Zoroastrianism Armenia

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Azdahak is the Щг. form of the name of the demon found in the
Avesta as Azi Dahäka (Av. azi- means 'serpent', Phi. and UP. az), a
three-headed, three-moutned, six-eyed monster made Ъу Angra Malnyu for
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the destruction of the material world. The evil creature sacrifices
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to Anahita in the land of Bawri, later identified with Babylon. In
the Bundahisn, Dahäg ke Bewarasp xwanend '(Aa) Dahäg whom they call
"(he who has) ten thousand horses'" is imprisoned in Mt. Damawand after
being smitten by Fridon (Av. Thraitaona-), but will rise again, becoming
unfettered, and will be slain by Sim. The basic elements of this
epic narrative recur in the Armenian legend of the imprisonment of
king Artawazd.
In the Sab-name of FerdousI, Azi Dahäka appears in the arabicised
form Zabhäk as a Babylonian tyrant who overthrows the Iranian king
Jamsid (Av. Yima-) with popular support and then is perverted by Iblis
(i.e., Satan), after which snakes spring from his shoulders. He is
eventually vanquished and imprisoned in Mt. Damavand by Ferıdün (i.e.,
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Thraetaona). Xorenac i repeats the latter tale in its essentials,
in a form apparently of local origin, for the name Thraetaona appears
in the northwestern MIr. form Hruden; he attributes it to the Persians
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m an appendix to the first book of his History. Xorenac i adds a
significant detail to the story, however. He proposes to describe the
anbari arajnoy ..■ barerarutCean 'first bad beneficence' of Biwraspi
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Azdahak, the details of which are as follows: . ev һавал-акаг'
zkenc^als kamer cCucCame] amenacCun. ew aser: oc° inc"' iwr araniin
С С V‘C
uruk part linel, ayl hasarakac , ew anienayn inc yavtni ew ban ew
>^с о с —
gore: ew i cacuk inc_oc xorher. ayl zamenavn vandiman artak s berer
. С _ V V-
lezuov zcacuks srtin: ew ze] ew smut- barekamac n orpes i tuen.jean
noynpäs ew giseri sahmaner.
'And he wished to show to all the common
life, and said that no one must possess anything as his own, but it
must be in common, and all things, both word and deed, be visible. And
he considered nothing in secret, but brought out into the open with his
tongue the secrets of the heart, and he ordained that his friends go
out and come in by night even as by d ay.The entire tale bears
scant resemblance to the narrative concerning Tigran and Azdahak which
immediately precedes it at the end of Book I of the History, and indeed
Stackelberg and Akinean argued that the demon-tyrant is identified in