Persian Mythology: Simorgh, Divs, Zahhak, Rostam and the Stories Behind Them

Persian mythology is the body of myths of ancient Iran, called اساطیر ایرانی (asâtir-e irâni) in Persian. Its gods and demons come from the Zoroastrian Avesta, and its best-known stories, about the giant bird Simorgh, the demons called divs, the serpent-shouldered tyrant Zahhak and the hero Rostam, were retold around 1010 CE in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, the Persian national epic.

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Most English pages on this topic give you a long list of names and nothing else. Here you get the names in Persian script with pronunciation, the stories in the order Iranians learn them, three short passages checked against the original text on Ganjoor (the standard online library of Persian poetry), and the places where these myths still live in everyday Persian: in proverbs, baby names, month names and even a Disney film title. Translations of the verse are our own.

Persian mythology at a glance

Where Persian myths come from

Persian mythology was not written down in one book. It comes in layers, and knowing the layers clears up most of the confusion you will meet online, where the same figure can appear under three different names.

1. The Avesta: the oldest layer

The Avesta is the collection of Zoroastrian sacred texts, in an ancient Iranian language called Avestan. It was passed down orally for a very long time and written down much later, in the Sasanian period. Its hymns name the creator Ahura Mazda, the hostile spirit Angra Mainyu, many divine beings, and early heroes and kings who reappear centuries later in the Shahnameh. Names in this layer look strange to a modern Persian speaker: the Avestan Yima became Jamshid, and the dragon Aži Dahâka became the tyrant Zahhak.

2. Middle Persian books

Zoroastrian priests later wrote books in Middle Persian (Pahlavi) that retell creation and the history of the world. The best known is the Bundahishn (بندهش, bondahesh), roughly “primal creation.” Here the first man is Gayomard, the figure the Shahnameh calls Kayumars.

3. The Shahnameh: the layer every Iranian knows

Around 1010 CE the poet Ferdowsi (فردوسی, ferdowsi) of Tus finished the Shahnameh, a verse history of Iran from the first king to the Arab conquest, often counted at about 50,000 couplets. Its first part is pure myth: the Pishdadian kings (پیشدادیان, pishdâdiyân), then the Kayanian kings (کیانیان, kiyâniyân) and the great heroes of Sistan, Zal and Rostam. When an Iranian today says “Persian mythology,” these are the stories they mean. For the book itself, read our guide to the Shahnameh.

Gods and spirits of ancient Iran

Zoroastrianism sees the world as a battle between the good creation of Ahura Mazda and the destructive work of Angra Mainyu. Many lesser divine beings, called ایزد (izad) in Persian, stand on the side of good. Several of their names survive in modern Persian as words, festivals and names.

Two more ideas will help you read any Persian myth. The first is فر (farr), or فر ایزدی (farr-e izadi), the divine glory that rests on a rightful king and leaves him when he turns arrogant or unjust. The second is the bridge the soul crosses after death, پل چینود (pol-e chinvad), the Chinvat Bridge, which is wide for the righteous and narrow for the wicked.

The Persian calendar is full of them

If you learn the Iranian month names, you are already learning Zoroastrian mythology. Most of the twelve months are named after divine beings or sacred elements. See our full guide to the Persian calendar, days and months.

Creatures of Persian mythology

Simorgh (سیمرغ, simorgh)

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The Simorgh is the great wise bird of Iranian myth. In the Avesta it appears as the saêna bird, and in later lore it nests on the Alborz mountains or on the mythical Mount Qaf (کوه قاف, kuh-e ghâf) at the edge of the world. Unlike the dragons and divs, the Simorgh is kind. In the Shahnameh it rescues the baby Zal, raises him in its nest, and later saves both Zal’s wife and his son Rostam with its knowledge of healing. Two centuries later the poet Attar made it the goal of the thirty birds in The Conference of the Birds, where سی مرغ (si morgh, “thirty birds”) turns out to be the Simorgh itself.

When the Simorgh sends Zal back to the world of men, it gives him a feather to burn if he is ever in danger. Ferdowsi’s words (Shahnameh, Manuchehr, part 2, couplets 94 and 96):

ابا خویشتن بر یکی پر من / خجسته بود سایهٔ فر من
abâ khish-tan bar yeki parr-e man / khojaste bovad sâye-ye farr-e man
“Take one of my feathers with you; the shadow of my glory will bring you luck.”

بر آتش برافگن یکی پر من / ببینی هم اندر زمان فر من
bar âtash bar-afgan yeki parr-e man / bebini ham andar zamân farr-e man
“Throw one of my feathers on the fire, and at that very moment you will see my power.”

That feather pays off twice: when Rostam’s mother faces a dangerous birth, and when Rostam is badly wounded fighting Esfandiyar.

Homa (هما, homâ)

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The Homa is the bird of good fortune. The old belief says that if its shadow falls on someone, that person will become king, and Iranians still call a lucky break همای سعادت (homâ-ye sa’âdat), “the Homa of happiness.” The real bird behind the legend is usually identified as the bearded vulture, which feeds on bones. Saadi turns this into a lesson in the Golestan (chapter 1, story 15):

همای بر همه مرغان از آن شرف دارد / که استخوان خورد و جانور نیازارد
homây bar hame morghân az ân sharaf dârad / ke ostokhân khorad o jânvar nayâzârad
“The Homa is honored above all birds because it eats bones and harms no living thing.”

Homa is also a girl’s name, and you can see the bird on the column capitals at Persepolis, where Iranians call the winged griffin figures homâ.

Div (دیو, div)

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A div is a demon, ogre or monstrous giant. The word has a fascinating history. It comes from the Avestan daêva, which is the same word as the Sanskrit deva. In India the devas stayed gods, but Zoroastrianism rejected the old daevas, and in Iran they became demons. In the Shahnameh the divs live in Mazandaran, fight the kings, and are sometimes defeated and put to work. The most famous is the White Div (دیو سپید, div-e sepid), whom Rostam kills in the last of his seven labors. Another, Akvan Div (اکوان دیو, akvân div), takes the shape of a wild ass, lifts the sleeping Rostam into the air and throws him into the sea.

In everyday Persian, دیو is still the word for the monster in children’s stories, and Beauty and the Beast is known in Persian as دیو و دلبر (div o delbar).

Pari (پری, pari)

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A pari is a fairy. In the Avesta the pairikâ was a dangerous, seductive spirit on the side of evil, but over the centuries the pari became a creature of pure beauty. In Persian poetry a beloved is compared to a pari, Pari is a girl’s name (along with forms like Parisa and Parichehr), and a mermaid is پری دریایی (pari-ye daryâyi), “sea fairy.” English borrowed the word as peri, made famous by Thomas Moore’s poem “Paradise and the Peri.”

Dragons: Ezhdehâ (اژدها)

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The ordinary Persian word for dragon, اژدها (ezhdehâ, also said azhdahâ), goes back to the Avestan Aži Dahâka, a three-headed dragon created by the evil spirit. Dragon-slaying is a test for many heroes: Rostam kills one in his third labor, and the hero Garshasp kills several in older tradition.

Âl (آل, âl)

Âl belongs to folk belief rather than epic. She is a spirit who threatens women just after childbirth and newborn babies, and many old customs around childbirth in Iran were meant to keep her away.

The first kings: Kayumars to Jamshid

The Shahnameh opens with a chain of mythical kings who bring civilization to the world one gift at a time. Ferdowsi’s story of these first rulers is told for learners in The Tale of Shahnameh’s First Kings.

Kayumars (کیومرث, kiyumars)

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The first king. He lives in the mountains, dressed in a leopard skin, and the people and animals gather around him. In the Zoroastrian books the same figure, Gayomard, is the first human being. In the Shahnameh, his son Siamak (سیامک, siyâmak) is killed by a div sent by Ahriman, and his grandson Hushang takes revenge.

Hushang and Tahmures

Hushang (هوشنگ, hushang) discovers fire by accident: he throws a stone at a serpent, misses, and the stone strikes another rock and makes a spark. The Shahnameh ties the winter fire festival of Sade (سده, sade) to this moment. His son Tahmures (تهمورث, tahmures) is called “the binder of divs.” He defeats the demons, and to save their lives they teach him to write.

Jamshid (جمشید, jamshid)

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Jamshid is the great king of the golden age. He makes weapons and clothing, organizes society, and has the divs lift his jeweled throne into the sky. The day he sits on it is celebrated as the new day, نوروز (nowruz), which is why Iranians connect the Persian New Year with him. Then pride ruins him: he claims to be divine, the فر leaves him, and his kingdom falls to Zahhak.

Two everyday names keep him alive. The ruins of Persepolis are called تخت جمشید (takht-e jamshid), “the throne of Jamshid,” and poets speak of جام جم (jâm-e jam), the cup of Jamshid in which the whole world could be seen. Hafez uses it often (see our Hafez quotes), and Saadi tells a short tale about the king in the Bustan’s story of Jamshid.

Zahhak, Kaveh and Fereydun: the tyrant and the blacksmith

Zahhak (ضحاک, zahhâk)

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Zahhak is the great villain of Persian myth. In the Shahnameh he is a prince led astray by Ahriman, who first tempts him to kill his own father and then, disguised as a cook, asks to kiss his shoulders. From each kiss a black serpent grows. Cut them off and they grow back. Ahriman’s cure: feed the serpents human brains. So Zahhak, now ruling in Jamshid’s place, has two young men killed every day for a reign the poem says lasted a thousand years. Behind him stands the older Avestan dragon Aži Dahâka, which is why the tyrant is half man, half monster.

Kaveh the blacksmith (کاوه آهنگر, kâve-ye âhangar)

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Kaveh is an ordinary blacksmith whose children have been taken to feed the serpents. When Zahhak asks the nobles to sign a declaration that he is a just king, Kaveh tears it up, walks out to the bazaar and raises the leather apron of his trade on a spear. The people rise with him. Ferdowsi describes it like this (Shahnameh, Zahhak, part 7, couplets 47 and 48):

از آن چرم کآهنگران پشت پای / بپوشند هنگام زخم درای
az ân charm k-âhangarân posht-e pây / bepushand hengâm-e zakhm-e darây
“That leather which blacksmiths wear over their legs when the hammer is striking,”

همان کاوه آن بر سر نیزه کرد / همان‌گه ز بازار برخاست گرد
hamân kâve ân bar sar-e neyze kard / hamân-gah ze bâzâr barkhâst gard
“Kaveh raised it on the tip of a spear, and at once the dust rose from the bazaar.”

The apron became the royal standard of Iran, the درفش کاویانی (derafsh-e kâviyâni), “Kaveh’s banner.” A few lines later the poem says it was hung with red, yellow and violet: همی خواندش کاویانی درفش (hami khândash kâviyâni derafsh), “he called it the Kaviani banner” (couplet 59).

Fereydun (فریدون, fereydun)

Kaveh does not take the throne himself. He brings the rebels to Fereydun, a young prince of the old royal line, who defeats Zahhak with an ox-headed mace, the گرز گاوسر (gorz-e gâvsar). Instead of killing him, Fereydun chains Zahhak inside Mount Damavand (دماوند, damâvand), where, the legend says, he is still bound. Fereydun later divides the world among his three sons, Salm, Tur and Iraj, and the murder of Iraj by his brothers starts the long war between Iran and Turan that fills much of the epic.

Zal, Rostam and Rakhsh

Zal (زال, zâl)

Zal is born with white hair. His father Sam, a great warrior, takes it as a bad sign and abandons the baby on the Alborz mountain. The Simorgh finds him and raises him with her own chicks, until Sam, full of regret, comes to take him home. Zal is also called دستان (dastân), so his son is often called رستم دستان (rostam-e dastân), “Rostam son of Dastan.” Zal marries Rudabeh (رودابه, rudâbe), princess of Kabul, in one of the epic’s great love stories.

Rostam (رستم, rostam)

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Rostam is the greatest hero of Persian mythology, the champion, or پهلوان (pahlavân), who serves the Kayanian kings for generations. His birth is so difficult that Zal burns the Simorgh’s feather, and the bird tells him how to deliver the child safely. Rostam grows into a giant of a man who fights in a tiger-skin coat, the ببر بیان (babr-e bayân).

Rakhsh (رخش, rakhsh)

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Rakhsh is Rostam’s horse, the only one strong enough to carry him, picked out by Rostam himself from a herd of horses. Rakhsh is loyal and almost human: in the first of the seven labors he kills a lion while Rostam sleeps, and in the third he wakes Rostam to warn him of a dragon. The two die together at the end of Rostam’s story.

The seven labors of Rostam (هفت‌خوان رستم, haft-khân-e rostam)

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The foolish king Kay Kavus (کیکاووس, keykâvus) invades Mazandaran, land of the divs, and is captured and blinded by the White Div. Rostam rides to save him, taking the shortest and most dangerous road:

The phrase lives on in Persian: when something takes endless effort, like getting a visa or finishing a thesis, people say it was a هفت‌خوان.

Rostam and Sohrab

The most heartbreaking story in Persian. On a journey, Rostam spends one night with Tahmineh (تهمینه, tahmine), princess of Samangan, and leaves. Their son Sohrab (سهراب, sohrâb) grows up and leads an army against Iran, hoping to find his father. Father and son meet in battle without knowing each other, and Rostam fatally wounds Sohrab before he learns the truth. Rostam begs Kay Kavus for his healing potion, the نوشدارو (nushdâru), but the king delays, and Sohrab dies. From this comes one of the best-known Persian proverbs:

نوشدارو بعد از مرگ سهراب (nushdâru ba’d az marg-e sohrâb), “the healing potion after Sohrab’s death”: help that arrives too late.

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Rostam and Esfandiyar, and Rostam’s death

Esfandiyar (اسفندیار, esfandiyâr) is a prince whose body cannot be wounded, the رویین‌تن (ruyin-tan), except for his eyes. His father sends him to bring Rostam back in chains. Rostam refuses the humiliation, is badly beaten in the first fight, and the Simorgh heals him and Rakhsh and tells him to make an arrow from a tamarisk branch and aim at the eyes. Rostam wins, but the victory brings a curse. In the end Rostam is betrayed by his half-brother Shaghad (شغاد, shaghâd), who lures him into a pit lined with spears. Dying, Rostam kills Shaghad with one last arrow.

Other names you will meet

Many of these are popular Iranian first names today. Rostam, Sohrab, Siavash, Fereydun, Kaveh, Bahram, Homa, Pari, Tahmineh and Rudabeh all appear in our list of Persian names and meanings.

Persian myth words that reached English

A few English words come from the same ancient Iranian world:

• peri: a fairy, from Persian پری (pari).
• paradise: from an Old Iranian word for a walled garden, which entered Greek as paradeisos. Modern Persian has the related پردیس (pardis), used today for a university campus, and the Arabic form فردوس (ferdows).
• magic and magus: from the magi, the priests of ancient Iran; in Persian مغ (mogh).
• manticore: a man-eating monster described by Greek writers, from an Iranian expression meaning “man-eater.”
• simurgh: used in English as it is, for the bird.

Learner vocabulary: talking about myths in Persian

To look up more words, use our Persian dictionary. If you want to read the Shahnameh in simple Persian, try our reading lesson on Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh.

Myth in everyday Persian

Want more? Test what you know about the country in our Iran quiz, and if the names above are still hard to read, start with the Persian alphabet guide.

Common questions

Who are the main gods of Persian mythology?

The supreme god is Ahura Mazda (اهورامزدا), the wise creator, opposed by the evil spirit Angra Mainyu, called Ahriman (اهریمن) in Persian. Below them are divine beings such as Mithra (Mehr), Anahita, goddess of the waters, Tishtrya, the rain star, and Sraosha (Sorush), the messenger.

What is the Simorgh in Persian mythology?

The Simorgh (سیمرغ) is a giant, wise and kind bird. In the Shahnameh it raises the hero Zal, gives him a feather to burn in times of danger, and later heals Rostam. In Attar’s Conference of the Birds it stands for the divine.

Is Persian mythology the same as Zoroastrianism?

Not exactly. Zoroastrianism is a religion, and its texts are the oldest source of Persian myth. Persian mythology also includes the epic stories of kings and heroes, especially as Ferdowsi told them in the Shahnameh, written in Islamic times, plus folk beliefs about creatures like the pari and the Âl.

Who is the most famous hero in Persian mythology?

Rostam (رستم), son of Zal and Rudabeh. He rides the horse Rakhsh, completes the seven labors to rescue Kay Kavus, tragically kills his own son Sohrab, and defeats the invulnerable Esfandiyar with the Simorgh’s help.

What is a div in Persian mythology?

A div (دیو) is a demon or monstrous giant. The word comes from the Avestan daêva. In the Shahnameh, divs live in Mazandaran; the most famous is the White Div, killed by Rostam.

Are Persian myths and Greek myths related?

They share distant roots, since Persian and Greek are both Indo-European languages, but Persian mythology is closest to the mythology of ancient India. The clearest example is the pair daêva and deva: the same word means “demon” in Iran and “god” in India.

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