نویسندگان

چکیده مقاله

Animals and other creatures play pivotal roles in the Shahname and other epic writings that reflect myths and the primitive and ancient lives of Iranians. These creatures also have special qualities in these writings. These myths reflect the thoughts of early humans that blend with various stories and are expressed symbolically. Epic events are usually products of these myths blended with history. Out of animals, eagle is a pivotal pattern that is mentioned in Ferdowsi’s Shahname and other epic poetry as it assumes specific motifs. This paper aimed to investigate the status of eagle in myths and ancient civilizations and also explore its role in the most valuable epic work, the Shahname, and in five more epic poetic works (namely, Garshasb-Name, Koush- Name, Borzou-Name, Bahman-Name and Banou Gashasb Name). The paper also aimed to extract, classify and analyze the most notable epic-mythical and ritual motifs of this animal. These motifs include the lexical and symbolic meaning of the eagle, the position of the eagle in myths and ancient Iran, the eagle as a general name, the totem of the eagle, the eagle and the immortal plant, the eagle’s feather, the golden eagle, gods and the eagle, the mythical enmity between the eagle and the snake.