The fantastic bird, Simurgh, has had a potent presence within Persian visual and literary cultures since the pre-Islamic past of Persia. To understand its evolution from a mythical bird into a mystical creature, this illustrated lecture explores the Persian national epic, the Shahnama, where Simurgh plays a crucial role as the guardian of the Persian heroes and protector of the Persian throne.

The examination of the visual features of Simurgh in Persian visual culture manifests the evolution of its formal characteristics from a hybrid bird into a fantastic one through several phases of modification. Drawing on examples from the ancient to contemporary Persian art, Dr. Behrang Nabavi Nejad will examine these visual changes within the social and historical contexts of the artworks, and proposes the formation of three distinct aesthetic features in its representations in Persian art.

Feature image: Courtesy of the Artist