During World War II, as part of an effort to promote popular support for the Allies in Iran, the British government commissioned propaganda posters that utilized a key episode from the Iranian national epic, the Shahnama: the story of the wicked King Zahhak. Here and throughout the series, Hitler is portrayed as the evil Zahhak, who has a pair of snakes growing from his shoulders with the heads of Mussolini and Tojo; the chief minister of Nazi propaganda, Goebbels, is represented as Satan, in the guise of Zahhak-Hitler’s cook.
