Simurg
The Simurg is a fabulous bird of Persian mythology, also known as Simurgh or Senmurw.
Over the centuries, different authors described and depicted these beings in diverse forms, both in Persian and Zoroastrian fables.
The Simurg nests in the Tree of Knowledge, where it beats its wings to scatter its seeds throughout all of creation. According to other versions, the bird is a divine messenger or the king of birds. It is sometimes depicted with a human or dog’s head. In other accounts, it also has the legs of a lion and the body and wings of a dragon.
Al-Qazwini, linking this legend with that of the phoenix, states that the Simurg could live for up to 1,700 years and that when its offspring has grown, it immolates itself on a pyre.