fa, سام), also (sam) transliterated Saam, is a mythical hero of ancient Persia, and an important character in the Shahnameh epic. He was the son of Nariman, grandson of Garshasp and father to Zāl. He was Iran's champion during the rule ...

Rostam use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kabulistan , death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a wel ...

, Esfandiar, Eskandar,

Bahram V Bahram V (also spelled Wahram V or Warahran V; pal, 𐭥𐭫𐭧𐭫𐭠𐭭), also known as Bahram Gor (New Persian: , "Bahram the onager") was the Sasanian King of Kings (''shahanshah'') from 420 to 438. The son of the incumbent Sasanian shah ...

(Gur) are among the heroes that kill an azhada.

References

{{Shahnameh Persian legendary creatures Legendary reptiles