Country file · Asia & the Middle East

Cryptids of Iran

What cryptids are in Iran? The best-known is Simurgh.

Iran’s great creature is the Simurgh, the benevolent giant bird that, in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, raises the abandoned child Zal on Mount Alborz and later helps deliver the hero Rostam. Its roots reach back to the Avestan bird Saēna, and it appears on Sasanian silver plates and Persian miniatures.

  • 1 cryptid

Cryptids reported in Iran

Flying · Ancient (Avesta)

Simurgh

Mount Alborz, Iran The Simurgh, the benevolent giant bird of Persian myth, who raised Zal in the Shahnameh and became a symbol across Iran and Central Asia. Folklore

The legends of Iran

In Attar’s 12th-century poem The Conference of the Birds, thirty birds seek the Simurgh and find only themselves. It remains a national symbol, and the Crystal Simorgh is the top prize of the Fajr Film Festival.

Hotspots

  • Alborz Mountains

    The range where the Simurgh raised Zal in the Shahnameh.

Nearby

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