Sironsor and Shadehvar, Legendary Creatures
On the right is al-Qazwini's Sironsor or Shironse, a mythical creature that was able to make music by breathing through a number of holes in its body connected to its respiratory system. Below it is Shadehvar (Shadhahvar), known as a Persian antelope with a single hollow branched horn. The wind would blow through it like a flute, and the pleasant music attracted other animals. It is thought to be the same creature the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder described as a Unicorn, with the head of a deer and body of a horse. The Kitab Aja'ib al-makhluqat wa Gharaib al-Mawjudat, usually known as "The Cosmography" or "The Wonders of Creation," was compiled in the 13th century in what is now Iran or Iraq and is considered one of the most important natural history texts of the medieval Islamic world. The author Abu Yahya Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud-al-Qazwini (1203-1283), known simply as al-Qazwini, was one of the most noted natural historians, geographers and encyclopedists of the period. At the very end, the scribe has written a colophon praising Allah again and stating that he finished copying this manuscript in 1537.
Size: 2700px × 4148px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 13th, 1537, 16th, abu, ages, ajaib, al-makhluqat, al-mawjudat, al-qazwini, arab, arabian, arabic, art, artwork, aspects, century, cosmography, created, creation, creatures, drawing, existing, historic, historical, history, ibn, illuminated, illustration, islamic, legendary, manuscript, marvels, medieval, middles, miraculous, moslem, muhammad, muslim, science, shadehvar, sironsor, text, treatise, wa-gharaib, wonders, writing, yahya, zakariya
