In Persian mythology, the giant demon often opposing good and associated with Ahriman is the div.
A div, also spelled dev, is a monstrous demon or fiend in Iranian and wider Middle Eastern folklore. Legends commonly describe divs as gigantic, horned beings with boar-like tusks, immense strength, cruel dispositions, and an appetite for human flesh. Many are also credited with sorcery and the ability to cause nightmares.
The div has a complicated religious history. The term is related to the older Indo-Iranian idea of the deva or daeva; in Zoroastrian contexts, these beings became associated with false worship and evil. Later Persian literature developed them into powerful supernatural antagonists. In the Shahnameh, divs frequently battle the heroic Rustam, making them central enemies in Iran’s national epic.
The association with Ahriman belongs especially to later Persian and Islamic storytelling, in which divs may dwell under the authority of Ahriman, a personification of destructive evil. Divs should not be confused with the simurgh, a benevolent or protective mythical bird, or with the peri, a beautiful and generally benevolent supernatural being.