MIDDLE EASTERN MONSTERS
Monsters from the Middle East (including Islamic, Egyptian and Mesopotamian monsters)
Abtu -- Ahriman -- Anet -- Bahamut -- Behemoth -- Burak -- Ghoul -- Griffin -- Humbaba -- Ifrit -- Jinn -- Leviathan -- Lilith -- Marid -- Rukh -- Simurgh -- Tiamat -- Zuh
Two fish that accompanied the Egyptian sun god, Ra, as he sailed across the sky in his boat.
Is the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism, Ahriman is the god of evil and counterpart to Zorostrianism's deity, the good god Ahura Mazda. Ahriman is the bringer of disease and destruction, and the creator of evil. In a story with strong parallels to the Biblical account of Adam and Eve's creation and fall, demons working for Ahriman caused the first humans, Mashye and Mashyane, to sin by tempting them to make the blasphemous claim that the world was created by the evil spirit.
FF3's Ahriman doesn't match up with Persian conceptions of the evil god, but considering that he's one of the game's final bosses, it's fitting that he's named after one of mythology's most evil characters. Later FF games downgraded his role, however, by turning him into a race of weaker creatures.
IMAGE: Illustration of Ahriman from a 14th century Persian manuscript -- 5th century BC medallion depicting Ahriman
In Islamic lore, the prophet Muhammed rode to heaven on Burak, a horse with a human head and a peacock's wings and tail.
Quite what FF3's Burak is meant to look like is anyone's guess....
IMAGE: Illustration of Burak
For such a well-known and widespread creature, the Griffin's history is surprisingly obscure. Depictions of monsters with the hindquaters of lions and forequaters of eagles originated in the Middle East, although they didn't become known as "griffins" until later on The Greeks called these monsters "grypes", and incorporated them into their mythology; the grypes lived in the mountains, used gold to build nests and pulled the chariot of the goddess Nemesis.
The grypes ended up in the folklore of medieval Europe (alogn with a number of other Greek monsters), where they became known as griffins and were popular subjects in heraldry.
IMAGE: 1484 carving of a lion and griffin
A monster from the Assyrian epic poem that tells the story of the hero Gilgamesh. Humbaba is hunted down by Gilgamesh and eventually killed by the hero's companion Enkidu. Humbaba was a servent of the god Enlil, however, and as punishment the gods gave Enkidu a fatal disease.
IMAGE: Terracotta plaque of Humbaba
In Arabic belief jinn (more commonly known as genies) are spirits created from smokeless fire (as opposed to angels, who were created from light). Jinn can be either good or evil, and are divided into five types: Marid, meaning "rebels", probably the closest to Judeo-Christian demons (the Dungeons and Dragons monstrous manual depicts a female Marid, which may have been the inspiration for FF4's take); ifrit, which are said to be created from the blood of a murdered person; sheitan (their name is related to "Satan"); man-eating ghouls (as the word has sprouted its own set of connotations, it is usually spelt "ghul" when used in this context, the plural being "ghilan") and jann, some of whom follow Islam and are benign towards humans.
IMAGE: Syrian sculpture from the 9th century BC showing djinns
A Semitic demoness.
"Wildcats shall meet with hyenas,
(Isiah 35:14, NSRV. The King James version translates "lilith" as "screech owl")
In Jewish folklore, Lilith was the first wife of Adam, created before Eve (possibly because of Genesis' claim that "male and female (God) created them", even though only Adam had been created). She was cast out of Eden for refusing to be treated as Adam's inferior (male chauvinism goes way back), and, in some variations, became the wife of Satan. She was also identified with the serpent that tempted Eve, which accounts for her look in FF4 (and possibly the trend in Medieval times of depicting the serpent with a woman's head - although, this could have arisen from the era's sexism and common association of women with temptation and sin)
IMAGE: Engraving showing the serpent of Eden with a female torso
According to Arabian folklore, the rukh was a giant bird that was large enough to carry two elephants. Rukhs are mentioned in The Arabian Nights; in the story of Sinbad, the titular hero is carried away by a rukh, while Aladdin asks his djinn to bring him a rukh's egg. Bizarrely, the djinn refuses on the grounds that the egg is his master. According to John Fiske's 1873 book Myths and Myth Makers, this is because the rukh's egg represents the Sun.
The simurgh is from Persian legends. It was similar to the rukh in that they were both giant birds (in fact, the rukh is thought by some to have been derived from legends of the simurgh), but was usually depicted with a man's head, and had more spiritual aspects than the rukh - it was said to be immortal, and was used to represent the godhead.
IMAGE: Illustration of Simurgh from a 1330 manuscript
(Actually spelt "Zu"; for the sake of consistency, I'm using the spelling from Mystic Quest)
A part man, part bird being (or lion-headed bird) of Mesopotamian mythology, associated with storms and the South wind, Zuh stole the tablets of destiny - which recorded the fate of everything on Earth - from the god Enlil. They were eventually retrieved by Enlil's son, the war god Ninurta.
Back to...ABTU, ANET
AHRIMAN
BURAK
GRIFFIN
HUMBABA
In terms of appearence, Hunbaba was a scaly, horned man with a lion's paws, a vulture's talons, and a tail that terminated in a snake's head, as did his penis. Quite unlike FF3's winged bull, then.
JINN, IFRIT, MARID
LILITH
goat-demons shall call to each other;
there too Lilith shall repose,
and find a place to rest.
There shall the owl nest
and lay and hatch and brood in its shadow"RUKH, SIMURGH
ZUH
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