The Simurgh in Persian literary and religious studies

Record summary

The simurgh is a major Persian bird-being, especially prominent in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and in Attar’s Conference of the Birds. By the 1930s it was being discussed in Persian studies, comparative mythology and scholarship on Iranian religion. The lead is relevant because the simurgh combines giant-bird imagery with wisdom, healing and guardianship, making it a useful comparator for modern aerial-creature reports that borrow folkloric language. Its status is firmly traditional and literary; uncertainty lies in the relationship among the simurgh, the earlier senmurv and later popular representations.