The Role of the Kurdish Myth of Shamaran in Shaping the Story of the Queen of the Thousand and One Nights, and Tracing its root in the Myths of Ancient Elam

For many centuries, there has been a myth of a creature with a female head and snake body called Shamaran among the Iranian Kurdish people. Respect for this myth has always been associated with special rituals. In the book One Thousand and One Nights, which is one of the most important literary and cultural works of the Orient, there is a story called "Queen of Snakes and Haseb Karimuddin", which is very similar to the story of Shamaran. The traits of these two stories are also a recalling of the myths. Undoubtedly, many folk tales, beliefs and cultures are deeply connected with ancient myths. The main aims of this study is to investigate the role of Shamaran myth in the formation of the story of the "Queen of Snakes" and to find the common roots of the two. Therefore, the main theme of this story, which is human-snake, is examined. The findings of this research, which has been done in a descriptive-analytical way, showed that the story of the "Queen of Snakes" is based on the myth of Shamaran, and this myth is rooted in religion and myth of the most important Iranian civilizations, the ancient Elam.