Book of Dede Korkut
Also known as: Kitab-i Dede Korkut, Dede Korkut Kitabı, Book of Dede Qorqud, Kitab-ı Dedem Korkut
An Oghuz Turkic epic cycle of twelve tales framed by the sage Dede Korkut, celebrating warrior ethics, kinship, hospitality, and honor across raids, ordeals, and courtship in the steppe frontier.
Description
The Book of Dede Korkut gathers twelve heroic tales from the Oghuz Turks, narrated within the authority of the semi-legendary bard Dede Korkut (Korkut Ata). Mixing prose with metric passages, the cycle dramatizes the warrior life of beys and their families: raids and rescues, betrothals proven by feats, captivity and ransoms, oaths and reconciliations. Its world balances tribal custom (töre), Islamic piety, and older nomadic codes, with enemies depicted as rival tribes or ‘infidels’ at the marches. Characters such as Salur Kazan, Bamsı Beyrek, Kan Turalı, and Basat embody courage, loyalty, and wit, while figures like Banı Çiçek and Burla Hatun act with agency in counsel and battle. The tales encode social ideals—hospitality, gift exchange, oath-keeping—and the cycle’s frame grants Dede Korkut a role as sage, namer, and culture-bearer.
Historiography
The work survives mainly in two 16th-century manuscripts: the Dresden codex (long known in European scholarship) and the Vatican codex (identified in the 20th century), each with variant readings and tale orders. Modern scholarship situates the formation of the cycle in earlier Oghuz oral tradition, with Islamic elements layered onto pre-Islamic steppe motifs. Editorial reconstructions and translations standardize tale titles and personal names but note regional variants across Anatolian, Azerbaijani, and Turkmen milieus. The text has been central to debates on Turkic ethnogenesis, oral-formulaic style, and the interface of nomadic customary law with frontier Islam.
Date Notes
Oghuz Turkic oral cycle likely formed between the 9th and 13th centuries; principal redactions in two manuscripts (Dresden and Vatican) copied in the 16th century.
Archetypes
Major Characters
- Dede Korkut
- Bayındır Khan
- Bamsı Beyrek
- Salur Kazan
- Basat
- Tepegöz
- Kan Turalı
- Uruz
Myths
- Bamsi Beyrek’s Tale
- Deli Dumrul and the Angel of Death
- Kan Turalı’s Quest
- Slaying of Tepegöz the Cyclops
- Counsels of Dede Korkut
Facts
- The cycle combines prose narration with embedded verse passages and formulaic expressions.
- Two principal manuscripts survive, commonly called the Dresden and Vatican codices.
- Dede Korkut functions as a framing sage who names heroes and blesses outcomes.
- Tales encode steppe customary law (töre), emphasizing hospitality, ransom, and oath-keeping.
- Islamic invocations coexist with pre-Islamic Turkic heroic motifs and shamanic residues.
- Women such as Banı Çiçek and Burla Hatun display counsel, courage, and martial skill.
- The Basat–Tepegöz episode adapts a Cyclops-type monster-slaying motif into Oghuz setting.
- Character and place names vary across Anatolian, Azerbaijani, and Turkmen traditions.
- The work has influenced later Turkic epics and folk narratives, including Köroğlu traditions.
- UNESCO recognized the heritage of Dede Qorqud/Korkut Ata in multinational nominations.