Simurgh

Origin and myth

The Simurgh is one of the oldest bird figures in Iranian tradition. Its name goes back to the Saena bird of the Avesta, the Zoroastrian scripture whose oldest parts date to the first millennium BC. A hymn to Rashnu mentions "the tree of the eagle" (saena) standing in the middle of the sea Vourukasha, the tree of all remedies "on which rest the seeds of all plants". In Middle Persian the name becomes Senmurw, and the Menog-i Khrad adds the familiar image: whenever the bird rises from the many-seeded tree a thousand twigs shoot out, and when it alights it breaks them and the seeds fall; another bird, Chamrosh, gathers the seeds so that the rain can carry them across the world. A winged creature with a dog-like head on Sasanian silver and textiles is conventionally identified as the Senmurw.

The Simurgh most people know comes from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings finished around 1010 AD. There the bird lives on the peak of Mount Alborz and raises the abandoned infant Zal, born with white hair, alongside her own chicks. When Zal returns to the human world, the Simurgh gives him a feather; burning it summons her. She returns to guide the difficult birth of Zal's son Rostam, and later heals Rostam and his horse Rakhsh after the fight with Esfandiyar and shows Rostam the tamarisk branch for the arrow that decides it.

A second, mystical Simurgh appears in Attar of Nishapur's 12th-century poem The Conference of the Birds, where thirty birds cross seven valleys searching for the Simurgh and discover that "si murgh" - thirty birds - is themselves. Over the centuries the creature moved from a nature spirit to a wise foster mother to a symbol of the divine, and its image spread across the Islamic world, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Appearance

Persian miniatures show the Simurgh as an enormous bird with the general body plan of a bird of prey, but every element is amplified and decorated. The head is broad with a strong hooked beak, sometimes with a crest of long feathers sweeping back like a crown. The wings are vast and painted with layered flight feathers in copper, gold, teal and deep red.

The most recognisable feature is the tail: a fan of long, trailing plumes that resemble a peacock's train crossed with pheasant tail feathers, often ending in eye-spots or curling tips. The Sasanian creature usually called the Senmurw has a dog-like head and forequarters, sometimes with lion's paws, and a bird's wings and tail; a sculptor can treat this as a separate variant.

In modern fantasy

The Simurgh appears wherever fantasy draws on Persian or Central Asian material. It has featured as a summoned creature or boss in Japanese role-playing games and as a mythic bird in strategy, card and tabletop role-playing games, where it is usually cast as a benevolent celestial or guardian.

3D printing notes

The Simurgh is a resin subject first and foremost. The appeal is in feather layering, crest detail and the trailing tail, all of which need 0.03-0.05 mm layers to read cleanly. FDM is realistic only at 150 mm and above, and even then the tail plumes should be thickened to at least 2 mm.

Spread wings are the main support problem. Model them with a slight forward tilt so each wing has a flat-ish underside that can take supports without scarring the top feather surface. For a 75 mm display piece, split the model into body, two wings and tail, keyed with pegs, and print the wings flat on the build plate for the best surface. At 28-32 mm tabletop scale, a perched pose with wings half-folded is far more durable than a full spread and stays inside a 50 mm base footprint.

A centrepiece at 150-200 mm works best as a "landing" pose: talons reaching down to a rocky peak that doubles as the structural support, wings raised, tail cascading behind and touching the base at one or two points for strength. Hollow the body to 2.5 mm walls with drain holes under the tail.

Painting and display

Persian art gives the palette: burnt orange and copper body, gold-lined flight feathers, teal or turquoise accents on the crest and tail, and crimson eye-spots. Base coat in a warm mid-brown, drybrush copper and then bright gold on the feather edges, and glaze the tail tips with turquoise ink.

For the base, a stylised mountain crag in cool grey contrasts well with the warm bird. A small hidden LED under a translucent resin "burning feather" on the base references the Shahnameh summoning scene and looks excellent in a display cabinet.

Related creatures

The Turkic Samruk is a direct cousin, a giant bird perched in the world tree, and the Slavic Firebird shares the glowing feather motif. The Greek Phoenix and the Arabian Roc round out the great mythical birds.

Sources

• Avesta, Rashn Yasht (Yasht 12.17), trans. J. Darmesteter, https://www.avesta.org/ka/yt12sbe.htm
• Menog-i Khrad (ch. 62), trans. E. W. West, https://www.avesta.org/mp/mx.html
• Wikipedia, Simurgh, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simurgh

If you would like a Simurgh figurine in a custom size or pose, ask Fantasy Lab 3D for a custom print.