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Signs from Above: Towards a Comparative Symbology of Bird Imagery in Medieval Near Eastern Popular Prose

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Rachel Schine
Rachel Schine*
Affiliation:
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
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Abstract

This article presents excerpts from two near-contemporary works of popular prose from the medieval Near East: the Persian Dārāb-nāmeh and the Arabic Sīrat Banī Hilāl. In each, birds or birdlike characters (the sīmorgh and the crow, respectively) that share in having had theriomorphic, mythic significance in regional pre-Islamic traditions dispense premonitory wisdom to Muslim characters. Comparing these passages, the article contends that the characterization of these birds brokers a pietistic shift in symbolism between the pre-Islamic and Islamic context, while still maintaining the birds’ mystical significance and sustaining the trope of birds as winged, heaven-sent messengers. This modified association between birds and divine ministry is not only prominent in these two texts, but also in the Qurʾān and varied bestiaries, poetry, and belletristic works that comprise these texts’ cultural network.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , January 2018 , pp. 47 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Association For Iranian Studies, Inc

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