Zahhak Tattoo Meaning

Corruption, tyranny, and charisma turned to oppression.

Zahhak is the serpent-shouldered tyrant — the Persian king of the Shahnameh corrupted step by step by the evil spirit until serpents grew from his shoulders demanding human brains, the emblem of power that becomes monstrous and the charisma that turns to oppression. To carry Zahhak is to carry corruption, tyranny, and charisma turned to oppression — the serpent-shouldered tyrant fed on human sacrifice, the leader whose power became monstrous, the cautionary image of corruption that advances by degrees.

In the Persian epic the Shahnameh, Zahhak is one of the great figures of tyranny and horror: Zahhak — the serpent-shouldered tyrant of the Shahnameh — was an Arab prince corrupted by Ahriman (the evil spirit) through a series of increasingly terrible bargains; the serpents growing from his shoulders must be fed daily with human brains. Zahhak began as a prince who was seduced and corrupted by Ahriman, the Zoroastrian spirit of evil, who came to him in disguise and led him, bargain by bargain, into ever-greater wickedness — beginning with the murder of his own father.

The mark of his corruption became literal and monstrous: Ahriman kissed Zahhak's shoulders, and from the spots where he was kissed, two serpents grew. These serpents could not be removed — cut off, they grew back — and they had to be fed daily with the brains of two human beings, so that Zahhak's tyranny required the constant sacrifice of his own people to feed the serpents that were now part of him. He seized the throne and ruled for a thousand years of tyranny, his reign a horror of oppression and human sacrifice, until at last he was overthrown by the hero Fereydun and the blacksmith Kaveh, who rose in rebellion. The Persian Zahhak is thus the serpent-shouldered tyrant — the prince corrupted by Ahriman, whose shoulder-serpents must be fed human brains, the great image of monstrous tyranny. Zahhak — the serpent-shouldered tyrant of the Shahnameh — was corrupted by Ahriman through terrible bargains; the serpents on his shoulders must be fed daily with human brains. The Persian Zahhak is the serpent-shouldered tyrant of the Shahnameh — an Arab prince corrupted by Ahriman (the evil spirit) through a series of increasingly terrible bargains, the serpents growing from his shoulders having to be fed daily with human brains; beginning as a prince seduced and corrupted by Ahriman, the spirit of evil, who came in disguise and led him bargain by bargain into ever-greater wickedness (beginning with the murder of his own father) — the mark of his corruption becoming literal and monstrous when Ahriman kissed his shoulders and two serpents grew from the spots, serpents that could not be removed (cut off, they grew back) and had to be fed daily with the brains of two human beings, so his tyranny required the constant sacrifice of his own people — seizing the throne and ruling a thousand years of oppression and human sacrifice until overthrown by the hero Fereydun and the blacksmith Kaveh.

Zahhak is the supreme villain of the Shahnameh — Ferdowsi's epic of Persian kings — a man of initially good character who was corrupted step by step by Ahriman (the Zoroastrian spirit of evil) until he had murdered his own father, and been kissed on both shoulders by Ahriman, causing serpents to grow there that could only be quieted by daily feedings of human brain. He ruled Persia for a thousand years of tyranny until the hero Fereydun overthrew him. In tattoo symbolism, Zahhak represents the corruption of power — the terrible image of what authority becomes when it feeds on the people it was supposed to protect.

Zahhak across cultures

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