Book of Dede Korkut

Also known as Kitāb-ı Dedem Ḳorḳud Alā Lisān-ı Tāife-i Oġuzân

national epic of Turks, Azerbaijani and Turkmen

Key facts

Language: Oghuz Turkic
Subject s: The stories carry morals and values significant to the social lifestyle of the nomadic Turks.
Genre: Epic poetry
Publication date: c. 14th or 15th century

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Wikidata facts

Image: Page from the Vatican manuscript of Kitabi-Dede Qorqud.png

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described at URL: ich.unesco.org/es/RL/01399
work available at URL: digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.turc.102/0122
Commons category: Dede Korkut

~21 min read

Article

The Book of Dede Korkut or Book of Korkut Ata (Azerbaijani: Kitabi-Dədə Qorqud, کتاب دده قورقود; Turkmen: Kitaby Dädem Gorkut; Turkish: Dede Korkut Kitabı) is the most famous among the dastans or epic stories of the Oghuz Turks. The stories carry morals and values significant to the social lifestyle of the nomadic Turkic peoples and their pre-Islamic beliefs. The book's mythic narrative is part of the cultural heritage of the peoples of Oghuz origin, mainly of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan. Only two manuscripts of the text, one in the Vatican and one in Dresden, Germany, were known before a third manuscript was discovered in a private collection in Gonbad-e Kavus, Iran, in 2018.

The epic tales of Dede Korkut are some of the best-known Turkic dastans from among a total of well over 1000 recorded epics among the Turkic and Mongolian language families.