Epic of Koroghlu

Epic of Koroghlu
by folk
Country Azerbaijan,
 Iran,
 Turkey,
 Turkmenistan,
 Uzbekistan
LanguageOghuz Turkic
Subject(s)The legend typically describes a hero who seeks to avenge a wrong.
Genre(s)Epic poetry
Stamp featuring Azerbaijan epic poem "Koroghlu", from the series Epic poems of USSR nations, 1989

The Epic of Koroghlu (Azerbaijani: Koroğlu dastanı, کوروجلو حماسه سی; Turkish: Köroğlu destanı; Turkmen: Görogly dessany; Uzbek: Goʻr oʻgʻli dostoni) is a heroic legend prominent in the oral traditions of the Turkic peoples, mainly the Oghuz Turks.[1][2] The legend typically describes a hero who seeks to avenge a wrong. It was often put to music and played at sporting events as an inspiration to the competing athletes. Koroghlu is the main hero of an epic with the same name in Azerbaijani, Turkmen and Turkish as well as some other Turkic languages. The epic tells about the life and heroic deeds of Koroghlu as a hero of the people who struggled against unjust rulers. The epic combines the occasional romance with Robin Hood-like chivalry.

Due to the migration in the Middle Ages of large groups of Oghuz Turks within Central Asia, South Caucasus and Asia Minor, and their subsequent assimilation with other ethnic groups, the Epic of Koroghlu spread widely in these geographical regions leading to emergence of its Turkmen, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik, Azerbaijani, Turkish, Crimean Tatar, Georgian, Kurdish, and Armenian[3] versions. The story has been told for many generations by the "bagshy" narrators of Turkmenistan, fighter Ashik bards of Azerbaijan and Turkey, and has been written down mostly in the 18th century.

  1. ^ Karl Reichl Singing the Past: Turkic and Medieval Heroic Poetry, Cornell University Press. 2000. "The central traditions find their continuation in a fourth group, the epic poetry of the southwestern Turkic peoples, the Turkmens, Azerbaijanis, and Anatolian Turks. Here the predomination form is prosimetric, and there is a predilection, for love and adventure romance. The main hero of their adventure romances is Koroghlu.
  2. ^ "Koroglu, Literary Tradition". Encyclopedia Iranica. "The Oḡuz Turkic versions of the Köroǧlu story are known among the Azerbaijanis, the Turks of Anatolia, and the Turkmen, and they are most similar to each other regarding language and plot."
  3. ^ "Քյորօղլին՝ կալանավոր — Վիքիդարան". hy.wikisource.org (in Armenian). Retrieved 5 March 2024.