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The Book of Dede Korkut, also spelled as '''Dada Gorgud''', '''Dede Qorqut''', or '''Ata Korkut''' ( and British scholar Geoffrey Lewis, consider that the Dede Korkut text "exhibits a number of features characteristic of Azeri , the Turkish dialect of Azerbaijan".Lewis, Geoffrey (Ed.) (1974). ''The Book of Dede Korkut''. Harmondsworth: Penguin, p. 22 The epic tales of Dede Korkut is one of the best known Turkic Dastan s from among a total of well over 1,000 recorded epics among the Mongolian and Turkic language families by international scholars. Rinchindorji. "Mongolian-Turkic Epics: Typological Formation and Development" / Institute of Ethnic Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Trans. by Naran Bilik, Oral Tradition, 16/2, 2001, p. 381 ORIGIN AND SYNOPSIS OF THE EPIC Dede Korkut is a heroic established a dynasty that ruled eastern Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iraq and western Iran.ibid., pp. 16-17 But even before that at least one of the stories (Chapter 8) of the Dede Korkut epic existed in writing, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, from an unpublished Arabic history, Dawadari's Durar al-Tijan, written in Egypt some time between 1309 and 1340.ibid., p. 21 Since the early eighteenth century, the Book of Dede Korkut has been translated into French, English, and Russian.Bentinck, Histoire Genealogique des Tatars, 2 vols. (Leiden, 1726); and Abu Al Ghazi Bahadur, A History of the Turks, Moguls, and Tatars, Vulgarly called Tartars, Together with a Description of the Countries They Inhabit, 2 vols. (London, 1730) However, it was not until it caught the attention of H.F. Von Diez, who published a partial German translation of Dede Korkut in 1815, based on a manuscript found in the Royal Library of Dresden, that Dede Korkut has become to be more widely known in the West. The only other manuscript of Dede Korkut was discovered in 1950 by Ettore Rossi in the Vatican Library . Until Dede Korkut was transcribed on paper, the events depicted therein survived in the oral tradition, at least from the ninth and tenth centuries. The ''Bamsi Beyrek'' chapter of Dede Korkut preserves almost verbatim the immensely popular Central Asian Dastan Alpamysh , dating from an even earlier time. The stories were written in prose, but peppered with poetic passages. Recent research by Turkish and Turkmen scholars revealed, that the Turkmen variant of the Book of Dede Korkut contains sixteen stories, which have been transcribed and published in 1998. Prof. Melek Erdem, Ankara University, "On the Connection with the Manuscripts of Turkmenistan Variant of Dede Korkut Epics". Journal of Modern Turkish Studies (2005), 2/4:158-188 The twelve stories that comprise the bulk of the work were written down after the Turks converted to Islam, and the heroes are often portrayed as good Muslims while the villains are referred to as (d. 1318) says that Dede Korkut was a real person and lived for 295 years; that he appeared in the time of the Oghuz ruler Inal Syr Yavkuy Khan, by whom he was sent on an embassy to the Prophet ; that he became Muslim ; that he gave advice to the Great Khan of the Oghuz, attended the election of the Great Khan, and gave names to children.Lewis, Geoffrey (Ed.), ibid., p. 12 The tales tell of warriors and battles and are likely grounded in the conflicts between the Oghuz and the Pechenegs and Kipchaks . Many story elements are familiar to those versed in the Western literary tradition. For example, the story of a monster named "Goggle-eye" (Tepegöz) bears enough resemblance to the encounter with the Cyclops in Homer ’s '' Odyssey '' that it is believed to have been influenced by the Greek epic or to have one common ancient root. The book is also describing in great details the various sports activities of the ancient Turks: "''Dede Korkut (A.D. 1000- 1300) clearly referred to certain physical activities and games. In Dede Korkut's description, the athletic skills of Turks, men and women, were described to be "first-rate," especially in horse-riding, archery, cirit throw , wrestling and polo which are considered Turkish national sports.''" Dr. Ergun Yurdadon, Chair of Recreation Management, United State Sports Academy, "Sport In Turkey: The Pre-Islamic Period", Volume 6, Number 3, Summer 2003 SOVIET TREATMENT Majority of Turkic people and lands who are described in the Book of Dede Korkut, were part of , third edition. Despite the liberalization of the political climate after the denunciation of Stalinism by Nikita Khrushchev in February 1956 , the same "Barthold" edition of the Book of Dede Korkut was re-published only in 1962 and in 1977 . Problems persisted all the way to Perestroika , when the last full edition in Azerbaijani Language was sent for publication on July 11, 1985 , but received permission for printing only on February 2, 1988 .Prof. H.B.Paksoy, ibid. UNESCO CELEBRATIONS In . UNESCO website The National Bank of Azerbaijan issued special gold and silver coins in 1999 to commemorate the 1,300th anniversary of the epic. National Bank of Azerbaijan, "1300 anniversary of Kitabi Dada Gorgud", accessed March 19, 2007 SEE ALSO Asian Nomad Epics/Dastans
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