[2] The figure can be found in all periods of Iranian art and literature and is also evident in the iconography of Georgia,[3] medieval Armenia,[4] the Eastern Roman Empire,[5] and other regions that were within the realm of Persian cultural influence.

The Simurgh is depicted in Iranian art as a winged creature in the shape of a bird, gigantic enough to carry off an elephant or a whale.

The simurgh roosted in Gaokerena, the Hōm (Avestan: Haoma) Tree of Life, which stands in the middle of the world sea (Vourukasha).

These seeds floated around the world on the winds of Vayu-Vata and the rains of Tishtrya, in cosmology taking root to become every type of plant that ever lived and curing all the illnesses of mankind.

The Hōm is in addition the vehicle of farr(ah) (MP: khwarrah, Avestan: khvarenah, kavaēm kharēno) ("divine glory" or "fortune").

It appears as a bird resting on the head or shoulder of would-be kings and clerics, indicating Ormuzd's acceptance of that individual as his divine representative on Earth.

In Yašt 12.17 Simorgh's (Saēna's) tree stands in the middle of the sea Vourukaša, it has good and potent medicine and is called all-healing, and the seeds of all plants are deposited on it.

The simurgh made its most famous appearance in Ferdowsi's epic Shahnameh (Book of Kings), where its involvement with Prince Zal is described.

Zal was taught much wisdom from the loving simurgh, who has all knowledge, but the time came when he grew into a man and yearned to rejoin the world of men.

The simurgh appeared and instructed him upon how to perform a cesarean section thus saving Rudaba and the child, who became one of the greatest Persian heroes, Rostam.

[14] In classical and modern Persian literature the simorḡ is frequently mentioned, particularly as a metaphor for God in Sufi mysticism.

The hoopoe, the wisest of them all, suggests that they should find the legendary simorgh, a mythical Persian bird roughly equivalent to the western phoenix.

[15] The phrase also appears three times in Rumi's Masnavi, e.g. in Book VI, Story IX: "The nest of the sī murğ is beyond Mount Qaf" (as translated by E.H.