Iran. J. Ichthyol. (September 2017), 4(3): 188–219 Received: August 24, 2016 © 2017 Iranian Society of Ichthyology Accepted: May 30, 2017 P-ISSN: 2383-1561; E-ISSN: 2383-0964 doi: 10.7508/iji.2017 http://www.ijichthyol.org Review Article Fish as a marvelous creature in myths and manuscripts: An overview Zohreh MORADI Department of Crafts, University of Hormuzgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran. Email: [email protected] Abstract: Myths, legends and marvelous creatures constitute an integral part of cultural, his- torical and literary heritage of all nations. Myths and legends are the subjects of studies in various fields such as literature, psychology, linguistics, folklore, etc. yet they have not been discussed in detail in the field of ichthyology. This paper is an attempt to review available information on what is considered as fish in myths and manuscripts including a historical text, Qazwini’s book (published in 1263 A.D.), those which are available in the museums around the world and those obtained during the fieldwork carried out in 2015 in some regions of Hor- muzgan Province, Iran. It seems that aquatic creatures, especially fishes, have been at the cen- ter of human thought for thousands of years, considering them as a blessed or hated creatures having a variety of forms with different faces resembling a human, snake, owl, cat or other animals, which are oriented with human beliefs, cultures and traditions. Keywords: Marvelous, Myth, Human Beliefs, Blessed Creatures, Ichthyology, Iran. Citation: Moradi, Z. 2017. Fish as a marvelous creature in myths and manuscripts: An over- view. Iranian Journal of Ichthyology 4(3): 188-219. Introduction purposes, for control ling diseases, and for dec- Fishes with more than 33200 species comprise orations mainly due to their beautiful coloration one-half of the world’s living vertebrates as ornamental aquatic organisms. Nevertheless, (60000) species. They emerged and began to to make the use of fishes, humans initially radiate more than 500 million years ago. They needed to tap into the unknown realm of fishes. have exhibited incomparable diversity in their Conquering the realm of unknown has always morphology, in the habitats they occupy, in been the driving force behind human’s their physiology, and in their behavior, within knowledge. Whenever he could not understand the vertebrate group (Nelson et al. 2016). This something however, he retreated to the realm of diversity is what, in part, makes their evolution- wonders and marvels, already shaped by his be- ary history understanding and establishes a liefs, cultures and traditions. Fishes have been classification that is challenging and yet fasci- among the unknowns that the humans decided nating. From hagfishes and lampreys to sharks, to assign them to the realm of wonders and to lung fishes and flatfishes, fishes show a vast ar- treat them as marvelous creatures. Fishes, thus ray of amazing adaptations to almost all aquatic appear as creatures shrouded in mysteries in environments on the earth (Keivany 2008; different cultures. Islamic culture is not an ex- Keivany et al. 2016; Nelson et al. 2016). There ception in this phenomenon. Marvels remained have been close relationships between human alive among Muslims via the Holy Quran beings and fishes for a long time. Fishes have verses and sailing advancements that allowed been used as nutritious food, for recreational the dispersion of Islamic stories. Muslims were skillful sailors and traveled to faraway lands. 188 Iranian Journal of Ichthyology (September 2017), 4(3): 188–219 They narrated their stories after returning In his book “Science and Civilization in Is- home. These stories were transmitted from one lam”, Seyyed Hossein Nasr mentions the generation to the next (Moradi 2008). Qazwini’s ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib People accepted these wonder stories as the al-mawjūdāt as one of the most important natu- truth. They never doubted them and enjoyed re- ral history texts of the medieval Islamic world. narrating them. More often than not the sailor’s In both Christian and Islamic cultures, the stories were treated as human’s knowledge on books of wonders, cover different topics in- wonder of the world allowing geographies and cluding geography, geology, zoology and eth- historians to record them as scientific facts. nology till hagiography and myths and crea- These ‘scientific’ books are famous as ʿAǰāʾeb- tion, specially fishes (Nasr 1971). Nasr (1971) nāma (the Book of Wonders) in the Islamic cul- also considers the Qazwini’s as a zoological ture. On the one hand, these books were cate- book. He believes that the best books of this gorized as geographic books and on the other genre were written between seven to thirteen hand, they were deeply indebted to Greek, Ro- and eight to fourteen centuries: Qazwini’s man and Arabian Zoology (Barati 2009). ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt, The first known Persian book in this genre is Mnafalhyvan (Benefit of Animals) by Ibn Aǰāʾeb al-boldān or Aǰāʾeb al-donyā and Bakhtyashu and Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān (Life of An- ʿAjāʾeb Al-Aŝyā (Wonders of the World and imals), written by Muḥammad ibn Mūsá al- Wonderful Things) which was written by Damīrī's. In addition, he added that they are the Abu’l-Moʾayyad Balḵī (4th /10th century), the most inclusive Islamic Zoology and the best original text however, did not survive. The sources of Muslim folklore (Nasr 1971) cover- ʿAǰāʾeb al-Hend of the Indian Ocean sea-cap- ing different aspects of animal life. tain from Rāmhormoz, Bozorg b. Šahrīār (early While these books recorded some facts 4th /10th century) and Toḥfat al-ḡarāʾeb, to about the animals that we know, they also in- Moḥammad b. Ayyūb Ṭabarī (5th/11th cen- troduced some marvelous creatures (e.g., tury) are two more books written in the same fishes). This paper aims to review the available genre (Bosworth & Afshar 2011). From the 6th information on what is considered as fish in to 12th century, the book of wonders was con- myths and manuscripts to shed new light on en- stantly revised and written as a huge treatise on during myths and their importance in human astronomy. Their main aim was to describe the life. entire world based on the natural history. A large proportion of the books covered magical Materials and Methods legends with wonderful stories rooted in differ- This paper is mainly based on illustrations and ent sources of human’s knowledge at the time. texts from the ‘Wonders of the Seven Seas’ sec- The knowledge of aquatic animals, fishes in tion of Qazwini’s Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa- particular, constituted a big part of that (Nasr gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (marvels of things cre- 1971). The other books in this genre are ʿAǰāʾeb ated and miraculous aspects of things existing) al-maḵlūqāt wa ḡarāʾeb al-mawǰūdāt by manuscripts, available in the museums around Moḥammad b. Maḥmūd b. Aḥmad Ṭūsī the world, including; Harvard Museum, Metro- (6th/12th century), and ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt politan New York Museum, Princeton Mu- wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things seum, St. Andrews Museum, Walters Museum, Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Ex- United States National Library of Medicine and isting) by Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Library of Tehran University. Also this paper is Mahmud Abu Yahya al-Qazwini (7th to13th compiled from my fieldwork on sea legends century). collected in 2015 from Kong, Qeshm and Hor- muz Islands of Hormuzgan Province, Iran. 189 Moradi-Fish as a marvelous creature in myths and manuscripts Results (Tusi 1966; Qazwini1263). Abu Yahya Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Based on Qazwini’s book, fishes are the ma- Mahmud-al-Qazwini, known as al-Qazwini, jority of creatures in the world (Fig. 1). Scien- was born in 600 (1203 A.C.) in the Persian tifically, Qazwini is right, for vertebrates as town of Qazwīn. He studied Islamic law in fishes comprise more than 50% of all known Qazwin and served as a legal expert and a judge vertebrates (see Nelson et al. 2016) showing (Qazi) in several different cities. He left Iran for great shape diversity. According to his book, Baghdad and later Damascus. Qazwini had two fish is a blessed creature and can fly like a bird works in Arabic: one which is a geographic through the water. It has seven wings (fins) in book, the Āṯār al-belād and the one other which its sides and when it hunts a prey, it put the prey is Qazwini’s‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib under its jaw after breaking it with its upper jaw al-mawjūdāt. The manuscripts of Qazwini’s will eat it. The lips of fish are made of bone and Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt it can breathe from the near ear. The female fish were produced in all three major Islamic lan- lays 10,000 eggs and male fish eats them. If a guages, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish (Mere- fish lives in the fresh water, it has a tongue and dith-Owens 1961). This book begins with four a nose and if it lives in the sea it has neither of moqaddemāt or prologues. The first provides them. Fish doesn’t have a lung, otherwise “its an exposition of marvels and includes a psycho- songs would bother people” (Qazwini 1263). logical explanation of their attraction to the hu- In ancient time, people imagined that there man mind. The second one describes the two were seven seas in the world and their names subdivisions of created things, those that can were recorded differently in various sources. exist independently by their essence, corporeal The names of these seven seas in Qazwini’s or spiritual, and those that are only accidents.